Dutch Oven Deer Ribs
Conventional wisdom holds that deer ribs taste best when cooked outdoors on a grill or smoker. But Wild Game Chef Jeff Benda throws conventional wisdom out the window with this recipe, cooking deer ribs low and slow in a Dutch oven until tender, juicy, and packed with flavor.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 2 pounds deer ribs, each about 4 to 6 inches long
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 Tablespoon avocado oil
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 cups venison or beef broth
- 1 teaspoon mesquite-flavored liquid smoke
- ¼ cup BBQ sauce
Instructions
- Go deer hunting, shoot a deer, and harvest the ribs.
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Pat the deer ribs dry with paper towels. Trim away any thick, waxy fat and silverskin. To remove the membrane from the bone side, slip the tip of a sharp knife beneath one corner to loosen it, then grip the membrane with a paper towel and pull it away. If it tears, loosen another section and continue until you remove most of the membrane.
- Season the ribs all over with salt.
- Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the ribs, meaty side down, and cook until lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Do not brown the exposed bone side; leaving it unseared helps the meat hold to the bones during the long braise. Transfer the ribs to a plate.
- In a small bowl, combine the cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and smoked paprika. Rub the spice mixture generously over both sides of the ribs.
- Add the broth and liquid smoke to the Dutch oven, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom. Return the ribs to the pot, meaty side up. Cover and transfer to the oven. Cook for 2 hours.
- Remove the lid and test the ribs with the tip of a fork or paring knife. The meat should be tender and yield readily when pierced, but still cling firmly to the bones. If the ribs remain tough, cover the pot and return it to the oven for another 30 minutes to 1 hour, checking after 30 minutes. Deer ribs do not cook according to the clock alone. The age and size of the animal, along with the thickness of the ribs and amount of connective tissue, all affect how quickly collagen softens. A young deer with smaller ribs may be tender at 2 hours, while the ribs from an older, larger animal may need closer to 3. Judge tenderness, not time.
- When the ribs are tender, remove them from the Dutch oven and transfer them, meaty side up, to an aluminum foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Adjust an oven rack so the ribs will sit about 6 inches below the broiler element and heat the broiler. Brush the ribs generously with the barbecue sauce.
- Broil until the sauce is bubbling and glossy and has begun to caramelize around the edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Watch closely during the final minute; the sugars in barbecue sauce can go from beautifully burnished to scorched surprisingly quickly.
- Let the ribs rest for 5 minutes. Using a sharp knife, cut between the bones to separate them into individual ribs. Serve them warm, preferably without much ceremony. These are ribs, after all. Pick them up with your fingers and eat the tender, smoky meat straight from the bone, with the sticky, caramelized edges making the mess well worth it.
