If you want to know how to make melt in your mouth beef ribs the Firebrand way, then read on! This is one of our favourite things to cook low n slow and there aren’t many people that wouldn’t have it in their top 3.

First about the meat. Our beef short ribs are a Black Angus (Angus Reserve Brand) which we stock in store but ask your butcher for something similar if you are not sure. You want to see a good amount of meat on the bones. We find that a good grain fed breed of beef tends to have more quality fat in the way of marbling in the meat, than a lean grass fed cut. (remember, fat = flavour), so don’t be afraid to go with some marbleous grain fed beef….see what we did there!

Trimming

First, lay them flat with bone facing up. There is a thick-ish fat membrane that needs to come off. The easiest way to do this is to use your knife to lift up a corner then using a paper towel in the other hand, pull it back and dislodge it from the bone.

If you’re lucky, it may come off in one big piece, otherwise, use your knife to keep lifting pieces until you can grip it with your paper towel hand and tear pieces off until you get all of it.

Turn over, then trim any excess fat or silver skin that may be on top of the meat. Leaving some fat is fine as this will render down, but the silver skin won’t, so we recommend taking this out completely. It allows the rub to penetrate into the meat better and makes for better eating every time!

Tip! Dogs and cats love these off cuts, so don’t throw them out. They also freeze well.

The Rub

There are so many rubs out there to try, but today we thought we’d give a local one a spin. The Wyld Smoke rubs are Australian made and blended by hand. We’ve chosen the Smokehouse rub for our beefies which is a blend of salty, peppery spice with aromas of the smoked paprika and a hint of coffee. It smelt amazing as we were shaking it out of the bag!

One 150gr bag was enough to liberally coat 8 beef ribs which were approximately 2kg each. The Wyld Smoke rub range are available from our Sydney store and online here.

The Smoker

We used The Beast reverse offset smoker today to smoke these beefies but a kettle or pellet grill will do the job as long as you can get it to temp and maintain the heat for at least 5-6 hours.

The Beast is hand built by Hamrforge Inc out of Canada. This 1200LB (527kg) hulk of a unit not only looks the part with its unique design but is one of the most efficient offset smokers on the market consuming up to 50% less wood than similar sized traditional offset smokers. Not to mention it also functions as a traditional charcoal BBQ with the versatility to cook Pizza’s and more. Its guaranteed for 100 years and exclusive to Firebrand in Australia. See more here

Fuel

We’ve used a chimney full of our new Firebrand Professional Lump as an igniter and cooking base with vintage iron bark thrown in to provide that unmistakable smoke flavour. Use 3-4 firelighters under the chimney and place it in the fire box. Wait until the lump is white hot then tip in. Start placing small to medium size pieces of ironbark to ignite them. Once the fire is established with licks of flame, push the firebox into place. Using the temp gauge on the unit we allow the smoker to reach 275-300F (135 – 150C) before placing the rubbed beefies straight into the belly of ‘The Beast’ with the meat side facing up.

Tip! You can afford to run a higher temp pit with beef ribs, they can certainly take the heat!

Cooking Time

Approximately 3.5 hours unwrapped & 1.5hrs wrapped

During the cook refrain from opening the lid of the smoker to check them. However, keep a close eye on the temperature gauge. You will need to maintain a pit temp range of 275 – 300F (135 – 150C) for at least 3 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 200 -210F (approx. 95C), making sure you get this reading from the thickest part of the meat. You can also crank up the heat in the last ½ hour of the initial cooking time to create ‘bark’ or crust on your beef ribs. They will then be wrapped so don’t worry about drying them out.

Tip! Once your ribs start probing easily (like butter) then you know you are close to reaching the right internal temp.

At this point, take the beef ribs out of the smoker and wrap well with thick aluminium foil. Use two sheets of regular foil if you can’t get your hands on the good stuff. Wrap like a parcel then place the ribs back in the smoker for another 1.5hours

Resting & Slicing

Rest your beef ribs for 30 minutes still in its aluminium wrapping. You may wrap the parcel in a tea towel as well to keep heat. Slice in between the bones and serve immediately!