I picked up some skinny beef ribs and a rack of SLC spares on Friday. I wasn't able to score my usual beef ribs, so I settled for some skinny looking ones that were real cheap.
Well come evening time on Friday I get a wild hair and decide to do a little experimenting. I thought I'd do half the ribs quasi-asian style (East) and the other half traditional (West). I did some asian style ribs a while back and they were OK. But I was inspired and determined to do a better job this time. But to make sure I was gonna have some good Q to eat I did half the stash traditional style just in case.
Sorry I don't have any prep pics but I removed the membrane from all the ribs, cut the rack of spares in half and then rubbed half down with a combination of Oakridge Black Ops and Killer Hogs The BBQ Rub. Then I made an asian style marinade roughly consisting of equal parts water, soy sauce and rice vinegar. I added some sesame oil, a healthy dose of dark brown sugar, a bunch of fresh chopped garlic and a pinch of ginger powder. Mixed it up real good and poured half in a ziplock with half a rack of the spares and poured the other half in another ziplock containing 2 "mini" racks of beef ribs. Put them all in the fridge and set up the UDS to be ready for lighting Saturday morning.
UDS basked was filled with half lump and half KBB. Tossed in a couple chunks of hickory and a few small chunks of cherry. Saturday morning I lit that puppy and about 15-20 minutes later I had the Auber temp controller hooked up and set to 290*. Took a bit longer than usual, but in about 45 minutes the smoke was nice, thin and blue. I tossed on the ribs with the asian style on a lower rack and the traditional on the top rack.
They smoked for about 2.5-3 hours then I did a little wrapping and panning. For the traditional I just wrapped the beef ribs in foil and for the spares I added a little brown sugar and honey when I wrapped. For the asian style I put the beef ribs in a pan and added a less sweet version of the marinade that included some green onions and coved the pan tightly with foil. I put the asian half of the spares in foil face down on some of the marinade with a little brown sugar. Everything went back on the smoker for 50 minutes.
After the 50 minutes I checked and everything was nice and tender so I removed all the ribs from the wraps and glazed the traditional spares with some apple juice and touch of apple cider vinegar and some brown sugar. Put everything back on for 10 minutes to tighten up.
Traditional (West) beef and spare ribs after a few hours and before wrapping:
Asian style (East) getting ready to be wrapped:
Asian style spares getting wrapped face down with some marinade:
The asian style beef ribs in pan with marinade poured on top:
Little brown sugar and honey for the traditional spares:
Asian beef ribs all done:
Asian spares all done:
The traditional ribs, bovine and swine, on a butcher paper lined tray:
I am trying to make up for all the shots of my Q on cheap white paper plates.
My wife caught me taking pics on paper plates and said, "you put that on the internet?"
So here's some gussied up pics:
I made an asian slaw with nappa cabbage, cilantro and a soy-lime based dressing.
I poured the pan juices from the beef ribs in a pot,
grew this a little with some more soy and stock and added just a touch of cornstarch to give the gravy some body.
I saved this up with some white rice. Again, plated more better to please the wife:
These are the asian spares:
These are the traditional spares showing a few cut:
The other pics made then look dry but they were not al all:
Traditional beef ribs:
Despite these beef ribs looking rather anemic, the flavor was excellent. Everything came out great, if I don't say so myself. I cooked hotter than I normally do, but I wanted to do some things this afternoon and needed to be finished before 1 or 2 PM. I must say, this temp worked very well. Both the charcoal and wood burned clean at the higher temp, or so it seemed. The smoke profile was perfect.
FWIW, the asian style beef ribs were a tad better than the asian spares. I think the beef ribs fare better in the marinade.
Well come evening time on Friday I get a wild hair and decide to do a little experimenting. I thought I'd do half the ribs quasi-asian style (East) and the other half traditional (West). I did some asian style ribs a while back and they were OK. But I was inspired and determined to do a better job this time. But to make sure I was gonna have some good Q to eat I did half the stash traditional style just in case.
Sorry I don't have any prep pics but I removed the membrane from all the ribs, cut the rack of spares in half and then rubbed half down with a combination of Oakridge Black Ops and Killer Hogs The BBQ Rub. Then I made an asian style marinade roughly consisting of equal parts water, soy sauce and rice vinegar. I added some sesame oil, a healthy dose of dark brown sugar, a bunch of fresh chopped garlic and a pinch of ginger powder. Mixed it up real good and poured half in a ziplock with half a rack of the spares and poured the other half in another ziplock containing 2 "mini" racks of beef ribs. Put them all in the fridge and set up the UDS to be ready for lighting Saturday morning.
UDS basked was filled with half lump and half KBB. Tossed in a couple chunks of hickory and a few small chunks of cherry. Saturday morning I lit that puppy and about 15-20 minutes later I had the Auber temp controller hooked up and set to 290*. Took a bit longer than usual, but in about 45 minutes the smoke was nice, thin and blue. I tossed on the ribs with the asian style on a lower rack and the traditional on the top rack.
They smoked for about 2.5-3 hours then I did a little wrapping and panning. For the traditional I just wrapped the beef ribs in foil and for the spares I added a little brown sugar and honey when I wrapped. For the asian style I put the beef ribs in a pan and added a less sweet version of the marinade that included some green onions and coved the pan tightly with foil. I put the asian half of the spares in foil face down on some of the marinade with a little brown sugar. Everything went back on the smoker for 50 minutes.
After the 50 minutes I checked and everything was nice and tender so I removed all the ribs from the wraps and glazed the traditional spares with some apple juice and touch of apple cider vinegar and some brown sugar. Put everything back on for 10 minutes to tighten up.
Traditional (West) beef and spare ribs after a few hours and before wrapping:
Asian style (East) getting ready to be wrapped:
Asian style spares getting wrapped face down with some marinade:
The asian style beef ribs in pan with marinade poured on top:
Little brown sugar and honey for the traditional spares:
Asian beef ribs all done:
Asian spares all done:
The traditional ribs, bovine and swine, on a butcher paper lined tray:
I am trying to make up for all the shots of my Q on cheap white paper plates.
My wife caught me taking pics on paper plates and said, "you put that on the internet?"
So here's some gussied up pics:
I made an asian slaw with nappa cabbage, cilantro and a soy-lime based dressing.
I poured the pan juices from the beef ribs in a pot,
grew this a little with some more soy and stock and added just a touch of cornstarch to give the gravy some body.
I saved this up with some white rice. Again, plated more better to please the wife:
These are the asian spares:
These are the traditional spares showing a few cut:
The other pics made then look dry but they were not al all:
Traditional beef ribs:
Despite these beef ribs looking rather anemic, the flavor was excellent. Everything came out great, if I don't say so myself. I cooked hotter than I normally do, but I wanted to do some things this afternoon and needed to be finished before 1 or 2 PM. I must say, this temp worked very well. Both the charcoal and wood burned clean at the higher temp, or so it seemed. The smoke profile was perfect.
FWIW, the asian style beef ribs were a tad better than the asian spares. I think the beef ribs fare better in the marinade.
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