Smoked deer ribs

[RAF]

Tomorrow I'm going to try a new culinary delight , I hope. I made up a sauce which is supposed to duplicate Tony Roma's Sauce. I've used it before and it is good with Baby Back Ribs. This morning I trimmed up a bunch of deer ribs, put on a generous portion of the sauce, reserving some. They're in the fridge now and tomorrow I'll put them in my Bradley smoker. Can't wait to give 'em a try.

 

[Wolf_River_Mike]

Let us know how they turn out RAF. Deer ribs are something I usually don't mess with.

 

[DeerNut]

I am very curious to see how these turn out. When I've ever tried deer ribs, I end up feeling like I was chewing on a candle and not meat.

 

[Redclub]

Deer ribs are excellent, best part on the deer. What I do before bar-b-queing is to put on a rack in oven over water and bake until meat shrinks from the bone this will take all of the fat out.Then I put on weber cooker with a little apple wood.
Ken

 

[JimA]

Deer ribs are excellent, best part on the deer.

Ken, I will trade you all my prime ribs this year for some of those lowly backstraps of yours. :wink: :lol:

 

[Mountain Man]

The last several deer I shot had a lot of damage in the rib areas from bullet and bone fragments, and I've been short on time, so I didn't mess with the ribs. I did grill some a couple years ago. I first removed all excess fat. I didn't have a smoker, so I made a pot full of homemade barbeque sauce and stewed/simmered the ribs in the sauce for a couple of hours, trusting the vinegar and enzymes in the pineapple juice to break down the sinew and tough stuff. Then, I put them on the grill over hickory coals and basted them with barbeque, turning as it would glaze and carmelize. Kept them over the fire for about 45 minutes. Weren't too tough at all and flavor was great. Don't know if it was really worth the trouble or not for the relatively small amount of meat, but they were certainly finger lickin' good!

 

[RAF]

I never used to use them in the past, but last year I decided to give them a try. As I mentioned I have a recipe that is supposed to duplicate "Tony Roma" ribs, so last year I substituted deer ribs for the baby back ribs. They turned out great. I decided the other day I'd use the same sauce, but instead of cooking them in the oven, wrapped in tin foil, I'd try doing them in the smoker. My plan was to cook them today, but this morning my wife informed me that her plans were to use up all the left overs and to hold off on the ribs until tomorrow. I'll let you know how they turn out.

 

[Redclub]

They are so good that I have an old skil saw that I keep for sawing the ribs off the carcass. Works great and quick.
Ken

 

[RAF]

Well folks, the ribs didn't quite turn out like I expected. After careful analysis :wink: I have come to the conclusion that the chef , me . Messed up and over cook them. I put them on the BBQ on low heat for an hour and then transferred them to the smoker. The taste was OK but they were dried out. I'll know better next time, but that will have to wait. Out of ribs and can't replenish until next season, which starts in 4 months

 

[jcchartboy]

Raf,

I am hearing over my shoulder from Jcchartgirl that smoking should have been done first, then cooking second.
Just last night I cooked some of her baby back ribs...man were they good. When Mel gets out of bed I will try to get her to give you some more of her thoughts/ideas on the process.

 

[RAF]

In the recipe book for the Bradley smoker I couldn't find a recipe for anything but pork ribs. In it they said cook first for an hour and then smoke for 3 more. I guess pork ribs are thicker and take longer. I should have thought or realized this .

 

[jcchartboy]

I think you are correct. The issue may be the fact that they are "deer" ribs...
Check out this chart...
http://www.askthemeatman.com/deer_cooki ... ethods.htm

It actually implies that smoking deer ribs is not recommended...

Most sites seem to suggest par boiling the ribs first, due to the lack of fat. A few suggest a short smoking is possible. However, in many cases this may be done solely for the "so I can say I did it" reasons.

I think if taste is your number one goal, par boiling or slow oven roasting would be primary method of cooking. Then sauce would then added and they could be quikly finished/glazed in an manner you felt comfortable with...

JccB and JccG

 

[RAF]

That's an interesting link and site so I bookmarked it for future reference.

The way I did the last batch, last year was to make a sauce according to the recipe I have. They were then covered in sauce, wrapped in tinfoil and cooked in the oven at low heat for several hours. They turned out great. I was trying something new this time and I learned from the experience.

 

[jcchartboy]

ribs

Pm sent..

 

[Loggy]

Learned a lot from this thread since up till now I thought there were only PORK RIBS...to eat that is! :lol:

 

[RAF]

If anyone is interested here's the recipe I used last year. I substituted deer ribs for the baby back ribs and it was great. Of course you could use pork ribs, which I've done and they're great too .

Tony Roma's Baby Back Ribs


Combine:
1 cup ketchup
1 cup vinegar
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon tabasco pepper sauce

Heat over high heat until boiling.

Reduce heat, simmer 30-40 minutes until thick.

Coat 4 pounds of baby back pork ribs, front and back, with BBQ sauce.

Wrap ribs in aluminum foil. Bake at 300 degrees for 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

Remove ribs from foil and smother with more sauce.
Grill on hot barbecue for 2-4 minutes per side.