Experiment: faux short ribs. (Worked!)

Cafe Society
1

So I made some short ribs recently (flat-cut) and they were good except that I got rushed and didn’t defat them quite enough. So this time I’m looking at some decent but fatty block-cut ribs and wondering if there’s a better way.

So I picked up a big flat of stew meat instead and cooked it short-rib style. Completely yummy over some creamy sour-cream mashed potatoes (for the discerning), rice (for the mashed-hater) and sliced french rolls (for lunch today with the leftovers).

I thought it wouldn’t have adequate mouthfeel without the gelatin from the bones, and was going to finish it by adding some gelatin (works in other beef recipes), but forgot and… it was just fine. About the only change I’d make next time is to cut some of the larger chunks in half. The small stuff cooked into broth, the mid-size stuff was perfect, and the dozen or so larger pieces were just un-tender enough that I’d try to balance things next time.

Yummy. Try it.

2

Yeah, pretty much any short rib recipe turns out fine if you use a nice high-collagen cut of meat like chuck. I avoid generic “stew meat” because it could be anything, and usually is an assortment of cuts, some of which work well for stewing, some not quite as collagen-y/rich, like round cuts. So you get bits that are lean and dry, buts that are just right, buts that are gristle, etc. It’s the luck of the draw. My local grocery’ stew meat generally looks like top or bottom round and is much leaner than what I like to use for stew. There may be some shank or leg cut thrown in there, too, which does work fine. Best to just get a chuck.