Surprisingly, Beef Ribs like these aren’t readily available at most grocery stores but, when they are, you should snatch them up. I picked up this 9+ pound Beef Rib Roast for about $42 USD, with tax, $4.58 per lbs. Beef Short Ribs are more common but usually expensive. A rack this size, rarely has much meat on the bones because Prime Rib and Ribeye steaks are cut from the bones so, the only meat that’s ever left is in-between. I show you how to prepare and cook delicious Beef Ribs like that, here. Another great option is Country Style Boneless Beef Ribs and I’ve got a great recipe for those as well. But, if you ask me, this is the way to go. Just a solid piece of meat still connected to the rib bones.
9.12 lbs Raw Beef Rib Roast on a white cutting board upon a butcher block counter top.
Preparing the Beef
Much like a Beef Brisket, there is a lot of trimming that needs to be done before a Beef Rib Roast is cooked. All the fat can be left on the roast if it’s preferred but, everyone should be concerned with the removal of the silver skin. It can be very unpleasant chewing on piece of meat that hasn’t had this removed because it doesn’t break down when it’s being eaten. The silver skin, on a portion of beef this size, runs the entire length of the beef and is approximately 4″ inches wide. I show you how to trim and remove it in the video tutorial. The membrane on the ribs can also be peeled off.
Beef Rib Roast after Smoking on the grill for only 3 hours.
Seasoning and Smoking
It’s fairly common practice to lube up the meat before seasoning with some sort of oil, mustard or hot sauce. I don’t use any of those. I just hit it, on all sides, with Kosher Salt & pepper, then place in the corner of my grill over indirect heat. I have a 3 burner gas grill and I only turn on the front burner with the heat set on low. With the lid down my heat levels out around 275° Fahrenheit throughout the duration of the cook(approximately 9 hours). I use a smoke tube filled with pellets to provide the smoke and it works great. The flavor it adds to the meat is amazing.
Fully Smoked Beef Ribs with 7 bones and a black bark.
Something you might want to consider, however, is wrapping the meat once the internal temperature reaches 165° F. My ribs were good but I think they would have been even better if I had done that. I think next time, just for fun, I might even pull the rack off the heat, once I hit 125° F internal temp, and slice up some medium rare ribs.
Smoked Beef Rib Roast video tutorial by PoorMansGourmet.
Smoked Beef Rib Roast Ingredients:
10 lbs Beef Rib Roast, bone in Olive oil or Louisiana Hot Sauce, optional Kosher Salt and Pepper
5 cups Wood Pellets for smoking
Just follow the instructions in the video tutorial and I’ll show you exactly how to make this Smoked Beef Rib Roast.
Smoked Boston Butt Pork Shoulder Roast hot off the grill.
The Best Boston Butt Roast
One of my all time favorite recipes is pulled pork and my go to recipe is normally Kalua Pork but if you’ve ever had a Smoked Boston Butt Roast, you know it’s amazing. I’ve got a really great rub to share with you and, for those that don’t have a smoker, I’m going to teach you how to smoke your butt’s on a gas grill and still get the same results.
One packaged and tagged Raw Pork Butt Shoulder Roast, 7.55 lb, $9.66.
What is a Boston Butt
Some people confuse and automatically assume that a Boston Butt Roast is exactly what it sounds like, the butt or bottom muscle of the pig, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s actually the front shoulder above another famous roast portion, the picnic. So, the difference is, the Butt roast is more square and has the shoulder blade bone cut into each portion and the picnic is more like the bicep and forearm(ham hocks) of the front legs. Both cuts of meat, however, make excellent pulled pork.
Apparently, butts are named after the barrels the pork was stored in during the revolutionary war in New England. The barrels themselves were indeed called butts. New England is comprised of six states in the northeastern united states and Boston Massachusetts is considered it’s largest city, Hence, the Boston Butt.
Seasoned Boston Butt Pork Shoulder Roast ready for the grill.
Seasoning a Pork Butt
There are many different ways to prepare a Smoked Boston Butt and no one recipe is the right way. When I think of pork roasts, though, I tend to lean towards my Latin taste buds which pull me towards a spicier more flavorful seasoning. Sure you could go with a classic salt and pepper rub and you would, most likely, get fantastic results. Me, on the other hand, prefer Barbacoa and Chipotle style recipes so, I put together a rub with a little more flare. I use yellow mustard as a binder and several sweet and savory ingredients for color and flavor.
You also have to consider whether or not you want to add any Barbecue Sauce. If you do want to add it, it’s best brush a thin layer over the roast at the time of wrapping in foil. It’s also fairly common unwrap the butt, when it’s done cooking, and glaze it with a thinner sauce. Common glaze’s are generally a mix of barbecue sauce, apple juice, apple cider vinegar and sometimes blended fruits like apricots or peaches. Once a glaze is applied, the Boston Butt Roast is placed back on the grill, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes to caramelize.
Smoking on a gas grill
Thanks to cooking shows on TV and cooking channels, like mine, on YouTube, Barbecue and smoked meats have gained extraordinary popularity. I think that most folks already love a good BBQ but, I’m not really sure that everyone has ever really experienced great barbecue. It was years before I ever really appreciated it. Any meat that came out of my Mom’s kitchen was never grilled and it always chewed like leather or an old shoe. Sadly, other than fish, I had no idea that meat could melt into your mouth until I was literally a full grown man and slow and low is the way to go.
On a gas grill, unless someone is burning the food, there isn’t the luxury of smoke. Without the added flavors, that burning logs, chips, pellets and nitrates the smoke provides, you’re not going to get that infamous “smoke ring” grill masters brag about. The smoke, however, on a gas grill, can still be achieved and I show you how to do it in this video tutorial. What I don’t mention, though, is an alternative.
First know, to achieve smoke, all you have to do is introduce and burn wood chips or pellets inside the barbecue grill itself. I purchased a cheap Smoker Tube from amazon that, very easily, fills with pellets and accomplishes this task. You can, however just wrap wood chips or smoking pellets in a hand made aluminum foil pouch and, with many poked holes in the foil, get the same if not similar results.
Smoking Boston Butt Roast on the grill with thermometer probing the meat.
The Boston Pork Butt must cook over indirect heat. This means that there mustn’t be a gas burner directly under the meat. My grill, for example has 3 burners. I turn the front one on low and leave the back two off to place the butt over indirect heat. I also add a bowl of water, to regulate humidity and help to keep the roast from drying out. Another step you can take is spritzing the roast, once every hour, with apple juice or apple cider vinegar or a mix of the two in a spray bottle.
I try to maintain a temperature around 275° F on my lowest setting but, on hotter days, sometimes the grill will heat up as high as 325° F so, don’t freak out if yours does. The look of the outside and the actual internal temp of the pork butt is what really matters.
Half of a Smoked Butt Roast shredded into pulled pork with Au Jus.
The smoker tube, on average, lasts 2 to 3 hours before more wood chips or pellets need to be added. I only add them once. When the tube burns out the second time, there’s no need for further smoke.
I probe the center of the roast with a thermometer after 4 hours. Once I’ve reached 160° F internal temp, I wrap the Boston Butt in foil and roast until internal temperature reaches 195° F. Then I remove it from the grill and let it rest 20 to 30 minutes before I shred it.
Shredded pulled pork from a 7.5 lb Boston Butt Pork Shoulder roast.
If I wrapped the the butt properly, there won’t be any leakage and there will be a puddle of roast juice in the bottom of the foil when I unwrap it. This juice or Au Jus, if you will, is essential for the pulled pork to reach maximum flavor and it provides a ton of moisture in the meat that keeps it from drying out so, don’t throw it out. If you want to chill it first to remove the heat, that’s fine but poor the whole thing over the shredded pulled pork and turn the pieces over a few times before serving.
If you’re interested in making pulled pork sandwich’s with this recipe, check out my Coleslaw recipe.
Smoked Boston Butt Roast on a Gas Grill by PoorMansGourmet.
Smoked Boston Pork Butt Ingredients:
7.5 lb Boston Pork Butt 3 tbsp Yellow Mustard
Pork But Rub
1/2 cup Smoked Paprika 3 tbsp Kosher Salt 2 tbsp Black Pepper 2 tbsp Brown Sugar 2 tbsp Cumin 1 tbsp Coffee grains 1 tsp Garlic Powder 1 tsp Onion Powder
Apple Cider Vinegar to Spritze
275° Fahrenheit for approximately 8 hours, total cook time. Wrap in foil at 160°, approximately 4 to 5 hours and cook for an additional 3 hours or until internal temperature reaches 195° F, then remove from the grill and let it rest. After 20 minutes, shred into pulled pork, add the leftover juice from the roast and serve. For more flavor, shake the rub seasoning into the shredded pulled pork.
One of my top 10 recipes is my Texas Style Beef Brisket but, in that recipe, I only cooked the point, which is the thicker portion of a brisket. In this recipe I cook an entire brisket, Austin Texas style. This means you won’t need the rub that I show you how to make in the other Texas style recipe because, in Austin, they only use Kosher salt and pepper. It is an oven roasted recipe so, you’re not going to see the smoke rings that are so overly admired but it will still be just as juicy, tender and flavorful.
Beef Brisket in a the bag per pound total weight and price.
Understanding the Beef Brisket
When it comes to several of my more “expensive” recipes, I always hear the same gripes and complaints. They say, “this isn’t a poor man’s recipe” but I completely disagree. First off realize that this is the Poor Man’s GOURMET kitchen so it’s not all about canned tuna and saltines. I believe that there is a time and place for everything. This means that I justify and understand special occasion costs. Some things do cost more than others, there’s just no way around that but, there just might be a way through that still saves money. When it comes to this brisket costing me $60 dollars, I look at the price, I consider how many meals and mouths I can feed and the price per pound. This Brisket, per pound, costs less than hamburger where I live. And if you’re interested in the amount of money I saved vs. eating out, CLICK HERE and read this!
Raw and trimmed, kosher salt and peppered Beef Brisket in a roasting pan.
Beef Brisket Preperation
A Beef Brisket is one of the easiest things to prepare for roasting. How much labor that goes into it, however, totally depends on how much work your butcher did for you and how much you want to do yourself. The trimming is, by far, the most difficult part but it’s really easy to do. Just cut out off the fat and proportion the meat into the shape you want it to be. You should leave a good 1/4 inch of fat across the whole bottom, though, and consider removing the silver skin, on top, and an inch or two from the end of the flat(the skinnier portion of meat). Then season the meat with an even amount of kosher salt and pepper. I recommend seasoning in the roasting pan to prevent a messy counter top. Now all you have to do is bake the brisket, covered, for 12 hours at 200° Fahrenheit.
