Beef Ribs

How to cook Beef Ribs the right way every single time

I discovered the right way to do beef ribs quite by accident several years ago. I put them on the bullet and left the house for 4 hours. Well the bullet was running around 300 when I returned and the beef ribs looked horrible - all black and shriveled, they looked ruined - until I cut them open and tasted!

Holly cow, I never knew how good beef can be when you let them cook, let the fat render, don't get intimidated by the look, and just let them cook. I have never ever eaten a dried up beef rib but I have eaten tough, greasy beef ribs - that was before. Not any more.

Beef ribs are the only thing I cook by time, and it works every single time period! Here's how it's done:

Get your cooker to around the 300 degree range - that is the critical trick. Just under 300 is good - 295 seems perfect, but don't drive yourself nuts - just leave it be with vents good and open.

Let them cook 4 hours at around 300 degrees, sauce for the last 30 minutes.

Poof! That's all there is to it, and I'm aiming to prove it too:

1. Trim off the sliver skins from the surface along with excess fat. Remove the membrane from the back along with excess fat. Don't drive yourself crazy trimming the fat. It will render. Here we have a simple slather of yellow mustard and a even application of McCormick Montreal seasoning or any Santa Maria style rub (salt, pepper, garlic). I also like herbal rubs like Carls Prime Rib

2. Here we see some pull back, this is common when cooking at this temperature. While you're reading, lets talk about bone pullback for a moment. Bone pullback is not an indication of doneness. It is an indication of high temp cook. I have turned in competition spare ribs that are cooked to perfect doneness and no pullback.

These ribs arent' done yet. They still look like ribs. When they're done, they'll look like a meteorite.

3. Now we're talking. These beef ribs are done. The look is helped with sauce applied 3.5 hours into the 4 hour @300 cook. If you feel compelled to test for doneness, then I recommend the tear test - minimal effort should be required to tear the meet when pulling bones apart when gripping on the pullback.

4. There they are - look at how clean those bones are - much to the chagrin of Jake Steel our dog. When your beef ribs are cooked properly the bones will be clean like below.

The important lesson to take from this is that beef ribs are loaded with fat and connective tissue. They can take a heck of a lot of cooking and in fact they benefit from greatly to render the fat and convert the connective tissues.