FRED FLINTSTONE WOULD LOVE THESE RIBS

From the day I set foot in the new US Foods Chef Store in Oklahoma City and spotted the beef short ribs in their meat cooler. I couldn't wait until I had enough free time to smoke some.

Prior to Chef Store opening all I had been able to find were beef back ribs. Back ribs are good in a pinch but short ribs, also known as plate ribs, are where it's at.

Beef back rib bones are kind of similar to a pork baby back rib bone as they have a groove along the side of the bone. The meat is found more along the sides of the bone, between the ribs, with very little on top of the bone.

I MAY BE FULL OF BOLOGNA... AND BEEF RIBS!!!

I recently asked my Facebook friends to vote what I was going to smoke for a weekend.

The only requirements were that it had to be something I could readily find in Oklahoma City and it had to be something that was suited for low and slow smoking. So no crab testicles or elephant shoulders.

The Top 3 meats voted for, ok the only 3 meats voted for were.... Goat, Brisket, & Bologna.

Brisket & Bologna were tied when voting ended but there had been a lot of interest from people that had never smoked bologna before. So I broke the tie based on the number of people wanting to live vicariously through my smoking adventure.

BRISKET BECAUSE I WANTED TO... RIBS JUST BECAUSE

Most of the time when I fire up my smoker I'm having friends and family over to my house to feast on tasty BBQ. Unfortunately for me several of said friends and family enjoy my food so much that they expect me to make certain items at every cook.

I can be a bit of a perfectionist and the last couple of times I've had a party I had so many irons in the fire I felt like the quality of everything suffered a bit. So on this day I invited one friend over that had never had my Q before and all I was cooking was a brisket.

Seasoned simply with kosher salt and pepper

HOME GROWN Q

Q-Raunts aren't like Burger King. You can't have it your way. So on those occasions when I want it my way. I head to the Oklahoma BBQ Eaters Anonymous test kitchen and make my own Q.

Last weekend I decided I wanted some brisket done my way. So I fired up the Weber Smokey Mountain. Sawed me off a couple of chunks of mesquite and pecan from my personal stash of prime mesquite and pecan logs and twenty hours later I was eating something it's hard to find in the typical Q-Raunt.... Burnt Ends!

I started out with a 16 lb brisket, mixed up a batch of my super top secret ninja guarded rub recipe and gently massaged it into every nook and cranny of the meat. Smoked it overnight for 16 hours. Cut off the flat. Then put the point back on for 4 more hours to make me some succulent burnt ends.

At the point a piece of beef becomes a burnt end it transcends purely being a piece of beef. It has fulfilled it's destiny and reached a higher plane of existence. It's achieved perfection!

Was that too dramatic? Well when a piece of meat makes your eyes roll back in your head. Maybe you'll understand.