I’ve ordered short ribs at several different good restaurants before, all tapas-style places, probably a half dozen times, and frankly I just don’t get it. Each time I’ve been brought a sauce-drenched block of bone and fat with a single decent bite of meat on one side and comically tiny slivers of meat buried in the middle of it. I generally don’t have a problem with fatty meat dishes but eating chunks of pure fat is not appealing to me one bit.
What am I missing? Is that really what a short rib is supposed to be? Or have I somehow gotten a shitty cut 6 consecutive times, from 4 different restaurants?
And to answer the inevitable, “If you don’t like it why do you keep ordering it?” question, because it’s supposed to be this wonderful, amazing dish and each time I’m expecting it to be wonderful and amazing this time, but I suppose at this point it’s my own fault and I should know better. So this is your last shot, short ribs. Someone convince me this is good eats!
I’ve made short ribs at home (all day project, but worth it) and I’ve had them out in good restaurants in the DC area, as it happens. Without exception, so far, they’ve been enjoyable experiences as far as texture and content of meat vs. fat. So I really can’t comment intelligently on your experiences except to say, try it one more time but as an entree and not an appetizer or tapas sized dish.
Just off the top of my head, in DC, I recommend, Chef Geoff’s/Lia’s (American Bistro style).
It sounds like you’ve received bad ones; typically the ones I’ve had have been pretty fatty, but not ridiculously so. There is sometimes an outer layer of fat, but in my experience, it’s only like 1/3 the thickness of the meat itself.
I agree. I love short ribs when they are done right. When done wrong they are too fatty or tough as leather. Done correctly they fall apart when touched with a fork and have just the right amount of fat.
Short ribs should be something like a very rich and beefy pot roast. Maybe check them raw on your next visit to the grocery or butcher (brace yourself for the price realization) and see if they look like what you’re being served at the tapas place.
A few weeks ago, I tried some bbq beef plate ribs. Now that right there is the moneymeat. I’m not a particularly big fan of beef but that was the best I’ve ever had.
I’m going to echo DCnDC’s experience - it seems to me that short ribs are a new trend in decent to nicer restaurants, but that there is a lot of poor quality being served. I can’t help but think that maybe suppliers are exploiting the market just a teeny bit with inferior cuts.
It may be worth providing feedback to the restaurants on this, if enough people complain that all they got was a big square lump of fat then maybe they’ll get the message to be more discerning with their suppliers.
Oh it certainly is a new trend. My biggest complaint is that many of the dishes from different restaurants taste similar. But I like the taste so I’m not complaining too much.
I’ve considered that, and the reason I’ve only gotten it at tapas places is because I don’t want a piece of meat 4 times larger if it does turn out to be the same block of bone and fat. Maybe I can convince someone else to order it and I can just try theirs…
This. Properly done, they are pretty near the pinnacle of what can be done with beef.
Not quite sure what you mean here, but short ribs are expensive - often closer to prime cuts than to hamburger in per-pound cost.
Which, like chicken wings and flank steak, is a huge joke. These things used to be the waste of the meat processing industry and sold for scrap prices, which is why they were used to make tasty low-cost dishes, which then caught on and drove the price of the meat through the roof…
Interestingly, the very best I’ve ever had were in DC - I think the restaurant is gone now, though. Vesuvius? On Penn SE, where I see “Good Stuff Eatery” now?
Short ribs are typically eaten knife-and-fork. You must be thinking of BBQ ribs or baby back ribs, eaten with the fingers. I agree…
The short rib is the beef cut of choice of Koreans and Argentineans, two cultures who really know and love their beef. Bump is right…get to a Korean BBQ joint. If you’re lucky enough to have an Argentine steak house in town, order a mixed grill: typically, two types of steak, two types of sausage, plus the kidney and sweetbread.
My neighborhood Whole Foods recently began offering a boneless short rib cut, an inexpensive 8-inch torpedo weighing in around 3/4s of a pound. It’s heavenly when grilled, but you have to be damn careful – a shade past medium-rare and the fat leaks out, the fire blazes up, and leaves you chewing an old shoe.
Ah! There you have me. I didn’t actually know there was a difference! Next time I see short ribs on a menu, I will make a point of having 'em. Thank’ee, and ignorance fought.
Even out here in “flyover country”. I used to buy and braise short ribs from my local butcher probably once a month. Suddenly the price tripled, then quadrupled!
I asked what was up and he told me restaurants were buying them like crazy. I bet I haven’t made short ribs in 2 years. I refuse to pay ribeye prices for short ribs.
When they put the plate in front of you, with butter-tender meat still wrapped around the bones, and the [del]gravy[/del] [del]pan sauce[/del] nectar of the gods oozing down over the mashed potato base, and you take the best freakin’ bite of cow you’ve ever had… let us know.
Ditto for skirt steak/flank steak - used to get it for around $3 a pound and make wonderful tender BBQ sandwiches by the heap. Now I can literally put filet in front of my family - admittedly, smaller portion, but still a full meal - cheaper.
A large flat of chicken wings is 50% more than a same-size flat of legs. We do “giant wings” these days.
They’re still pretty reasonably priced here at the local groceries. Today I saw choice short ribs for $4.59/lb (or maybe $4.99/lb), and the boneless ones were on sale for $3.49/lb. (Those are my favorite cut for stews.) Oxtails were more expensive (I think $5.99/lb), so short ribs and oxtails are the most expensive of the stew meats, but well below prices for steaks, so pretty much right in the middle as far as beef prices are concerned (shank being the cheapest–$2.49/lb today and chuck second cheapest.)
Short ribs are perhaps the “beefiest” of the beef cuts. (Oxtail might be beefier, though.) They are fantastic for any long-cooked or pressure-cooked braise and are pretty difficult to screw up unless you don’t cook them long enough at a low enough temperature (350-ish and below is fine. You don’t have to go crazy low.) Of course, they are also used sliced thinly and grilled quickly in some applications like Korean barbecue. But, being so collagen-rich and fatty, they are especially good for slow cooking techniques. Also, they are great ground up for hamburgers. Very rich–I’m not sure what the fat content is, but I’d guess they’re at least 25% fat. Makes the moistest, beefiest burgers you’ve ever eaten.
I meant for OP to see if the chunks of short ribs at the grocery resemble the tiny bites from the tapas joint.
I usually see short ribs for around $5/lb, give or take a buck. This is closer in price to ground beef (~$3/lb for chuck) than all but the cheapest steak or roast cuts. Prime grade beef will almost always be at least a couple multiples of this price.
If your short rib is prepared properly, the majority of the fat should be melted, leaving deep beef flavor. And it should be a lot more than a couple of bites. Maybe you should be getting it as an entrée and not from a tapas style place.
