The Elk Rib Pt.2 – Redemption

Cooking, smoking, grilling, barbecuing – it’s a game. It’s a one-on-one matchup between meat and heat and you gotta play it to win. If you haven’t checked out my first Elk Rib Post – go visit and see what I did – then come back and see how I made it better. The guy/girl that invites you over for ribs probably didn’t invite you because it’s their first time cooking ribs. They’ve done it, they’ve worked on it, they’ve made it better over time.

This is round two. I’ve only ever cooked an Elk rib once. I did it again, and it came out better than before. What did I do differently? Why did I change what I changed? Read along my friends – it’s a journey.

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Recipe

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I’ll say it up front, the flavor I had in round one was pretty damn satisfactory for me. I didn’t want to change the flavor too much, but I had to change the time. I wanted a nice picture to start this post – a big-ass rack of elk on the grates, a little bit of background and my dog. Dumbass decided to blink mid pic. Such is life, let’s continue.

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The Prep Table

A lot of people asked why I through the entire rack on there, and why I didn’t piece it out. The only real answer I have is… it looks so much better whole. Y’all don’t want to see 2 bones four times. You want the entire rack on there. And so do i. So I tried to get a couple more pictures than I did last time I cut this thing up. If y’all got these in the freezer, give it a good couple days to thaw out in the refrigerator. I treated these like I did my briskets – keep on trimming until they’re soft and trimming becomes a pain. You can spend all day nit-picking to get them perfect – but we ain’t competition over here.

This is how I received this particular half-rack, still quite a bit of fat covering the goods. We’re going to slice off the hard fat, cause that ain’t gonna render down at all. Once you put the knife to it for a good 10 minutes, you start to get the feel of what good fat should stick. Let’s see where I called it quits.

We exposed a lot of the meat here. These ribs didn’t have a lot of meat generally – it was heavy up top, but disproportional to the high side. Know your smoker, know where the heat hits harder and plan accordingly. This is where I’ll remind you to do the biscuit test on your smoker. I did it way back when I first got my RecTeq (when it was RecTec) and you find your hot spots. When you think it’s the same temp throughout – it isn’t. Throw a dozen biscuits throughout the grates and see where it browns first. You found your hot spots.

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The Process

Spent my time trimming these up, and hit ’em hard with some Meat Church Garlic & Herb. MrsForensicBBQ and I don’t agree on everything, but we agree on this Meat Church Blend. Sorry Meat Church, I’m going to make my own after seeing how much the wife loves this one. You set the bar, I gotta do better.

Until then, we put a heavy coat throughout and got them on the grates at 225. I planned for the 3-2-1 method when I did it last time, but it didn’t exactly work. There’s less meat generally, the bone is different, it’s not a pork rib. I tried it that way, and knew I could do better. I got to making ribs by sight, and we’re doing that with these.

These went for only about an hour and half. HALF of what it went for last time. Why did I cut half the time off from last time? This is why:

This is the first difference I made since last time. I trusted the eyes vs. trusting the method. I started checking these at 30min intervals and noticed at 90min – it’s time to go. Put together my foil wrap and it was already time to advance. I loved the flavor I got last time. I added that Parkay, worcestershire, agave syrup, honey, and some herbs de provence. The flavor wasn’t the problem last time, it was the cook.

A little bit about the flavor. When you get something you may never get again – an Elk rib – you want to taste the damn elk. So many of us throw a lot of flavor at pork ribs, maybe even beef ribs, because we can stop off at Sam’s Club and do it again. I wanted to taste elk. I wanted to taste what God gave us, just enhance it. I went MILD with the sweeteners. The harshest seasoner was the lavender from the herbs de provence blend, but even that added earthiness that actually accompanied it, didn’t overpower. I knew I locked in the flavor last time, didn’t need an alteration this time.

As i’ve done for pork ribs, I line the foil with my wrap-blend, and load them ribs meat side down. Wrap it tight and put it back on the grates. The reason I do fat side down – I want that meat to grab the flavor. As it heats, the flavor gets to the ass end of rack, but the focus is what you’re eating – the meat. It’s going to sit in that fake butter fat, the seasonings and sauce, it’s going to soak it up as it steams the rest. Don’t doubt me, do it and enjoy the result.

Change #2: Remember when I said I deviated from the 3-2-1 method? I’m at 1.5 for the first step. This second step I halved the time AGAIN. We’re looking at 1.5-1-1 method so far. It’s hard to tell when it’s time to pull it when it’s wrapped in foil, you just have to trust the “bend”. Pick up one side, and “feel” the doneness. Sounds like magic, I know – but you get to know if you’ve done it enough times. Don’t trust me?

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The Result

After the wrap (and the fatty splash from the foil all over the garage) – I threw it back on the grates for a little bit – probably close to an hour. What I was looking for here is to “dry” it out a bit. Not completely dry it, but it’s been sitting in liquid from that foil wrap, I wanted to get the flavors distributed and cooked out evenly. It’s not exactly drying it out, but hopefully you know what I mean.

You’ll notice I also didn’t add any sauce. This goes back to tasting the elk as it is. I’m sure a soft BBQ sauce would’ve been great on it, but until I move to a location that has elk at the ready – I’m not going to ruin what I have presently. Let it taste like I’m supposed to taste it.

In the previous Elk Rib Post, I was cooking for a group of friends. This was just for me. I took a knife between the bones and shared a bone for each. I did the same here, because it’s more website friendly for y’all. But post picture, I trimmed off the meat for each bone, and made sandwiches (tortilla wraps) throughout the week for lunches. I’ll say my buddy Zach sent me a picture last time of his young daughter with one of these ribs and it was hilarious. Small girl, large rib – was pretty funny. So long as people enjoy the cooks, you’re ahead of the game.

Oh, wanted to see the result?

This is why we do what we do. I’ve done pork ribs, beef ribs – this was about as perfect “doneness” as I could’ve hoped for. That smoke ring was ever present, it was juicy, the bite was perfect. I couldn’t have been happier. What a difference the 3-2-1 method makes when adapted to about a 1.5-1-1 method. Trust what you know. The look (1.5). The feel (1). The finish (1). These were so damn good.

I don’t know if you noticed on one of the early pictures, it appears there’s a significant cut of meat atop the rib. When I was trimming, I was like “hell yeah, Slide and Slide Jr. missed this cut” – I thought about cutting it off and doing it next time, but nah, I kept it and smoked it with the rest of ’em. After the cook, I sliced it off and this was the result. This was the best part of the cook. It was such a tender, juicy, melt-in-your-mouth cut, makes me want to take a butcher class and realize what I gifted. I ate the hell out of this post-cook – pretty sure I didn’t feel too well after due to gluttony – but that’s my life.

Trying to get Slide, Slide Jr,, Pup to get posting on here, because y’all would lose your shit if you see some of the stuff they come up with. Can’t thank Slide enough for gifting me these ribs and Slide Jr. for the delivery and recommendations. I hope I did y’all proud with this cook – it was absolutely fantastic from my perspective!

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The Recipe