Smoked Beef Short Ribs

Where do beef short ribs come from, what do they taste like and how should you cook them? Short ribs come from the beef chuck portion and not the rib portion. They are the five short ribs from the chuck section that are too small to be used for good steaks. The meat in between these bones is from muscle that is used heavily, and therefore has less tenderness but much more flavor. Since short ribs come from the area between the chuck and rib, they combine characteristics of both cuts. Short ribs get the rich marbling of rib steaks with the deep beefy flavor of chuck roast. Traditionally, beef short ribs are braised (A combination of dry and moist cooking methods where you sear the meat and then bake the meat in a liquid), or smoked low-and-slow till the internal temperature reaches 200º - 205ºF.
Short Rib information courtesy of Lake Geneva Country Meats website.

Trim off the fat cap, membrane and silver skin from the top side of the short ribs. Rub all sides of the ribs with Roasted Garlic Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Pete's Western Rub which can be found on page 169 of my cookbook - "The Wood Pellet Smoker and Grill Cookbook". Wrap the seasoned short ribs in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat your wood pellet smoker grill to 225ºF using 100% hard wood CookinPellets.com Premium Perfect Mix wood pellets. Smoke the beef short ribs for 3 hours at 225ºF before bumping the pit temperature to 250ºF. To help prevent your food from sticking to the grill grates be sure to use one or more Teflon grill mat. Continue smoking the short ribs at 250ºF for approximately another 3½ hours until the internal temperature of the ribs reach 200º - 205ºF. The short ribs should be tender and almost falling off the bone. Wrap the ribs in heavy duty foil and rest them for at least 30 minutes before serving.