25 0 10 0 10 0S3. 75 14 10 14 10 14s6. Types of Beef Ribs — Their Differences and What to Tell Your Butcher Beef ribs have a bbq beef cheeks caveman element about them, are unctuous, flavor-packed, and are always real crowd-pleasers. But did you know there are different types, that are very different in size and how you would cook and present them?
Learn all about these BBQ’ers favorites in this guide. In just the last couple of years the big, bad beef rib has been making itself known to the barbecue community. It seems like every day I’m faced with pictures of enormous beef ribs that look more like brisket on a stick than ribs, and would make Fred Flintstone jealous. But did you know, just like pork, there are a few different types of beef ribs? What is the Big Deal With Beef Ribs?
The answer is very simple, and Texas columnist J. Reid does an excellent job of summing it up: beef ribs are delicious, photogenic, and primal. On top of that, the large bone of the short plate rib makes for a great Instagram pic that will potentially make the staunchest vegan jealous. You can click here to follow my method for how to smoke to beef ribs. While we go into detail in our look at beef ribs vs pork ribs, the short version is they have their similarities, but they are clearly very different. Most obviously, beef ribs are much larger than all types of pork ribs. This should come as no surprise since a steer is much larger than a hog.
Besides their larger size, beef ribs tend to have more unctuous, gelatinous fat running through them that when rendered down can be like eating brisket on a stick, where the leaner beef back ribs are like eating something like a smokey, rendered steak when cooked just right. The Plate and Chuck ribs typically have more beef than the back ribs, and they are located down towards the stomach of the animal while the back ribs are attached to the prime rib up top. These are the beef ribs that barbecue pitmasters wet dreams are made of. A simple rub of salt and pepper would do wonders for this cut, and it’s an excellent candidate for the smoker. Similar to the plate short rib, the chuck short rib is still very meaty, but with just a slightly smaller bone.