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.
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.
Comment