Smoked beef ribs offer an incredible amount of meat, fat, and bone marrow, making them the perfect choice for your next barbecue. From plate to chuck, here’s everything you need to know about the best types of beef ribs. BBQ ribs and you’d be forgiven for thinking of pork, but beef ribs deserve as much of grilled short ribs place at the table as their pig counterparts do. Particularly when it comes to barbecue smoking.
Beef ribs come in lots of different varieties, which can make choosing the right ones a difficult task. In this guide, we’re going to break down the different types of beef ribs, and which ones are best for your next barbecue session. Instead, they are often broken down into either back ribs or short ribs, and then there are subcategories within those. The back ribs come from close to the spine towards the animal’s front, overlapping the ribeye and prime rib areas. In contrast, the short ribs come from the lower sections.
They are not called short ribs because of their length, but rather because they come from the cow’s short plate. This section is close to the chewy flank steak and also the ever-popular brisket. Butchers can vary wildly in cutting meat, which is no different when it comes to beef ribs. Some will leave the fat cap on, some will cut the ribs a little shorter. This can mean that the same rack of ribs can look different, despite being technically the same exact beef cut. There are three main types of beef ribs: Chuck Short Ribs, Plate Short Ribs, and Back Ribs.
Let’s take an in-depth look at each of them and the best uses for each. These are often the most common types of beef ribs you can buy, and for good reason: They contain a good amount of meat and fat on them, making them delicious to eat off the bone. If you’ve ever had smoked chuck roast, you’ll be familiar with the unique flavor of the beef cut. You’ll be glad to know that chuck ribs are no different. Both the chuck and the plate have straight bones and usually at least 1-2 inches of meat. What makes them popular is that their bones are short, making the meat appear even bigger and easier to get to when eating. Their high meat content makes them great for marinating before grilling or smoking.
Similarly, their rich beef flavor makes them very popular in Korean cooking as it matches well with the deep flavors of gochujang sauce. They contain even more meat than chuck ribs, and for this reason are ideal for smoking. This is why they’re no stranger to Texas barbecue, so if you ever rock up to a smokehouse in the region and see short ribs on the menu, this is what you’re likely to get. Plate ribs are often comprised of just three ribs, but each of these ribs can weigh at least a pound each. These are big beasts of a cut and are taken from the cow rib cage’s middle ribs, although it’s not uncommon to see them sold as single ribs.
