First time short ribs. Tips?

[JeffJ]

I am going to use a faux cambro. I put them in at 8:30 this morning and now 5 hours into the cook they are at 190. The cooker was pretty much pegged at 225 although it spent a little time at 232. Due to our plans for today I want to lightly sauce them at 2:00 and take them out at 2:30 (dinner is at 5). I had the top vent open all of the way and the bottom vents were 3/4 - 7/8 open. I just opened them all of the way because the climb from 189-190 (1 degree) seemed to take forever. Maybe if I can push the temps up a bit I can at least hit 195 (which would be my minimum) by the time I want to sauce.

I will do a full write up with pictures on the "what are you cooking today" thread.

[JeffJ]

I've only used cherry once and it was on a brisket I did last summer. It was more assertive than I thought it would be but it was not over-powering and it certainly wasn't rancid in any way. What was weird was I also used a little pecan and a little mesquite but I didn't find either one to even be detectable (Cherry was at the bottom so it was the last to create smoke which is stranger yet given most of the smoke adhesion occurs at the beginning of the cook). However, by the time we finally got around to the brisket I had been drinking beer for 8 consecutive hours so I may not have noticed some of the nuance of the cook.

[richinlbrg]

JeffJ I haven't tried any wood other than whiskey barrel oak on my short ribs, but another option for you for the wood. Going to have to try cherry one of these days.

[Medusa]

And consume you will! We only had the 6 ribs between #1 and myself and suddenly they were gone!

I don't think you can go wrong with all of the info here, but make sure you add in the time it takes to light up the coals, bring the cooker up to temp, any unforseen surprises, blah, blah, blah.

I started at 10:43 AM and hit the IT of 203 @ 5:50 PM. I always time how long it takes to hit the target temp, and then let the cooker go above for awhile to compensate heat loss when I place the meat, wood, etc. 1 hr 27 min before I was ready to start the cook.

The other thing I've seen consistently: You can drop the cooker temp 100 degrees, and it only takes a few minutes to get back up to the target and go beyond.

HTH,

--Ed

[Medusa]

... to my in-laws

Do you have plans for Faux Cambro for keeping the meat warm? Great article on this site and it really, really works!

[Medusa]

Agree that MHBBBR is KA!

[JeffJ]

2 per person it will be, then. I like Guy's advice - bring more than enough.

Thanks, all. This information has been very helpful.

[Ernest]

JeffJ depending on how meaty they are, do 2 per person. Or after they are done, take em off the bone and slice em.

[Guy]

When I take food to my in-laws I make sure I don't run out. LOL I can always bring the left overs home.

[JeffJ]

I have another question: How many single ribs should I purchase per person? It will be 6 adults and 2 children (14 and 11)?

We'll have the soup and a salad alongside the ribs.

Based on Ernest's pictures it looks like I could probably squeeze up to 8 per rack which would translate to 2 ribs per person. Although I am guessing my youngest son would probably only eat one rib and my sister in law is on this crazy diet where she's only eating green vegetables so 16 might be a bit much.

[JeffJ]

Great pics Ernest and Medusa. Thanks for all of the information. I am not doing them on Saturday but will do them Sunday morning instead and will take them (along with homemade french onion soup) to my in-laws.

I will take pictures and share some brief thoughts on this page after we've consumed them.

[JeffJ]

Thanks for the tips. I'll concoct some kind of sauce but it will be relatively thin and I will apply it lightly. I am just looking for a slight boost in flavor, a little added complexity. The tenderness of the meat, the big beef flavor and the smoke should be the centerpiece. When I sauce pulled pork (after it's been pulled) I do it pretty lightly as well.

[Huskee]

JeffJ it's hard to give advice on the sauce. Tastes in sauce are so subjective and varied. I don't use sauce on my smoked beef, or ribs much either, mostly just chicken. But if I did I'd use a vinegar-heavy KC-style sauce since that's my personal favorite. I do know mustard is great on beef, so perhaps a Carolina mustard style (or I even mix KC and Carolina mustard 50/50 and love it, I call it Michigan-style lol).

Meathead's Big Bad Beef Rub is excellent on anything beef- whether brisket, ribs or chucks roasts et al. But as others above have mentioned, there's nothing wrong with the black & white.

[jmott7]

I'd bypass the sweet sauce, too. Really, I'm with Ernest. I'd probably skip the sauce altogether. These should be pretty savory with just salt and pepper. Maybe a little garlic powder.

[Ernest]

Season with salt (at least a day in advance), pepper, oak wood, 220-250. let em go. No wrapping or sauce. That WSM 14.5 was made for short ribs singles.