Texas-Style Smoked Beef Ribs
These Texas-style smoked beef ribs are seasoned simply with coarse salt and black pepper, then slow-smoked until deeply barked, tender, and rich with authentic Central Texas barbecue flavor. Serve…
Ingredients
- 1 rack, 5-7 lb beef plate ribs, 3-bone rack
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 4-6 chunks oak or post oak wood chunks
- 1 quart water
Instructions
- Trim the ribs while they are cold. Remove any loose flaps of meat, hard fat, and the thin membrane from the bone side, but leave an even layer of soft fat on the meat side. Pat the rack dry with paper towels.
- Combine the kosher salt and coarse black pepper. Lightly coat the ribs with yellow mustard as a binder, then apply the seasoning evenly over every surface. Let the ribs rest at room temperature for 30-45 minutes while the smoker heats.
- Prepare a smoker for indirect cooking at 250°F (120°C), using post oak or another mild hardwood. Add a water pan if your smoker tends to run dry, and allow the cooking chamber to stabilize before adding the ribs.
- Place the ribs in the smoker with the bone side down and the thicker end facing the hotter part of the cooker. Smoke until the bark is dark mahogany and the internal temperature reaches about 165-175°F (74-79°C), usually 4-5 hours.
- When the bark is set and no longer rubs off easily, wrap the ribs tightly in unwaxed butcher paper. Return them to the smoker with the bone side down and continue cooking until a probe slides into the meat with very little resistance, generally at 200-205°F (93-96°C), another 2-4 hours.
- Transfer the wrapped ribs to a dry cooler or an unheated oven and rest for at least 1 hour, and up to 2 hours. This allows the juices to redistribute and the meat to relax.
- Unwrap the ribs, slice between the bones, and serve immediately. Offer thin Texas-style barbecue sauce, white bread, dill pickles, sliced onions, or coleslaw on the side rather than coating the ribs in sauce.
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