Short Beef Ribs a.k.a. BBQ Brontosaurus Bones!

Short beef ribs are the only kind to barbeque and are as easy as 1-2-3. Do you see those bad boys up there? They average 2.5 pounds a piece. Do I have your attention?
But, we’ll get to the 1-2-3 part in a bit. In many bbq books, writers talk about making bbq beef ribs, some even call them dinosaur ribs. While I like these books for the most part, I disagree with the types of ribs they advocate.

Many authors advocate back ribs to use for barbeque beef ribs. On the surface it seems logical: they are cut from the prime rib so the meat will be tender and flavorful.

But have you ever seen these ribs? They are nothing but bone with a little meat thrown in for looks!

You can’t blame the butchers- they are trying to get as much of the prime rib off the bone as possible to sell at a higher price rib eye price. But you can have great beef ribs! Start with short beef ribs- I call them Brontosaurus bones.

Back to the 1-2-3. For great, sublime beef ribs, all you have to do is look for- beg your grocery meat manager to order for you- is a product called beef ribs 123B. This is the code from the National Meat Purveyors(NAMP)Meat Buyers Guide for a 3 rib rack of ribs cut from the chuck.

I kid you not when I tell you this took me years to find, but I am a bit slow. You want these ribs for a few reasons: the chuck, while tougher, is more flavorful as it is a working muscle and is high on beefy flavor. Did I mention these ribs are huge? In fact a 3 rib rack weighs about 15 lbs before cooking!

Enough to make you cry like a baby...

(These ribs are the same as short beef ribs in the store that are popular for braising- but are cut into shorter segments. These will do in a pinch, but for pure carnage, you need the big boys that are left whole)

You will need to smoke these ribs a bit longer- if you keep the rack whole, they take about 12 hours at 200 degrees. If you cut them into individual ribs, they take about 8 hours.

In fact, I treat these almost exactly as I do beef brisket. Also, as with brisket, the content of fat precludes any basting at all- the fat naturally moistens the meat.

For these short beef ribs, I prefer using oak, hickory, or pecan- my fave. But due to their mass, you can get away with mesquite- it is damn strong, but cannot over power meat this robust...

You can visit the bbq rub page to explore your rub options, but as I have written before, and will again, to my mind there is no better rub for beef of any kind than -wait for it- kosher salt and pepper. Period.

In this recipe short beef ribs, like brisket, require a lot of seasoning, so go heavy- you have a lot of internal surface area to make up for. It is rare for anyone to eat more than 1.5 of these. They are truly Bovine Bliss!

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