I decided to take Shane from Snake River Farms up on his offer for a Brethren pricing on the short ribs they offer from their Double R Ranch. Even though the cut is not my preferred cut for BBQ, I figure you can never go wrong with quality meat sourcing.
As you an see, these are cross cut, it would be easy from here to portion these into the traditional short ribs used for braising. However, I felt there might be enough thickness here for a nice product to emerge off the smoker. I was certainly not disappointed with the quality of the meat, being labelled as Choice or Higher, after removing from the cryo, it was clear that the smaller sections were from a Prime grade animal. The more lean and larger sections appears to be Choice, however when I cleaned them up, it was clear these were very tender.
I prepared a simple rub of 4 parts (by volume) medium grind black pepper, 1.5 parts kosher salt, 1/8 part sugar, 1/4 part each granulated garlic and onion. This was applied in two coats to the meat, about 15 minutes apart.
The above image was coat one. The second coat created a heavier overall coat of rub. From here, it was on to the kettle, which was set up for indirect heat, and for what I expected to be around 275°F.
Yes they could have trimmed a little better, but, honestly, the more I pursued getting off those last little bits, the more the meat started to come apart. The connective tissue on these was so weak, the lean just wanted to shear. I figured this was good enough.
Then I sat in my easy chair to do a little reading, figuring I would check in an hour. And I fell asleep. Since starting to deal with some health issues, my attention span has been bad, and I have blown a load of cooks. I woke up after 4 hours, checked and sure as shooting, the kettle was at 375°F.
Fark! :mad2:
I know, you're thinking those look fine. But, they got there far too fast and the meat never got to the point of being soft. Great bark, excellent flavor but, underdone near the bone. Too much chew.
Sliced and there is a nice smoke ring, and to be honest, my cousins from Idaho and Texas would have loved this.
You can see that the meat is still edible. In fact, I can see in this photo that the connective tissue was probably an hour away from giving up the ghost. Problem is, the bark was perfect right here. Just a little chewy. Shane asked me for feedback, here it is.
1. This was excellent meat, with great marbling, soft connective tissue and flavor. I was very pleased with the quality of the meat.
2. I dislike this cut for BBQ, although I can create good product, it is just not the right cut. I would prefer it be available as either plate cut (3 or 4 bone) or in single long rib cut (8" section of the plate or chuck rib). It just smokes better.
3. I still have more of these, and will do a couple more cooks. I doubt I will but them again in this configuration, but, would not hesitate to buy a plate of these.
4. Despite my blowing the cook, I ended up with eminently edible product, that in most cases would rock folks palate. It could have been so much better.
As you an see, these are cross cut, it would be easy from here to portion these into the traditional short ribs used for braising. However, I felt there might be enough thickness here for a nice product to emerge off the smoker. I was certainly not disappointed with the quality of the meat, being labelled as Choice or Higher, after removing from the cryo, it was clear that the smaller sections were from a Prime grade animal. The more lean and larger sections appears to be Choice, however when I cleaned them up, it was clear these were very tender.
I prepared a simple rub of 4 parts (by volume) medium grind black pepper, 1.5 parts kosher salt, 1/8 part sugar, 1/4 part each granulated garlic and onion. This was applied in two coats to the meat, about 15 minutes apart.
The above image was coat one. The second coat created a heavier overall coat of rub. From here, it was on to the kettle, which was set up for indirect heat, and for what I expected to be around 275°F.
Yes they could have trimmed a little better, but, honestly, the more I pursued getting off those last little bits, the more the meat started to come apart. The connective tissue on these was so weak, the lean just wanted to shear. I figured this was good enough.
Then I sat in my easy chair to do a little reading, figuring I would check in an hour. And I fell asleep. Since starting to deal with some health issues, my attention span has been bad, and I have blown a load of cooks. I woke up after 4 hours, checked and sure as shooting, the kettle was at 375°F.
Fark! :mad2:
I know, you're thinking those look fine. But, they got there far too fast and the meat never got to the point of being soft. Great bark, excellent flavor but, underdone near the bone. Too much chew.
Sliced and there is a nice smoke ring, and to be honest, my cousins from Idaho and Texas would have loved this.
You can see that the meat is still edible. In fact, I can see in this photo that the connective tissue was probably an hour away from giving up the ghost. Problem is, the bark was perfect right here. Just a little chewy. Shane asked me for feedback, here it is.
1. This was excellent meat, with great marbling, soft connective tissue and flavor. I was very pleased with the quality of the meat.
2. I dislike this cut for BBQ, although I can create good product, it is just not the right cut. I would prefer it be available as either plate cut (3 or 4 bone) or in single long rib cut (8" section of the plate or chuck rib). It just smokes better.
3. I still have more of these, and will do a couple more cooks. I doubt I will but them again in this configuration, but, would not hesitate to buy a plate of these.
4. Despite my blowing the cook, I ended up with eminently edible product, that in most cases would rock folks palate. It could have been so much better.
