Beef Forerib

[Thomas Andrews]

Greetings! 

I thought I'd canvas a few opinions about how to do a big beef forerib on my Weber.

Should I go low and slow and cook at 225f for a few hours or am I best putting a bed of coals at one side of the kettle, sear the meat and then remove away from the heat to cook at a much higher temp than 225f indirectly?

The beef forerib looks like the cut of meat in my avatar.

Many thanks,

TA

[jmeier64]

I would go low and slow. Being up near the neck and shoulder, this will need some help to get tender. Since it is connected to the chuck, it will require similar preparation methods. If you have prepared a clod basically same technique. You could do a quick sear to caramelize the outside if you like. Braising also works well for this cut. Post some pics and your final technique.

[Thomas Andrews]

Thank you!

Now I've cooked ribs before but I'm not sure about 'clod'

[jmeier64]

The clod is the cut at the shoulder. Similar to a pork shoulder. The fore rib is the first four ribs roughly where the neck connects so it gets a lot of movement. Unlike the ribs that are further back and do not move much, these are not as tender. But they will be just as good, and should have a very buttery texture. Typically though would not have the amount of intramuscular fat since it is more of a working muscle.

One of the things you may want to consider is once you impart the smoke in the first hour or two, is to use a crutch or a Dutch oven and finish it with a braise.

[Thomas Andrews]

Thank you for this level of detail, jmeier64.

Do you reckon the 3-2-1 method should be long enough or too long?

I've never smoked a beef cut this big before. It's just under a kilo

[jmeier64]

From my experience this needs more of a roast with a bit higher of a temp than typical 3-2-1. not a lot higher. 250-275 is what I would use. and adjust your method to more like a 2 - 2 -.5 or similar, with the reset of bark 300 - 325. Think more along the lines of a prime rib roast ,but since it does not have as much intramuscular fat it needs a bit more time to roast and get all of the inter-muscular fat to render out.

[Thomas Andrews]

Again, thank you.

I'll post my efforts tomorrow.