Ah, another weekend passed and another weekend where I was able to try a low and slow recipe much to the delight of the family. This past Sunday I blew the dust off an old favorite recipe and actually improved on the overall flavour of these hickory smoked beef short ribs.
All in all it was a 4.5 hour job but well worth it in the end. We served up a hunk of beef ribs with Heather’s own corn fritters and a couple of baked potatoes.
The recipe is pretty straight forward and combines the techniques of smoking and then finishing in….wait for it….an oven! (the thought still makes me shudder but hey ho, it was chuckin’ down with rain on Sunday so finishing the ribs inside was a bit of a blessing!
First the rub, which incidentally went on the ribs the night before, goes something like this:
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp of Kosher salt
Run this mixture through your spice grinder for a few seconds and combine it thoroughly. The next step you’ll coat your ribs with a bit of regular vegetable oil and then ensure you get an even sprinkling of the rub – don’t be shy here either!
After 24+ hours in the fridge, get your ribs out to get up to room temperature as you get your smoker ready. Stabilise your smoker at 180 degrees F and once done, throw in a few choice chunks of hickory wood. No need to soak them whatsoever…why put wet wood on a fire? Kind of defeats the purpose.
Place your pre-rubbed ribs on a rack and place it on the grid. Close the lid and let it smoke for the next two hours.
In the meantime, prep the next stage which is the steeping stage….and this is what you’ll need:
one bottle of beer (your choice but this time I used a bottle of Corona)
2 cups of chicken stock
Just get it ready, which means, no need to combine it all as you’ll dump it on the ribs after they finish smoking.
OK, so two hours have passed. Now you’ll simply move your ribs into a glass baking dish, bone side down, and then pour the chicken stock and beer on top of the ribs. Cover it with the lid or if you like, you can cover it with aluminium foil, but make sure it’s nice and tight. Have your oven pre-heated to 375 degrees F and then add the baking dish to the oven for the next 2.5 hours.
Once done, you’ll have an amazing bark from the smoking and the juiciest and most tender, fall off the bone beef you’ll ever try. The hickory smoke adds an awesome punch and the cayenne pepper give you that teeny bite that rounds off the ribs. Let the ribs rest for a few minutes but as they’ve been steeping in the stock/beer mix, they’re already nice a juicy.
Heather’s had this recipe before but with a bit of practice I’ve notched this one up by two points! Hope you enjoy this recipe. It takes a bit of patience but it’s all well worth it on a rainy Sunday night!
Cheers!
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Overall Heather Rating: 9/10