Summary
- Buy 3- or 4-bone slabs of beef plate short ribs.
- Remove the fat cap and silverskin.
- Apply 50/50 salt and pepper rub overnight.
- Cook using the 3-2-1 method at 275-300°F until fork tender.
I saw big slabs of short ribs like these featured at a Kansas City barbecue restaurant on a television cooking show. The short ribs came in 4-bone slabs, and the restaurant served 2 bones per order. They were meaty and tender and huge…and I just had to try them for myself using the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker.
Here’s a description and photos of how I cooked these beef plate short ribs on March 17, 2013.
Select & Prep The Meat
You probably won’t find beef plate short ribs like these just laying around at the supermarket. I bought these at Restaurant Depot, a members-only wholesale restaurant supply store with locations throughout the United States. If you are a Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) member, you can get a free day pass by showing your KCBS membership card and a photo ID. Alternatively, find a good butcher shop (which are few and far between these days) and ask for 3- or 4-bone slabs of beef plate short ribs, known as IMPS #123A. Plate short ribs come from ribs 6, 7 and 8 and are cut just below the ribeye.
Barbecue joints will sell 1 bone as a big, hearty serving, and that’s how I serve them at home. If you’re feeding people with smaller appetities, you can cut the meat from the bone and serve two people per bone.
This photo shows a Cryovac package of four 3-bone slabs of beef plate short ribs. The whole thing weighed about 22 pounds and cost $98. I cooked two slabs and froze the other two.
This photo shows the fat side of the two slabs I cooked.
This photo shows the edge of one slab, where you can clearly see the three bones on the bottom, the marbling of the meat, and the thickness of the fat and meat.
The fat cap on plate short ribs does not render as nicely or as completely as it does when cooking pork. You can try leaving it on, if you like, but I prefer to remove it and the tough silverskin beneath. This allows the rub to penetrate the meat and makes for a less fatty, more enjoyable short rib to eat.
This photo shows a slab of short ribs with the fat cap and silverskin partially removed.
These photos show the ribs after trimming. As you can see in the second photo, there is still plenty of meat on the bones, and plenty of marbling to keep the short ribs moist and flavorful.
As for the tough membrane on the bone side, don’t worry about it. Some portion of it may get crispy enough during cooking that you might enjoy eating it. If not, you just eat around it.
Apply The Rub
You can rub beef short ribs with whatever you like, but I went old-school Central Texas barbecue style…a 50/50 mix of kosher salt and coarse black pepper. Three tablespoons of each, mixed together and sprinkled generously on all sides of the meat, will do the trick.
Refrigerate the rubbed short ribs overnight to give the salt a chance to penetrate the meat.
Fire The WSM
Fire-up the Weber Bullet using the Minion Method—fill the charcoal chamber about 1/2 full with unlit Kingsford Charcoal Briquets and then light 30 briquettes with a Weber chimney starter and spread them over the unlit charcoal.
Smoke The Short Ribs Using The 3-2-1 Method
Place 1 large chunk of smoke wood on the hot coals. I used a chunk of pecan. There’s no need to soak the wood in water before use.
Assemble the cooker with the water pan in place and fill it with cool water.
Take the short ribs straight from the refrigerator, place a slab on each cooking grate and cover with the lid. Set the top vent to 100% open and leave it that way throughout the entire cooking process. Start with all 3 bottom vents 100% open. As the cooker approaches 250°F, begin to partially close all 3 bottom vents to maintain 275-300°F. Adjust the bottom vents as needed to maintain this temperature range throughout the cooking process. As you’ll notice in the cooker temperature chart below, I kept the bottom vents 100% open the entire time.
Barbecue the short ribs using the 3-2-1 method: 3 hours without foil, then 2 hours wrapped in aluminum foil, then 1 more hour without foil.
After three hours of cooking, the short ribs will look something like those shown in the fourth photo above.. Wrap each slab in aluminum foil and return them to the cooker. Cook for another two hours, then remove the foil and cook for another hour.
After five hours of cooking, you’ll notice that the ribs are getting very tender; in fact, the thinner edge of the slab may want to come clean off the bone. That’s OK, just try to keep it all together during the last hour of cooking.
After six hours of cooking, the meat will be super-tender. It should measure 195-205°F internal temp. A fork will go in and out of the meat like soft butter, and when you twist the fork, the meat will shred easily.
There’s no need to turn or baste the meat during cooking, and no need to replenish the water pan, either.
Here’s how the cooker temperatures and vent settings went during my cook:
| Time | Lid Temp | Vent 1 % | Vent 2 % | Vent 3 % |
| 11:10 am | – | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 11:35 am | 212 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 12:00 pm | 259 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 12:20 pm | 282 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 12:35 pm | 287 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 1:00 pm | 296 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 1:30 pm | 307 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 2:10 pm (f) | 307 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 2:15 pm (b) | – | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 2:45 pm | 307 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 3:15 pm | 295 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 3:45 pm | 290 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 4:15 pm (r) | 290 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 4:20 pm (b) | – | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 4:50 pm | 271 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 5:20 pm | 255 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
(f) foiled the meat
(b) meat back into the cooker
(r) removed the foil
Note that the vent percentages represent the way I set the vents at the time indicated.
Rest & Serve The Short Ribs
This photo shows how the short ribs looked coming out of the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker after 6 hours of cooking using the 3-2-1 method.
Tent the short ribs with foil and let the meat rest for 15-30 minutes before serving.
You can see the great smoke ring from that single chunk of pecan in these photos and just how cleanly the meat comes off the bones.
This is a knife-and-fork meal, to be sure! You’re not going to eat these like you do a sparerib. Here’s what I wrote in my cooking log: “Nice exterior appearance, not too dark. Good smoke ring. Very tender—perfect! Nice and moist. A little fatty, like brisket point. Good beef flavor, mild smoke flavor. Not too salty or peppery.”
I hope you’ll give beef plate short ribs a try if you can find slabs like these. Your family and friends will be impressed, and you’ll enjoy some really good eats, I guarantee!
