Texas-Style Monster Beef Ribs
By Matt Pittman
Find out why Matt Pittman calls these giant beef ribs “the best bite in barbecue, end of story.” Though you can find these dinosaur-sized beef plate racks in just about any supermarket in Texas, folks living in other parts of the country may need to buy them mail order or ask their butcher to special order them. (If so, ask for a 123A rib.) While short ribs can come from this cut, you want these monster ribs to be long, at least 8 inches and up to a foot in length. When it comes to flavoring them, Texas barbecue seasoning is mainly salt and pepper, but Matt likes the added garlic in his Holy Cow BBQ Rub. Alternatively, you can use a mix of Traeger Coffee Rub and Traeger Beef Rub, a favorite combo from Traeger's Chad Ward.
Prep Time
10 Min
Cook Time
8 Hr
Ingredients
This recipe serves:
6
Activating this element will cause content on the page to be updated.Units of Measurement:
main
| 2 | 3-bone beef rib racks, preferably prime |
| Meat Church Holy Cow BBQ Rub |
Steps
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Texas-Style Monster Beef Ribs
1
Trim the ribs: Leaving behind a thin layer of fat on the meaty side, shave off any hard fat to create an even surface. You do not need to remove the silverskin. On the bone side, unlike with pork ribs, there’s no need to remove the membrane since they will not be seasoned.
2
Season the ribs: Apply a generous coating of Meat Church Holy Cow BBQ Rub on the meaty side and edges of each rack. (There's no need to season the bone side.) Let the seasoned beef ribs sit at room temperature for at least 15 to 30 minutes before cooking. Even better, cover and refrigerate overnight.
3
When ready to cook, preheat the Traeger with the lid closed to 250°F; this will take about 15 minutes.
250 ˚F / 121 ˚C
4
Holding a leave-in meat thermometer parallel to your work surface, insert it in the center of a meaty side of the ribs avoiding any bone. Place the ribs meat side up on the grill grates. Smoke the ribs until tender, with an internal temperature around 210°F. While the temperature is a good indicator, what you are really looking for is the perfect tenderness. When properly cooked, a meat thermometer or similar should slide into the meat as easily as if it were a stick of room temp butter. The time the ribs take to become tender will depend on the meat, the weather, and the grill model, but it will be at least 8 hours and possibly longer. While these ribs do not get wrapped during cooking, you can wrap them in butcher paper after a few hours to speed the cooking along. Note that there’s no need to spritz the meat during smoking.
250 ˚F / 121 ˚C
210 ˚F / 99 ˚C
5
Transfer the racks to a cutting board and let rest for at least 1 hour. However, it’s even better to let it rest until the internal temperature lowers to about 140°F, which can take up to 3 hours depending on the ambient temperature.
6
To serve the ribs whole, slice them between the bones. Alternatively, slice the meat off the bone and cube it to serve more folks. Enjoy!
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