A misunderstanding with the butcher shop led to the last steer I took in to be butchered coming back with the entire side of ribs in 1 piece. I can't fit them on any of my smokers or grills, won't even fit in the oven, and it will take us days to eat them once they're thawed to cut down.

I'm thinking cut down and smoke like brisket then maybe cut off the bone and do poor man's burnt ends. Any other suggestions? Eating beef ribs for a week won't go over well with my family...

Take them back to the butcher & have them saw them into sized pieces of your preference.  I would guess they run beef a couple days a week.

Throw them a smoker or do braised and make tacos,chili,or BBQ beef Sandwiches. Turn that frown upside down. Nothing happens by accident.

Do you have a non rusty back cut saw?  Custom cut them.  It’s not hard at all.

I baked a ham for New Years dinner.  I cut with a knife to the bone to remove a ham steak from the face for breakfast, sawed through the bone with the washed fine cut back saw.  Washed it in hot soapy water and rewaxed it and put it back in the garage.

Bone and wood are fairly similar to saw.

I’d bring them back since they’re frozen though and let him use the powered meat saw.   Assuming he isn’t on the other side of the county.  If so, set out on counter til the freeze is a softer frozen state, saw before thawed completely, rewrapped and freeze the portions to save for later.

Are you talking about a primal?


If so, just cut everything from where you're used to a ribeye being and go right, to the end of the bone. Separate meat from fat. Render fat down to tallow. Meat is great for tacos, w/eggs, stew, chili, etc. Cut bones short, making a large rib roast. Cut a couple steaks off and keep a roast.

Butcher shop is 3 counties away, 3 hr round trip, it's the closest one that does a good job. I always assumed once it left their doors it couldn't come back in due to sanitation and cleanliness reasons. They do beef more than just 2 days I'm sure. The place is huge, I think they take in around 100 cattle a week. I dropped off right at opening on a Tuesday once and the number they put on them at checkin was 33, 34, & 35 which means they took in 32 cattle the previous day but I guess maybe they only take cattle earlier in the week?



I've cut bone with a normal wood saw before, I was just hoping to avoid sawing it up. Moreso looking for ideas on how to use it all once I thaw the whole thing. It's a whole rib primal (from a 1500 lb holstein steer so pretty big) with ribeye already removed. I think I can run it through the smoker in 2 batches without cutting bone. Just didn't know how to use it all but this thread has given me a few ideas.

Once you get it smoked shred the meat from the bone, vacume seal and freeze it. Maybe 1#  per bag, whatever portion size makes sense for your family. No need to try and eat it all at once. If handled properly it'll keep just fine in the freezer.

I cleaned freezers today, I noticed hand written on the wrapping it says "short ribs"...I've never known "short ribs" to be an entire rib primal with the ribeye cut off...I thought I had asked for short ribs, I think the butcher made a mistake.

Put a pruning blade in a sawzall and cut them into slabs that'll fit your grill/smoker

Sanitize your Sawzall and use a fresh blade. Cut into 2-3 rib sections. Cut 4" sections off bottom of each.  French 2-3" off each rib bottom and put that meat with the short sections.  Vacuum seal and freeze those. Perfect for a quick smoke, then braze with veggies, red wine.

The brontosaurus ribs season heavily with a strong rosemary rub and smoke. Be careful not to dry them out!

I decided to just FO. I invited friends, thawed the whole thing, cut between the 3rd & 4th rib bone so each piece had 3 bones, kept the thicker end of each slab closer to the fire on my offset stick burner, and smoked at 350 for 6ish hrs. The thinner bits and corners dried and got a bit hard but it was delicious. I also left my 8 year old in charge of the fire for a few hours and he told me it spiked twice so that could have contributed.

...Wish I was your friend! Sounds like a great time.