Watch Canada in the Rough’s cook, Michael Higgins, smoke up some mule deer ribs on the Camp Chef SmokePro DLX 24 Pellet Grill.
Once you get a taste for these ribs we bet you’ll be saving every deer rib in the future to throw on the grill.

Smoked Mule Deer Ribs
Description: This sweet and spicy smoked ribs recipe can be used for any venison rib and even most domestic ribs, cooking times will vary depending on how big and thick the ribs are.

Prep time: 20min
Cook time: 5-6hrs
Serve: 6-8

Ingredients:

  • 4-5 Sections of Deer Ribs
  • Yellow Mustard
  • Butter
  • Maple Syrup
  • Apple Cider Juice (or any fruit juice)
  • BBQ Rub (sweet & spicy)
  • BBQ Mop Sauce (apple cider vinegar based)
  • BBQ Sauce (molasses based)
  • Kosher or Sea Salt
  • Smoking Pellets (Camp Chef Competition Blend)

Directions:

    1. Pre-heat smoker to 200°F.
    2. Remove the membrane on the back of the ribs with help from a butter knife or fork and paper towel.
    3. Season ribs with lots of salt on both sides. If you know your rub has a lot of salt skip this step or cut back on the amount.
    4. Cover ribs in yellow mustard, this will help the rub stick to the meat. You can also use beef stock if you don’t want to use mustard but mustard works best.
    5. Cover all sides of ribs with a generous amount of the rub. We like using a sweet and spicy rub.
    6. Smoke ribs meat side up for 3hrs. Mopping every 45-60min of the 3hr smoke with an apple cider vinegar based mop sauce. Make sure there is a little space around each rib to let smoke flow properly.
    7. Remove ribs from smoker and set aside. Lay an industrial-sized piece of aluminum foil down that’s long enough to cover one section of ribs, or two sections of regular size foil, and add three spoonful’s of butter and a drizzle of maple syrup on to the foil. Then lay one section of ribs, meat side down, on foil. Top again with butter and maple syrup, along with some apple cider juice. Roll foil up nice and tight. Repeat until all ribs are wrapped.
    8. Kick the temp of the smoker up to 250°F, once temp is reached place all wrapped ribs, meat side down, back on the smoker. Plan to cook (braise) for 1-2hrs, generally you will braise for 2 hours for most ribs resulting in ribs that still have a little chew, which is a good thing, but thinner ribs can cook in less time. For fall off the bone ribs cook for 3hr. You’re done braising when you try picking up some ribs from out side the foil and they almost break but still hold together.
    9. Carefully remove ribs from foil, there will be hot steam, and gently transfer back to smoker, meat side up. Cover in bbq sauce, or a little extra dry rub for a dry rib, and place back into smoker for 10-20min to let sauce set. When done, remove and let rest 15min in loosely tented foil, then carve up and serve.

Recipe by: Michael E. Higgins

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