Venison Ribs ??
Wisconsin
My 13 year old shot a six pt during the youth hunt, (no pics yet)and I saved the ribs to smoke. Been doing lots of baby backs the last few years but have never done venison ribs yet.
Any suggestions?? Or I will just treat them like pork and see what happens. I already trimmed off as much tallow as I could.
I have a gas smoker I've been using, lots of hickory chips. Will the remaining tallow melt out? What temp would you use? Same as pork I hope cause I will do a batch together.
Was actually thinking of trying to smoke some squirle's too, have you done that?
Seems to me that you have quite a bit of experience smoking meats! ;)
Tomorrow morning they all go in, the squirrel will be a test. I have been smoking ribs for about 3 hours and have finished them in oven with foil just to save gas. May complete job in smoker this time.
One smoke cycle seems to be plenty, any more and its almost too smokey.
Have not done fish yet but its on the list, with brisket also.
I love the ribs but have trouble with the fat. I smoke the ribs, slow and low, i've roasted them in the oven, cooked in the slow cooker as well. How much of the fat do you get off the ribs before you smoke them? Are you right down to the rib bones with just the meat in between the bones left? The meat along the spine is very meaty with a layer of fat. Do you cut that whole section out? Thanks, BC
BC
I'm no expert but trimmed off the thicker tallow pieces on the sides. I was a little sloppy getting off the backstraps on purpose to leave more meat behind. Some flank was left on also with a bit of diaphragm too.
Then I cut ribs off very close to spine and kept them almost all the way down to sternum. Actually quite a lot of meat there. Not down to bones.
Trimmed out where bullet went thru and cleaned up very well.
Again, I don't know what I'm doing but seems like a start to me. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Agree with Howatt on the 3-2-1 method. I use a Traeger Grill (best money I ever spent) and they come out awesome. also see the link to a good resource
I was kind of thinking of trying squirrel this year, I doubt they would come out dry. I've never had anything come out dry from the smoker, juice runs out of my turkey when I cut it when its done, it might even be better if I had an injector for marinates.
Not smoking, but another option... Ribs are a pain to wrap and keep in the freezer so I just use them right away. I rub them with Famous Daves BBQ rub, wrap them in Saran wrap and place in the fridge overnight. The next a.m. I brown them on the grill and then place them in the crock pot with a Famous Daves Sweet and Zesty sauce watered down with a little beer. When I get home from work, they're done. I usually then pull the bones,dice it up some and serve as BBQs on buns.
Great Thread!!! Thanks for the info.
I've never tried Famous Daves rub but I'll bet its good. We make our own rub combined from several recipes. What we did is cut back on the salt. We really like to coat our meat and it seems a lot of the commercial rubs were too salty for us.
We have some squirrels in the freezer, might have to give them a try. BC
You guys gotta be be pretty darned hungry if you are eating the ribs. That meat goes for snack sticks.
Update, the ribs were awesome! As good as the baby backs in same batch. Will do it again soon, should not have gone this long.
As for the squirrel, not gunna do that again. There is a reason they invented pressure cookers.
Bigwoods
Which model Traeger Grill do you have and why is worth the money you spent?
I was looking at smokers am interested in your experience with the Traeger
Thanks
For those without a smoker and without the desire to get one. Boil the ribs in a large pot for 15-20 minutes. Let cool. Tallow will rise to the top of the water and solidify. Remove it and repeat the process a second time.
Then put the ribs in a cake pan with BBQ sauce. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and place into the oven over low heat for 2.5 hours.
Not as good a smoked ribs but still excellent.
I have tried them on the webber and they were edible but dry. I did not wrap them or anything fancy like mentioned above. A friend told me I shouldn't eat them anymore since CWD and you are cutting bone to remove them from the carcass.
