Harry Soo’s Butter-Cola BBQ Beef Short Ribs

Beef

Harry Soo’s Butter-Cola BBQ Beef Short Ribs

Learn the 150°F bark check and the 203°F tenderness milestone to reproduce BBQ champion Harry Soo's famous butter-cola beef short ribs at home.

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There’s nothing quite like beef short ribs. The unique flavor of the meat is halfway between a brisket and a steak, and their tender juiciness is beyond compare—at least, it is when you cook them correctly!

We were happy to have Harry Soo, one of the world’s great BBQ personalities and championship-winning talent behind Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ, take us through his process for making the best beef short ribs ever. Harry uses a layering of rubs as well as beef base, Worcestershire sauce, and cola to flavor these ribs, and the results are truly delicious.

To get the best ribs, though, you need more than just good seasoning; you need the right temperatures. We used our Smoke X4™ in conjunction with our Billows™ BBQ Control Fan to keep our smoker at the right temperature and to monitor the temp of our ribs. Watch the video to hear all of Harry’s explanations, then use the recipe below to make these award-winning ribs yourself!

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Harry Soo’s Butter-Cola BBQ Beef Short Ribs Recipe

Harry Soo’s Butter-Cola BBQ Beef Short Ribs Recipe

Chef Martin Earl

Prep Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

6 hours

Ingredients

  • 2 plates beef short ribs trimmed of silver skin
  • 1/4 C rich beef broth made with beef base mixed with less water than recommended
  • 1/4 C Worcestershire sauce
  • Texas-style salt-and-pepper-based rub
  • Your favorite beef rub
  • Umami-based rub
  • 1/2 C brown sugar divided
  • 2 –4 tsp cayenne divided
  • 1 can cola divided
  • 1 stick butter melted

Directions

  1. Rub the beef base and Worcestershire sauce into the ribs on both sides.

  2. Apply a salt-and-pepper-based rub evenly over the meaty side.

  3. Apply a beef rub, then an umami-based rub.

  4. Allow the ribs to set in the fridge for 3 hours or up to overnight.

  5. Preheat your smoker to 300°F (149°C) using your Smoke X and Billows BBQ control fan.

  6. Put your ribs on the smoker, probe them, and set the high-temp alarm on the ribs for 150°F (66°C). Wad up two balls of foil and place one under one side of each rack of ribs to allow for runoff.

  7. Smoke the ribs until the high-temp alarm sounds. It should take a few hours.

  8. Check the bark of the ribs by scratching the surface to see if any rub comes off.

  9. Create two foil wraps large enough for a slab of short ribs.

  10. Lay one slab on a wrap and apply a little more beef rub.

  11. Sprinkle the ribs with about 1/4 C brown sugar. Sprinkle with 1–2 tsp cayenne.

  12. Pour on half the melted butter and half the can of cola.

  13. Wrap the ribs back up and put them back on the smoker. Repeat with the other rack of ribs.

  14. Reset the high-temp alarm for the meat channels to 203°F (95°C).

  15. When the high-temp alarm sounds, verify the temp with your Thermapen ONE. If you see nothing below 203°F (95°C) and the meat feels tender, remove it from the smoker.

  16. Allow the ribs to rest, wrapped, for at least a half hour before opening.

  17. Open the wrap, slice the ribs, and dig in!