Short Ribs

[Tim Dolan]

Got some really nice looking short ribs the other day and don't have a clue what to do with them since I've never made them before. So what are your favorite short rib recipes?

[Fat Guy]

The meat of short ribs is tough and full of collagen, so it's not very appetizing unless it's cooked in such a way as to tenderize it. There are two main ways to do this, as well as a few minor variations. The most common way to prepare short ribs in Western cookery is by braising them. That can be done in stock, wine, beer, etc. The other thing I see done a lot is the Korean barbecue approach: thin slicing and marinating, followed by cooking on a hot grill or griddle.

[Dave the Cook]

There's also slow-roasting, which surprisingly few people consider. Rochelle Myers (she's known as "malawry" around these parts) wrote up a nice variant on my technique in a column for her local paper. You can read it here.

[percival]

Kalbi if you can. Absolute fav way to have. Fruit/cola/soy sauce/chili/sesame/garlic/honey/onion marinade overnight, then grill.

Though the Southern California Korean short rib cut -- long thin (1/2") strips, three rib bones intact -- is different than the traditional Korean cut -- one wide rib, meat sliced/rolled out in one thin strip. These cuts are different than the standard American cut -- one square cut rib, cut square with about 2" of meat. You wouldn't be able to do kalbi with those thick cuts.

Edited October 4, 2010 by percival (log)

[IndyRob]

Short ribs must be the most mysterious meat cut of all to the general public. I say this because a couple of years ago, at the last minute, it was decided that I would be doing Christmas dinner for the extended family. I went to the grocery, which I found was closing early on Christmas Eve. There had been a run on (among other depts) the meat section. The meat section was almost completely empty. I saw people throwing up their hands and was about to panic myself. Then I noticed several packages that had survived the rush. Yep, they were short ribs. I gathered them up calmly so as not to attract undue attention and walked away thinking "These will do nicely...."

Then there was the time I found short ribs labeled as 'soup bones' and priced at around 50 cents a pound.

I might have to try to find some more to try that Korean method. It sounds interesting.

[scubadoo97]

I did a search on EG and couldn't find the Kalbi recipe that Bob/Octaveman posted quite awhile back. It was fantastic

Edited to add, I found it. Give it a try. Excellent Kalbi. It involves a soak in 7up over night with kiwi and Asian pear prior to the basic Kalbi marinade.

1 1/2 cups lite soy sauce

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup sesame oil

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

8-10 cloves of fresh garlic, crushed

6 large green onions, chopped roughly

Edited October 5, 2010 by scubadoo97 (log)

[qrn]

remove the bones, and grind em up, and make sausage

Bud

[petit cochon]

I just did braised short ribs tonight, actually! Rainy day here, so felt like something warm that I could serve over leftover roast cauliflower (repurposed as a mash).

My braise wasn't a recipe so much as just what I had on hand, but it seemed very seasonal so I went with the 'see what happens' approach. Braising seems to be fairly forgiving because the result was very flavorful! I'm encouraged to experiment again!

This round what I used was essentially: couple of onions, carrots, celery, and garlic cloves; a pumpkin beer plus a beer bottle-full of water; half a can of pumpkin puree (leftover) and about as much tomato puree (also leftover); a few sprigs of each thyme and rosemary.

[conor610]

Two words: pressure cooker. Just as good as braising, in one fifth the time.

[djyee100]

I'm a fan of beef short ribs. Like many tough cuts, they have great flavor--you just have to cook 'em right. My fave for beef short ribs, Alice Waters' recipe for Braised Beef Short Ribs with Gremolata. The gremolata goes surprisingly well with beef. The recipe is here:

http://www.foodista.com/recipe/2NLBKBTR/braised-beef-short-ribs-with-gremolata

If you can track down James Oseland's Cradle of Flavor cookbook, there's a recipe for Javanese Spiced Oxtail Stew, for which you can sub short ribs. The meat is cooked with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. That dish is another winner.

[jkarpf]

Braising's my favorite technique for short ribs. I'm skeptical about slow roasting, as described above, rendering out the fat, or making it easy to whittle out the gristle, since I once spent a whole day smoking cross-cut short ribs ("before" photo below) and dealt with lots of fat and gristle. Maybe I needed ribs cut lengthwise, instead of crosswise?

[Tim Dolan]

I'm making my way through the excellent braising thread from the eGCI series. I'll probably make them this weekend, I'll let you know how it turns out.

[scubadoo97]

My most recent meal with short ribs involved braising the ribs and removing the meat from the bone once cooked. The sauce was reduced and both the sauce and the ribs were left overnight in the fridge to cool. The meat was cut into cubes and mixed with cubes of roasted sweet potatoes and the reduced defatted sauce.

[Marlene]

I can vouch for Dave's slow roasting method. It works very very well. I do braise short ribs mostly, and somewhere is Recipe Gullet is the recipe I use most, Short ribs braised with wine, port and honey. They're pretty awesome. But lately, I've been doing an asian glazed braised short rib too.

[mgaretz]

I use them to make Carbonnade a la Flamonde (Belgian Beef Stew) - cook them for 6 hours in the slow cooker.

[swpeterson]

I have had excellent results with short ribs in my Sousvide appliance that I purchased last May. I have found Douglas Baldwin's excellent book "Sous Vide for the Home Cook" to be an invaluable resource during this journey.

My recipe has been much varied but is basically as follows:

4 shortribs for a two person dinner. They are about 3 X 3 inches square generally with the bone still on.

Season them with kosher or sea salt, fresh ground pepper, red pepper flakes, onion powder, garlic powder, a teaspoon to a tablespoon of rendered bacon fat, a sprig of fresh thyme, oregano, majoram.

Everything goes in the Food Saver vacumn bag. I use one bag per two ribs. The seasoning is per bag as well.

My goal with the ribs is to eat them rare. So I follow Douglas's water bath for 130 degrees F. I have had the best results for me using the 36 hours. I have done them for 24, 36 and 48. But for the rare goal, the 36 hours yielded the best results for me.

The results were a succulent prime rib quality taste and texture for the price of short ribs.

After the ribs were done, I cut open the bags and poured off the liquid into a sauce pan. I have done a variety of add-ons to the sauce including cherries, stone fruit and last time cranberries. The fruit are always fresh (so far) and the sauce is reduced to about 1/2 cup and finished with unsalted butter before serving.

The ribs in the meantime are place on a cake roll pan that has a rack on it or I can also use one of my stainless steel all-clad saute pans with a small rack inside the pan and broil the outside (fattest side up) about 2 inches from the broiled element. The time is generally not longer than 3 minutes assuming that the broiler is at its hottest temperature.

I have tried my Weber Q200 grill with a cast iron skillet heated to the Q's highest temp for browning. I have tried a hand held flame torch that one would use for creme brulee. I have tried high heat searing of the meat on the stove using a high smoke point oil. For me, the best results have been using the broiler after the sous vide rather than before.

When I want the short ribs to be more on a braised flavor, I cook them until they are falling off the bone tender using the higher 160 degrees for 48 hours. I broil them the same way and I use a gastric to 'sauce' the meat.

The gastrics have been made with apricot jam and apple cider vinegar, plum duck sauce with a red wine vinegar, another was with an onion-garlic jam with the apple cider vinegar.

The results for these short ribs are much more of a stick to your ribs hearty dinner than the short ribs cooked to mimic prime rib. The gastric is added after the meat has been colored up under the broiler. The time for the coloring is the same as it is for the rare ribs. The gastric is then painted onto the ribs and the ribs are placed back in the turned off oven for 5 minutes to rest.

Hope this has been helpful to you.

[Jill Chamberlin]

Braising is the best, but for years, my short ribs were always so greasy that I almost gave up. Then, epiphany, I tried the Cook's Illustrated "winter 2010" recipe--Perfecto. Unfortunately even though I'm an online subscriber, apparently CI only provides searches of its monthly--not seasonal or special--editions. From the magazine, however, the secret technique:

"5 lbs short ribs--6 to 8 english-style ribs, trimmed. Salt and pepper, arrange bone side up on roasting pan, cover tightly with aluminum foil and roast at 375 until fat has rendered and ribs are browned, 1.5 to 2 hours."

Save 2 T. of the roasting fat. Reduce oven to 300, lightly brown carrot, celery rib, l chopped onion, in fat. add 4 cloves of garlic, 1 T. of tomato paste, cook l minute until fragrant. Add whatever braising liquid you want --like broth, a little port in broth, etc., the ribs, rosemary, l/4 c. instant tapioca, a touch of balsamic. Cover, cook in oven until totally tender, about 2 hours. Strain and skim the sauce. Delish.

[scubadoo97]

Jill, you don't really need CI's input to braise short ribs. What you described is a basic braising technique. I will trim and dry my short ribs then season and lightly coat with Wondra. Brown ribs and remove from pot. Add aromatic vegetables and allow to brown slightly. Add braising liquid which could be anything from just plain water to wine, broth or stock. I recently used fresh carrot juice, water and wine. Add the ribs back to the pot, cover pot and braise in the oven @ 275-300 for ~ 3 hrs. If you want to use the vegetables in the dish add later in the cooking. I usually puree them with the braising liquid after it's been defatted which thickens the sauce and adds a lot of flavor. So many ways to braise meats with good results.

[percival]

Actually that wasn't basic braising technique at all. Note the first step and huge difference: CI is saying to bake the ribs at 375 for 1.5 to 2 hours, then braise. That renders off a lot of fat that braising cannot do, and dries then rehydrates the meat. I imagine you end up with a stringier, leaner cut of meat than the typical braise. I sous vide mine, instead of braising. I'll have to try this bake method and compare.

[scubadoo97]

Oops misread that there was no liquid during the high heat phase in the CI method. I'll stick with lower slow temps with liquid and defat after as needed.

[IrishCream]

When I was single I used to just sling a few short ribs into a pot, add a can of chopped tomatoes, a diced onion and seasonings and let it braise in oven. It was a great single person meal.

Last year I purchased Keller's Ad Hoc cookbook and wanted to try a recipe. I decided to use his braised short ribs recipe for a dinner party. It took two days. Complicated and fussy to cook which is fine if the results merit the effort. It was insanely expensive by the time I boiled down a good bottle of Cabernet, not to mention that short ribs are no longer cheap meat. Miracle to find them for $5 a pound. All I can say is I followed his recipe exactly (it's Keller after all) and not a single guest complimented it (well, they were polite but you can tell the dif). It was bland, boring, blech.

Kinda sad.

[Borgstrom]

I've only cooked with short ribs twice, but was very happy with the results each time.

The first time was for hamburgers. I ground a 50/50 mix of short ribs and sirloin. The burgers were excellent - lots of beef flavor, juicy, tender. This is my go-to recipe now anytime I make burgers.

The second time was last night. I cooked them sous vide at 60C for 48 hours following the recipe in the Momofuku cookbook. They turned out spectacularly well; effusive praise from my guests. I will definitely make them again, but may cook at 55C to get a more medium-rare color like is in the book.

2 days sitting in circulator bath:

Short ribs don't look so appetizing just out of the sous vide bag:

Short ribs look better after 3 min in deep fryer

Plated short ribs a la Momofuku:

[bmdaniel]

I'm very surprised by how brown those look at 60c; I think your problem is the 3 minutes in the deep fryer (although 55c would be better too). A torch is a worthwhile investment here.

[ScottyBoy]

Are you shocking them after the SV then holding until service? If so that should produce a nice medium temp. This are mine at 60c for 48 hours. Shocked, portioned, fried and rested 5 minutes.

[Borgstrom]

I was surprised by how brown they were as well. I checked the internal temp with a thermapen just after taking them out of the circulator -- they were at 59.5C, so I don't think it is a circulator temp issue.

I did not shock them after pulling out the bags -- they went from circulator to 185C oil in the span of about 10 minutes. Could shocking them in an icewater bath make that big of a difference? I would be surprised, but who knows...I'm new at this.

As far as 3 minutes deep fry vs. torch: I've got a blazing hot MAPP torch, but haven't been too happy with the results so far. It seems to burn the surface irregularities before really browning anything. Perhaps I need to refine my technique. In any event, for the short ribs I was following the Momofuku instructions which called for oil. Looking at the result, I don't think the heat from the oil penetrated deeply at all; the ribs had a very thin crust followed by perfectly consistent color all the way through -- no banding at all.