Beef ribs for dinner ?/ pics of progress

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wittdog

Master Chef
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Well I managed to score some beef ribs today =D> . I’m going to do them up tomorrow with some stuffed banana peppers , stuffed shroms, and some onion soup mix potatoes…..My plan is to season the ribs with s&p, garlic and onion powder and some type of green herb….My question is at what temp should I cook the ribs at (smoker temp) and as a rough guess how long are they going to take? I plan on using Oak as the wood of choice. Thanks in advance
 
allisonandrews said:
I want to know how they turn out. I asked about beef ribs this weekend, but Hubby said he thought it would be hard to get them tender.
I did some at the AIH party and was flying blind I don't even know the cut they were and I had to cook them hotter than I would have liked ...However those came out nice and tender. I'm not planning on using foil or cooking them in a pan(I've seen that suggested in the Ledgends of Texas Q)...We like our bark...I'll let you know and if not I'm sure the missus will put in her .02 :razz:
 
Re: Beef ribs for dinner ?

Green Hornet said:
wittdog said:
I plan on using Oak as the wood of choice.
Oak is good for them. I used a native "Live Oak" last time.
The last time I used oak I used it on pork ribs and I think I used to much, about 4 logs.......I think I may go with just one log and then switch to the lump.....
 
I used one log, about 5 " diameter and 2' long and added 2"x 1' long as needed. Gives me better temp control on a slow cook. You can use a milder wood to start if you need and just add the Oak during the last part of the cook too.
 
The time will vary depending on the way they're trimmed or fat content.
Cook them like they were pork spares and they will turn out fine. I agree
that oak is a good smoke for beef.
 
Green Hornet said:
I used one log, about 5 " diameter and 2' long and added 2"x 1' long as needed. Gives me better temp control on a slow cook. You can use a milder wood to start if you need and just add the Oak during the last part of the cook too.
I always thought that after a certain amount of time the meat gets saturated with the smoke and it will not take anymore.......I typically start my cook using wood for flavor and btus and then charcoal to finish the cook...I can get a more constant temp with just charcoal..IMO I think that my smoke chamber isn't big enough to use just wood for fuel on a warm day....or at least it's more of a pain in the @$$ to do so and get that nice blue smoke...On cooler days around here I've had good sucess with just wood as a fuel....I'm still learning about fire manegment in a smaller SFB.
What are your thoughts on this GH, I know you use a double barrel but....
 
I don't know if you can saturate a cut of meat with too much smoke. I think it is easier to overwhelm a good cut of meat with a strong wood though. That is what I meant by starting off with a mild wood. I almost always use the Australian Pine, Virtualy no flavor there, but a good hard wood. Then about the last hour or so I add the flavoring wood like Orange or the Oak or Hicorky, I think it adds a lot at the end of the cook, on my cooker, granted. i don't use lump or charcoal at all, but if it works for you then by all means go with it!
Even though I have a big barrel to burn in I really do have to keep a close eye on temps. I get spikes pretty easy, and it is quick when they do happen, and ugly! :eek: Takes longer to lower temps then to raise them in my cooker. I enjoy tinkering with it while I cook though. It kinda connects me with it.
 
Is it common to switch to charcoal? We never use any charcoal unless it is a last resort (out of wood or something somewhere). We cook with mesquite the entire time, but then again, we have an almost endless supply of it right now. (My dad bought a small bull dozier and went a bit crazy pushing down the mesquite on their land ~100 acres. We're just letting it season, then we'll go and cut it up and stack it at our house.
 
allisonandrews said:
Is it common to switch to charcoal? We never use any charcoal unless it is a last resort (out of wood or something somewhere). We cook with mesquite the entire time, but then again, we have an almost endless supply of it right now. (My dad bought a small bull dozier and went a bit crazy pushing down the mesquite on their land ~100 acres. We're just letting it season, then we'll go and cut it up and stack it at our house.
Allison from the pics I have seen of your pit it is a lot bigger than mine, I think that if mine was 1 1/2 times the size off what it is now I could burn just wood. IMO charcaol is no different that people who burn down there logs...... Switching to just lump midway thru the cook works for me I don't have a steady supply of wood and it is easier to get a consistant temp....I don't know how common this is. It just seems to work for me..
 
Ours being the reverse flow may also help some. We've kept testing the temps inside the chamber, and we really are seeing very little temperature difference between the areas in the chamber - maybe 5 degree or so. The thermometer on the outside is also reading what the grates are reading on the inside. Once we finally got the channels in the bottom correct, the smoker has been a dream to operate. While we were in the testing phase, it sure was a bear!
 
I'll have to remember what you said about size mattering. My MIL is buying a smoker this week after being inspired by our last Memorial Day cook (we took the smoker to their house and did briskets, country style pork ribs, and beans). I know she is getting it from Academy, and I think the brand is New Braunsfels, but I don't know which model. It looks like they make some small ones and some big ones. If she gets one of the smaller ones, I may suggest that she go to charcoal or lump or use a combo of them if she is having trouble with too much smoke flavor, etc.
 
allisonandrews said:
Ours being the reverse flow may also help some. We've kept testing the temps inside the chamber, and we really are seeing very little temperature difference between the areas in the chamber - maybe 5 degree or so. The thermometer on the outside is also reading what the grates are reading on the inside. Once we finally got the channels in the bottom correct, the smoker has been a dream to operate. While we were in the testing phase, it sure was a bear!
I have about a 25* variation between the dome and the grates.
 
We didn't measure it anywhere from top to bottom. RIght now, we only have the one grate in, so we just stuck in several oven thermometers along the grate ( I think we started with one in each corner, then moved to two along the middle, one at the fire box end and one at the opposite end. ) We have been very pleased. With our other smoker, we were constantly rotating the locations of the food and spinning them to try to get somewhat of an even heat. Now, we're spoiled!!
 
allisonandrews said:
I'll have to remember what you said about size mattering. My MIL is buying a smoker this week after being inspired by our last Memorial Day cook (we took the smoker to their house and did briskets, country style pork ribs, and beans). I know she is getting it from Academy, and I think the brand is New Braunsfels, but I don't know which model. It looks like they make some small ones and some big ones. If she gets one of the smaller ones, I may suggest that she go to charcoal or lump or use a combo of them if she is having trouble with too much smoke flavor, etc.
Just keep in mind that this is what works for me. I'm sure people can get the results they want using just wood but I have found that this method is easier for me.. GH I also like to be a part of the cooking process it's just that at time's it is easier to use the lump and go take care of something else.
 
She has health problems that do not allow her to stand for long periods of time and limit her mobility (yeah, I can't really understand why she would want a big smoker). If she has trouble doing it "her way", what ever that turns out to be, I'll tell my husband to suggest she think about incorporating some charcoal to see if it might be easier on her.

She wants us to come up for July 4th. I can just see this all going downhill fast if she wants us to try to cook brisket or something for her on her new smoker. I agree with everyone on here that has said that it takes time to get to know your smoker and get all the kinks out. Oh well, we can always blame it on the actual cut of meat just being bad!!
 
Green Hornet said:
Then about the last hour or so I add the flavoring wood like Orange or the Oak or Hicorky.

hmmm, orange sounds interesting. We'll have to see if we can find some (maybe online?). Orange trees are a bit scarce in NY....

Buford has a couple of hotter spots on the grate but Dave has them all figured out, and it doesn't seem to be a signficant difference where we have to really move things around during the cook.
 
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