Beef Ribs
There are essentially three types of beef ribs
Plate
Short Ribs (most commonly called beef short ribs.)
These
are the beef ribs that barbecue pitmasters wet dreams are
made of. They are the big honking foot long; melt in your
mouth tender, brisket like ribs that you see being cooked
in the best barbecue joints in Texas. Plate ribs are the
biggest and beefiest ribs out there with a single bone
sometimes weighing as much as 1 – 2.5 pounds.
Chuck
Short Ribs.
Similar
to the plate short rib, the chuck short rib is still very
meaty, but with just a slightly smaller bone.
The
ribs will only be 3 – 6 inches long with a rectangle mass
of meat on top of the bone.
Back
Ribs.
Back
ribs are much different than chuck and plate short ribs.
They come from up higher on the cow and are essentially
the ribs you would find in a prime rib roast.
Given
the fact that prime rib is a very expensive cut of meat,
it is no surprise that the butcher will typically try to
keep as much meat on the roast as possible.
This
means it’s common to find racks of beef back ribs with
very little meat on the bones, but with all the meat being
only that between the bones.
