Barbeque Short Ribs

Barbeque short ribs with just the right amount of smokey flavor are pure southern style comfort food. Short ribs are another one of those cheap cuts of meat that was transformed into something everyone likes.

This recipe has a little more tomato flavor than most that makes it seem more like a stew but the beefy short ribs make it stand out. We added red skin potatoes to make a one dish meal. It is sooo good!

Before you start this dish you will have to smoke your short ribs. Follow the directions on this site for smoked barbeque meats but for short ribs cut the smoke time down to an hour at the most. Just season your short ribs with coarse salt and cracked pepper and place in a 225-250 degree smoker.

Use no more that one or two chunks of fruit wood or pecan. Let the short ribs get a mild dose of smoke and don't let them cook too long. They will finish in the oven.

Ingredients

• 6 pounds of short ribs
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 3 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 2 cups dry red wine
• 3 cups of chicken stock
• 1 (15 ounce can of diced tomatoes, Mexican style
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• small can of mushroom slices (4 oz)
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 5-6 red potatoes, cut into large bite sized pieces

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large Dutch oven
3. Add onion, carrots, garlic,celery,salt, pepper, to Dutch oven and saute
4. Add tomato paste, wine and stir about 1 minute
5. Add stock, thyme, diced tomatoes, mushrooms and bay leaf
6. Add potatoes
7. Add short ribs
8. Cover the Dutch oven and put in the over to braise for about 3 hours or until the meat is very tender
9. Serve in a large bowl or platter

Have You Ever Cooked Barbeque Chicken that was Underdone, Dry, or Charred?

You don't want your chicken to look like the picture on the left below. I'm sure you've been to events where the barbeque chicken could be described by the headline above.

Well this page provides the secrets of great smoked chicken for the new cook. Chicken is one of those things that everyone likes, but it's also one of those outdoor foods that gets ruined frequently.

It really does not have to be that way. You can produce great barbeque chicken by focusing on proper preparation, cooking time and temperature, and seasoning.

The biggest mistake that new cooks make with chicken is overcooking. The meat becomes dry and chewy and many cooks like to cover up the mistakes with barbeque sauce.

Many people will try to cook the chicken slathered in sauce over a hot flame resulting the charred remains of what used to be a piece of chicken.

This site also has a great "how to" recipe for Beer Can Chicken, just click on this link to go to the page.

The key secret to good chicken is that the cook must use either a marinade or brine solution prior to cooking. A marinade will enhance the flavor and keep the meat from drying out.

Italian salad dressing makes a good chicken marinade. Marinate for at least eight hours.

Brine is a salt and sugar solution(along with other spices) used to flavor and increase the moisture level in meat. Brining uses the process of osmosis and diffusion of concentrated solutions from higher to lower concentrations to move water molecules into the cells of the chicken.

The chicken's cells actually increase their volume of water and swell. A siginificant amount of water is retained during the cooking process resulting in making the chicken moist. Although marinades are good, brining, in my opinion, is a better option for chicken than marinade.

The performance of brining solutions is so good that you wonder why the technique is not more widely known.

The Steps for Successful "Smoked" Barbeque Chicken:

• Make sure the chicken is clean by rinsing in water.
• Trim excess skin and fat.
• Prep the surface of the chicken with olive oil, mustard, or mayonaise.
• Sprinkle with your favorite chicken rub.
• Put the chicken in your smoker at about 250 to 275 degrees and cook no more than 1.5 hours.
• Wrap the chicken in foil and cook another 45 minutes.
• Take chicken out of the foil wrap and then sauce with your favorite barbeque sauce
• Place the chicken (unwrapped) back in the smoker for another 5-10 minutes to set the glaze of the sauce
• Take out of the smoker and let rest for 15 minutes.
• You are ready to serve!