I've got a craving for beef short-ribs, and have decided to do them next week. (I haven't found the subject mentioned on this Recipes For Hunters thread.)

I'm starting my search on the Internet, and so far notice people recommending a finish temperature on the beef short ribs of 185F. My initial thought is, every time I try finishing a brisket using a recommended internal temperature, I hit the temperature, but the meat is a little tough, and I feel like I could have taken it up another five to ten degrees to get that tenderness I'm looking for.

If I take the beef short ribs to 195F - 200F, am I going to end-up with shoe leather?

I buy packer-trimmed briskets about 12-14lbs, they have to "feel' right to me, I don't like to feel any hard lumps in the briskets when I select them... i look for even thickness, at least 1 1/2" inch thick on the small end... and not much over 3" on the thick end...i use a rub, packaged locally by decoty coffee company, allow it to marinate/soak up for at least 12 hrs, preferably overnight... i start cooking fat side up, over indirect heat, from mesquite coals, in a home-made cooker... i usually smoke 3-4 hrs to get a smoke band on the meat about 3/8" deep...i usually turn the meat over once... then just keep it going at the same heat for 3-4 more hrs... i keep adding the rub to get a good bark on the meat, and if necessary finish in the oven inside... I'd recommend you start with aged beef, not fresh-cut... and cook slower and longer, and keep them moist...

I finish mine at 200* .. Start smoker temp at 225* until the meat hits 165* to 170*..
I put them in an aluminum pan with some apple juice any liquid will do cover with foil and back in the smoker. at 200* they will be tender and moist. add some of your rub to the drippins and some cranberry juice makes a great dipin sauce total time depends on how big the ribs are.
If I put bbq sauce on them I will just wrap them at 185*, no liquid. out at 200*
onto a medium hot grill and slap on the bbq. I like the chared a little

Ken - in my opinion you should be fine at that finished temperature, because there is plenty of fat and connective tissue keeping them nice and moist as it renders. If you were to do that with the "flat" end of a brisket, you'd probably be making tough, dry shoe leather, but I think the short ribs should be fine.

I will qualify this by admitting that I've not done too many short ribs, and my experience there is lacking...so if you get "better" advice from those with more experience, it would probably be best to follow their recommendations.

I've had a thought that makes more sense to me the longer I think it; which probably means I'm totally delusional. Why wouldn't it work to start the short ribs wrapped in foil for say three hours, then unwrap them to finish them for whatever time it takes to get the meat up to the 195F-200F mark? Maybe I wouldn't have a smoke ring, but surely I would have a smoky flavor. Does this make any sense to anyone other than me; or do you have a good psychiatrist recommendation?

I don't know, Ken - I've never tried it, so I couldn't say for sure. The knowledge that I ahve about smoke-cooking tells me that the smoke should go on the meat early on, because after a certain internal temperature (120 or 140, I forget which), the benefits of smoking the meat tend to get diminished and/or disappear. Having said that I ahve no way of knowing without giving it a go. If any foiling is to be done, I'd be inclined to do it in the latter stages of the cook.

It might be worth it to do a "trial run" with a small chuck roast or some lesser-grade beef ribs - or even a small brisket - for comparision. It could be a perfectly valid thing, I just don't know.

I bought the short ribs today, and since they are my daughter's favorite and she and the grand-daughter are staying with us this week, I'm not going to risk a total screw-up, but I may do three ribs foil-first, and three ribs foil-last.

I think this all started when my parents gave me a chemistry set for Christmas when I was ten.

quote:

I may do three ribs foil-first, and three ribs foil-last.

Side-by-side comparison!

I'm blown away. I smoked the beef short ribs this afternoon, and absolutely nailed it. I don't know if I've had a better cook.

The basics were six beef short ribs (individual ribs, not in a rack) smoked at 225F for four hours.

I did as mentioned. Three ribs I wrapped to begin with and put them on the smoker. After three hours I unwrapped them and left them in the smoker bare for an hour.

The other three ribs I put on the smoker uncovered, and after an hour wrapped them, and smoked them another three hours in foil.

Both sets were gorgeous. Drop-dead tender. No knife required.

The ones that went in the smoker bare had a nice smoke ring, and had that dark BBQ bark, and a smoky flavor.

The ones that spent the first three hours in the smoker wrapped were just as tender, with a milder flavor, and no real bark to speak of. My wife said she thought she preferred the taste of them.

Both sets of ribs had the same rub and marinade, and spent the night in the fridge wrapped in cling-wrap before going in the smoker at 2:00pm today.

When they were done, I rested the ribs thirty minutes wrapped and in their own juices. I ate three ribs, our daughter ate two, and my wife had one. We could have eaten a couple more. They were that good.

I was amazed how steady my fire held. The needle stayed on 225F for two hours without me having to do anything. That is not normal for my stick-burner.

The other strange occurrence was that after three and a half hours I stuck a temperature probe in both sets of ribs. The temp increased to 199F in both cases. Right before pulling them out of the smoker thirty minutes later, I couldn't get past 170F. Both times I could tell the meat was tender by the way the probe slipped in. I don't believe I was on the bone when I got the higher temp, but I can't explain the variance.

I may back-off thirty minutes on the next short rib cook, but other than that, I'm not changing anything.

Sounds like things went pretty well, Ken - Sometimes a side-by-side comparison with only one differing factor (in this case, when the foil was on) can definitely help sort out a lot of things. I also believe that the resting period is one of the best things that a person can do - and is an under-rated "secret weapon" for turning up the notch where quality end product is concerned.

The significant thing, I think, is that with the two differing foiling methods, you produced ribs that everyone enjoyed. Armed with this knowledge, you are able to bring it forward to future cooks and be able to make barbecue that everyone will be happy with. Pleasing the folks at your table is the highest ambition of any pitmaster, and you nailed it this time!

I can't explain the temperature fluctuations that you mentioned, except to offer two possible reaons: either the probe was through the meat to an extent that it was beyond the meat in the middle and reading the temperature of the meat closest to the heat, or perhaps you hit a pocket of fat, which can tend to throw the readings into higher than true territory.

In any case - congratulations on your success!

Did another round of smoked short-ribs this weekend. Simplified it this time. Slathered ten beef short ribs in Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Barbeque Sauce, then covered the ribs with Cabela's Sweet Rib Rub, wrapped them in cling-wrap and stuck them in the refrigerator overnight.

Next day I lit the fire and let the wood burn in the offset smoker firebox for an hour with the door open. I think I've been too impatient in the past and put the meat on too quickly. This time, like last time, my temperature stayed very steady at 225. I attribute that to letting the fire spread and stabilize before closing it up and adding the meat.

I had a pan of water in the cooking chamber with the ribs.

I shortened the cooking time by thirty minutes to a total of 3 1/2 hours. The first two hours the meat was bare and I spritzed about every half hour with a mix of apple cider vinegar, olive oil, Baby Ray's, and Worcestershire.

At the two hour mark, the meat looked like a tasunkawitko photo if I do say so myself.

I spritzed them again, placed them (meat side down) in three foil packages, each with a large pat of butter and wrapped them tight. An hour and a half later they hit 195 with a temperature probe. I took them out of the smoker and let them rest for an hour.

They tasted great, and were very tender. Four of us knocked them out with a nice 2012 Pinot Noir (Twisted Sister), baked potatoes and a (South American) corn pudding.

I've made a note to probe them after three hours next time: just curious.

Friend, we really need some photographs of these babies.