Smoked Beef Short Ribs (Jacobs Ladder)

Without a doubt my favourite cut in barbecue, Beef Short Ribs or Jacobs Ladder, Dinosaur Ribs, call them what you will but I know them as the best cut in barbecue. Why? They have everything, fat, flavour, tenderness, flavour, juiciness, flavour, delicious crust and did I mention they have bucket loads of flavour.

For this smoke I brined the ribs first as a) I had time and b) I always think they are more tender if they are brined first, it certainly won’t do them any harm. So these went in a mix of two bottles of beer (alcohol free as it is all I had), chili salt (table spoon), sea salt (table spoon), black pepper (half tablespoon), some wild sage and some Wake The Dead rub from Tubby Toms. All this was mixed together to dissolve the salts then poured over the ribs in an overly large zip lock bag (it’s all I had) with as much air pushed out as possible, sealed and left to brine for around 18 hours. (I keep picking at the cold ribs)

After removing the ribs from the brine, pat them dry to remove excess salty water and in this case I was using an English Mustard slather to add depth of flavour and help the rub stick so I added a bit of avocado oil first (it is fairly neutral in flavour) just to aid the mustard to spread evenly. Once the mustard was spread all over I gave the ribs a liberal coating in Wake The Dead coffee rub, get on!

Whilst this was happening the Monolith Junior was warming up (and also smoking home cured bacon & mushrooms but that’s another story) ready to take the ribs. I used the deflector plate for this cook as I want a slow cook adding smoke flavour (a chunk of English oak) so no direct heat. Once sitting at 140 C or 285 F I placed the ribs on the grill and left them alone, for hours, as this will be a seven hour cook, at least!

With an hour or so to go I roughly chopped what veg I had, I meant to bring in some baby spuds but being a useless tw*t I forget so pepper, onion, tomato and garlic cloves it is. I placed the chopped veg in a cast iron pan which by the way are best utensils for barbecue. Mine was damaged in transit as the handle broke off making it ideal for my Monolith Junior, I then placed the beef short ribs on top of the veg in the cast iron and cooked until the beef was probe tender and around 92 Celsius or 200 Fahrenheit. To be honest it could have done with thirty minutes more but it was time to lock up as I had a dinner to attend, sadly not with the beef ribs. So I wrapped them in foil and rested them overnight in the Yeti cooler (or warmer in this instance) and oh my days they were absolutely delicious even cold this morning (I’m still slicing bits off as I type, I can’t stop myself), I know what sandwiches I’ll be having for the next day or so.

Get to your local butchers or Cox & Laflin if you are over this way and buy yourself the best cut in barbecue. Much less expensive and much better than brisket, especially if you buy a rolled brisket (there is only flat & literally no point) and smoke it on whatever barbecue you have. Brine it first if you can, use your favourite rub or come in a buy some A&O Moo Mami, smoke it indirect (away from the coals) and enjoy. Your other half, your kids, neighbours friends and family will love you for it and worship at your feet in the presence of a barbecue God!