- [Kenneth] Blackened beef ribs is something that you won't find anywhere else. This is
one of those things that Louisianans do. We understand everybody else do what they do
with their beef ribs, but we got to put our own little twang on it, and blackening is exactly
what we're going to do. Yes, we're going to achieve a nice bark. We're going to achieve
a nice meaty flavor, but most importantly, with that juicy, beefy rib, we're going to
have that beautiful blackened Cajun seasoning that has penetrated this beef rib for hours.
So let's make our homemade blackening seasoning. We're going to take some salt,
paprika, some of that cayenne, some onion powder, garlic powder, white pepper, black pepper,
some dry thyme, and some dried o-re-gan-o. You might call it oregano. And then we're just going
to whisk that all together. If you want to be super fancy, you can put this into a food blender
and pulse it until it gets nice and even, but all you need is a bowl and a whisk.
Now that this is good and blended, I'm going to take out
two teaspoons for our whiskey barbecue sauce. So maybe, maybe a little bit more. All right.
Now that this is nice and ready. Look at that. All of this beautiful seasoning. All right,
now it's time to rub down our meat. So what we're going to do now is we're going to clean off the
silver skin. Now it all depends on how you get down. You can clean it or you don't have to clean
it, but since I'm classically trained and I see this silver skin right here, which will get into
your teeth and you will also need some toothpicks after you finish. All right? So the main thing is
you just want to get right underneath it. You don't want to get too much of that silver skin
with meat mixture. Okay? You don't want that issue. And so I just go, go ahead on and cut
that on out. And unfortunately, this beautiful piece of fat that was right there, is nothing
but silver skin. So now we're just going to clean off this last little piece of silver skin,
get it all up and out. Now let's get to seasoning. So I'm going to flip them over and I'm going to
season the back of the bones liberally. Like, if you think it's enough seasoning, put more.
And this beautiful blackening seasoning is going to do work, okay. You want to season the bones.
We're not eating the bones, but we want every part of this to be nice and rubbed down. All right. So
now we're going to flip them back over. In a true blackening fashion, we have some melted butter
here. And what we're going to do is we're going to brush this big ol' beef rib with some butter
so that this fat can hold our seasoning and lock it in as it cooks low and slow for
eternity. Blackening happens to confuse a lot of people, but I would say there's three main
things that they always need to keep in mind. You need some type of fat, whether it's butter or oil,
you need the seasoning and you need high heat. Now, obviously with these beef ribs,
we're not going to sear them first and then we're going to cook them over a 500-degree
oven. But what we're going to do is we're going to brush them down with some melted butter.
Then we're going to coat it with our homemade blackening seasoning, and then we're going to let
these things cook low and slow, and since beef, as it cooks, it gets browner, we're going to create
this blackening profile over time, and that's how we're going to make this a blackened beef
rib. So now what we're going to do is we're going to let this sit out at room temperature.
We're going to cover it for one hour and let it marinate. And while this is doing what it do,
we're going to go ahead on and get our smoker, smoking in our grill.
Traditionally, when you get smoked ribs, people think you have to smoke it for five to six to
eight hours. But the real impact of the smoke flavor happens within the first 30 to 45 minutes.
So that's why we're only going to smoke these ribs for about 45 minutes. I'm going to pull off
the box so it doesn't have to interact with it anymore. Or you can kind of just get hella lazy
and just let it just sit there. You do not have to refresh your smoke wood because all of that
smoky flavor that we're looking for, it's going to immediately impact it within the first hour.
I've started a base of some paper towels with a little bit of oil on it to help
jumpstart this fire. Hickory. Hickory. Hickory. Hickory. Do not be an amateur and use mesquite.
And I was just going to go ahead on and get this lit to help jumpstart this fire.
And I'm also going to cut my burner on to medium high, to even help it both ways. All
right? We're not going to depend on one fire. We're going to trust two fires. Now you can see
we've got a good fire going. Now all I'm going to do is just close this lid, cover my grill
and let it get up to 300 degrees. You can see our smoker is going. I went on head and threw in some
wood chunks just to even out the wood chips. And now I'm putting these ribs on the indirect heat
with the large bone closest to the heat. And now we're going to go ahead on and close this
for four hours. We want our temperature to be between 275 and 300 for four hours. We're going
to pull off that wood box within the first hour, and then let that thing keep going low and slow.
Now it's time to make our whiskey barbecue sauce. So we're going to go ahead on and get our ketchup.
Now, look, I don't know who was raised and taught
you all to make barbecue sauce with tomato sauce, but today that stops.
All right? You want that ketchup to add that nice thick, rich base. All right? All of it.
Then we're going to add some Worcestershire sauce. I love adding this Worcestershire,
because it just gives it a nice umami flavor to go along with our meats that we're cooking and with
then a little bit of vinegar. Balance: that's what you want. We got sweet. We got a little bit of
umami. Now we've got a little, little tart. Now we're going to also add the star of the show:
whiskey. Don't worry. I had my shot before we started filming. And then
you always have to have a little bit of sweetness. Today, we're going to go ahead on,
cause I'm a Louisiana boy, and that's some beautiful sugar cane syrup. Feel free, if you
can't find sugar cane syrup, to just use a little honey or agave. Give it a nice little whisk.
Cut your heat on high, and we're going to bring this up to a full boil, and then we're going
to simmer it for about 20 minutes and let it get nice and thick. Classically, you won't find brown
sugar or sugar, honey, or agave in your barbecue sauce. But here in Louisiana, since we're a sugar
cane-producing country, we love to put our sugar cane syrup wherever we can. So I thought it would
be a great pairing to use the sugar cane syrup with that natural caramelization that happens
as they burn the sugar cane to pair very well with the oak flavor that you'll get from your whiskey.
So our sauce has reduced. You can see the lines on the outside and look at how thick this is.
Mm mm mm. Give it a little taste.
Don't burn mouth on camera.
Nice. Sweet. Smoky. And you get a little back tang just from that Worcestershire sauce and
that whiskey playing friends together. This is going to be phenomenal on top of our ribs.
So it's been about 4 hours since our beef ribs have been cooking and look at how beautiful they
look. The first thing I noticed is how nice and brown that this back end is getting. I see that
the meat is pulling away from the bones, but I can also see how we have this little pullage on the
side. So what I'm going to do is just when I see that, I'm just going to rotate these right fast.
Very important key: for this recipe here, we're using
beef short plate ribs. We're not using those little bony ribs that you'll find in your local
grocery store. You have to ask your butcher for these because he has the secret on these beef
short plate ribs. That is the kind that looks like Fred Flintstone would appreciate.
That's the kind we're using in this recipe here. We can see our bark starting to form.
I'm going to cover the lid and close this for another two hours and let it cook, check it
and see how beautiful our bark is and check and see if these beef ribs are ready for serving.
So it's been the last two hours and look at how pretty that is.
I wish y'all had smell-o-vision. Now I have a little knife and I'm going to poke
right by the meat closest to the bone and you see how easy it inserts.
That's what we're looking for. That's a good sign that these ribs are ready to go in your belly.
Well, the time has come to see if I made Fred Flintstone nice and happy.
Let's break this bad boy off the bone.
And all you want to do is just cut right along that bone. And it should cut just like butter.
Look at that. Nice, juicy, fatty. I can remember, like it was yesterday, the very first dish that I
ever made, it was kind of a Russian roulette type of situation. Our chef instructor said,
"Pick out a recipe, cook it at your own will, and then we'll all do a taste testing as a group." Now
I grabbed the one recipe that seemed familiar, but I had no idea what I was doing. and it was
at that moment that I realized what chefs really understand: a quiet room is a pleasing room. It's
almost like a silent standing ovation, because if you can silence a room full of teenagers,
who's tasting your food and everybody gets quiet, you're really doing a great, remarkable job.
And now even as I cook now, that's what I'm looking for. I still want people to enjoy the
whole experience. But if I know after that first and second bite, the room went from
clamoring, everybody having a conversation, presenting the dish, and then they try and
then everybody kind of gets that, "You taste that too? Yeah. You taste that too? Yeah."
That's when I know I got a good job, you know, and I actually call that "deliciousness." You know,
when you silence everybody, that's deliciousness. Mhm. Mhm hm. Mm mhm mm mhmmmm mm mhmmm. Hm. Mm.
Nice and tender, beautiful bark on it. Good and juicy,
well-cooked meat. And the sauce just brings all of those flavors together.
We got a winner right here, but don't take my word for it.
Follow this recipe and do it yourself. See y'all.