Texas style BBQ beef ribs cooked in a Big Green Egg using Aaron Franklins recipe

We'll start with the results and then walk you through from the beginning.

One serving:

Hot off the grill:

Now the backstory.

I'm going on a work trip for the next week and the wife asked that I cook up one last rack of beef ribs, and I obliged.

I'm not cooking on a traditional smoker that looks like this:

Image Source

I'm using a Big Green Egg (BGE)

Photo is from summer when the grass was green instead of right now when it's dead.

A traditional smoker would do a better job for BBQ specifically, but the BGE is it can cook lots of different things well. I plan on making more posts showing all things we cook on it.

The recipe comes from one of the kings of BBQ, Aaron Franklin. He runs his own restaurant here in Austin so good that there's a line outside the door, four hours before they are even open. When former president Barack Obama was in Austin he paid for everyone in line's meal in order to "cut" to the front. You can read a news article here.

To see the man himself make it you can watch Aaron make it on YouTube

For easy reference the recipe can be found Here

How to make them.

It's essentially pretty simple. Go to your local butcher and ask them for bone in beef short ribs. If they want the cut number its 123.
Price will vary based on where you go so make sure to shop around. Here you can see I got a rack for 2.24 a pound. It's roughly twice that at another store down the street.

After pulling it out of the packaging give it a cold water rinse in the sink and dab dry with paper towels.

The ribs should be trimmed close already, but if not you can trim some excess fat or unwanted dangling bits.

Next you slather it in some hot sauce. I used "Louisiana" Hot Sauce.

Mix a 1/4 cup of coarse ground black pepper and a 1/4 cup coarse kosher salt. This simple mix of salt of pepper is what makes it Texas style, and it should be all you ever need. You don't need to spend extra money on the pre-mixed rubs.

Liberally apply it all over the beef rib.

Now it's time to get the fire started. You want to have a drip pan full of water inside while you heat the BGE to 285°
(I will make a post about cleaning, filling, and lighting the BGE another time.)

Place the beef ribs in bone side down and insert your remote thermometer if you have one.

Checking in on them four hours later.

The goal is for the internal temperature to reach 203° everywhere. When checking with your thermometer there should not be much resistance.

I personally don't spritz the beef ribs as I prefer the crispy texture on the outer layer.

Roughly seven hours later they are done.

Now purists will tell you not to put any sauce on them. I will tell you to live your life how you want. Personally I prefer my BBQ on a slice of bread with pickles, onions, and some BBQ sauce.

Thank you for reading!

Note: All photos not sourced were taken by me.