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Grass-Fed Beef Short Plate Question

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    Grass-Fed Beef Short Plate Question

    A friend of ours raises grass-fed Devon cattle. He's new to the game with this breed and pasture. He gave us some of his first butcher on a bull that did not have a good enough conformation to be allowed to live well and prosper. He wants feedback. One package in the lot contained two 2-bone pieces of short plate dino ribs.

    I don't have access to nice-sized thick cuts of short plate, except for short ribs, so getting my mitts on these two mid-sized dino-rib cuts was exciting. The pieces were about 3 inches thick with the meat in two tiers separated by a plane of fat. Top tier--virtually no marbling; bottom tier next to the bone--a bit of marbling.

    I smoked at 275° and the ribs were done in 5 hours (!), so I had to faux cambro for 4 more hours, serving at 155° meat temp. I pulled/wrapped/cambroed at probe tenderness which was 190° in the tier close to the bone.

    I could tell that the top tier was dried out by looking at it. We could eat it chopped with BBQ sauce but it was a dry bite otherwise. But the bottom tier was a nice chunk of pure beef heaven--perfectly done and delicious. Of course it had a little fat in it while the top was pretty much fat-free.

    I'd like to try this again with another similar piece of short plate and am thinking of QVQ or SVQ ing it since the two layers of muscle have drastically different fat contents. Either that or maybe I should just remove the top layer and go with the lower, marbled one and smoke it all the way at 275° again. The layers are each about an inch or more thick.

    Any thoughts on how I should cook the next one?

    Thanks,
    Kathryn

    P.S. I'm not much of a fan of smoking grass-fed beef because of its low fat content and sometimes gamey flavor, but my friend wants me to give different cuts a try and let him know my findings. So that's why I'm not too familiar with smoking 100% grass-fed beef.
    Last edited by fzxdoc; September 23, 2018, 07:05 AM.

    #2
    I'd QVQ or SVQ - short rib is one of the best cuts for that treatment. Potkettleblack can no doubt give some sage advice.

    Or you can search for short rib here: https://www.evernote.com/l/AKIlTFr77..._MJOc6dUsrYfbw
    Last edited by EdF; September 22, 2018, 03:13 PM.

    Comment


      #3
      I'd give a Q-SV a try. Smoke until a reasonable bark then bag and SV at a relatively high temperature (maybe 180º-190º) for 4-5 hours. As final polish, sear on the gasser to re-set the bark. Can't say I've done this with grass fed anything, but it's been successful for select brisket flat pastrami. Anyway just my 2¢.

      Comment


        #4
        Personally, I’d Sous Vide long, shock and then smoke hotter than 275. But I’m out of the grass fed business, as I don’t care for the flavor without some silage to finish.

        as a side note, the only things I SV north of 160 are vegetables and eggs.

        Comment


          #5
          I hear you about grass-fed flavor, Potkettleblack , which is why I'm so inexperienced in smoking cuts from 100% grass fed beef. I never buy the stuff. I've had some really gamey grass-fed beef meals at restaurants in the past and it was always an unpleasant experience. But this particular beef from our friend is not gamey-tasting, just super lean.

          Sounds like the consensus is that sous vide has to step in and save the day, one way or another. Thanks, johnec00 , Postkettleblack, and EdF for your thoughts. I'm leaning toward SV-Q for my next try.

          Ed, that's a quite nice SV info compilation from posts on The Pit that you have there on Evernote. I scrolled to the section that you had on beef ribs. Lots of good ideas. Thank you. I miss Breadhead (one of the references in those notes). He did some amazing cooks.

          Kathryn

          Comment


            #6
            Kathyrn

            Any pics? It sounds like the bottom portion was great. Why mess with it. IMHO if the top piece was like lean pork loin I would cook it separately and " go with what you know" with the bottom portion.

            Eliminate the variable. Leave the ugly friend a home.

            Clean it up real nice, SV, shock in a new bag with marinade, square it up, cut it in half, kabob it or stir fry that sucker with onions peppers and a glaze of whatever your marinade was.

            This also proves the theory that fat does not melt into the beat.

            i just can't get over cooking the meat a different way adjusting for the odd piece that has no fat. Perhaps find the best way to help the ugly friend and see if the pretty one will take well to that date/method.

            Just my Opninion
            Erik

            Comment


            • fzxdoc
              fzxdoc commented
              Editing a comment
              Yeah, I see your point, Erik. I was trying to "dance with who brung me". I should have jettisoned off the top layer. I'll do that next time if I BBQ it all the way. But first I'm going to give it a chance with SVQ.

              K.

            #7
            As fortune would have it, I have a Crowd Cow procured 3 bone chuck short rib that I’m finishing today. I decided to experiment with 155 instead of my usual 133 for short rib, and do a QVQ process. First smoke was 200* for maybe 3 or four hours. To 150 IT and decent bark setting. 155x24 based on ChefSteps videos. I think second Q will be up at 275 or 300 on the Grilla. Note: my 200 works a bit more like 225 on Grilla because of convection.

            Comment


              #8
              Click image for larger version

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ID:	569928 Out of the bag after a
              dip in water warming for Sous Vide.

              and after about an hour and a half at 300 on the Grilla.
              Or opposite. The wet looking one is out of the bag.

              Any rate, it has the jiggle. Was Sous Vide at 155 for 24h.

              Will be portioned for meals this week.

              Comment


              • Potkettleblack
                Potkettleblack commented
                Editing a comment
                Was really great, even though I shoved it in the fridge, deboned a section, took to work and nuked back to life. Had that jiggle coming off the second smoke, and was pulled very simply, and cut very tender against the grain.

                So this was bones, fat, muscle on top of the fat. That's your usual short rib. If there's another layer on top of that, it's chuck. I'd separate it at the second layer

              • fzxdoc
                fzxdoc commented
                Editing a comment
                Good to know, Potkettleblack about the composition of that second layer. I've seen a lot of dino ribs here on the Pit with both layers, which is why I thought it should be left on. The lower layer on my ribs were just as you describe about your ribs--jiggly, tender, with fat like you'd find in the point of a brisket--sooooo good!

                K.

              • Potkettleblack
                Potkettleblack commented
                Editing a comment
                I’ll post a picture of what’s left, so we can be sure we’re talking about the same thing.

              #9
              I’m not a fan of 100% grass fed beef either. Way too much variation in pastures even in the same regions.
              Ive had great luck by wrapping after you set a good bark. Then give them a good sear to finish.

              Comment


                #10
                Click image for larger version

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ID:	570684 This is right out of the fridge. Comes back very nicely in the science oven.

                Comment


                • HouseHomey
                  HouseHomey commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Chef Mike comes in handy for melting cheese too! Those look great!!

                #11
                Originally posted by Potkettleblack View Post
                I’ll post a picture of what’s left, so we can be sure we’re talking about the same thing.
                Yup, looks like you had the upper (no fat) muscle layer removed already, leaving that wonderful layer next to the bone. Next time I'll do the same thing. Thanks, Potkettleblack .

                Kathryn

                Comment


                • Potkettleblack
                  Potkettleblack commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Weird. Never seen them cut that way. The lean portion is some chuck portion that would be better ground up or as part of a chuckie, methinks.

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