Had an ingredients questions for anyone who might know - fiancée is making this recipe today so we’ll have short ribs for a few days to linger over:
We have Morgan Ranch wagyu short ribs that, once I defrosted them, I realized are boneless. The recipe calls for bone-in. Should we be making any adjustments to the recipe?
(As of this moment, probably using a Chatagnier Saint-Joseph Sybarite for the braising and drinking a Cuchet Beliando, with an epic decant, with dinner - though it might end up being a 2010 cru bourgoise and a 2013 Di Costanzo with the meal.)
I’ve always done bone-in, but the bones are quite thin and I’ve never noticed any less material in them after removing them, so I don’t think they contribute much. So as others say, I think you’re fine.
It worked out! Also I did a little reading. Apparently the boneless short ribs come from a different part of the cow than bone-in. Bones do add flavor, but the boneless carry a richer flavor, so the result is similar. They were delicious - took about 30% less time to cook. Also I can vouch for 2015 Cuchet Beliando as a great match - needs about six hours in the decanter, then it’s glorious.
Sounds great! Thread drift perhaps, but it would be interesting to know where the “boneless short ribs” come from… is this analogous to “boneless chicken wings” or “country style” pork ribs?
Boneless short ribs are typically just chuck roast sliced into thick strips is what I’ve been told by my local meat guy. Typically leaner in my experience. A well cooked short rib does taste different. There’s a lot more collagen and long braise friendly stuff that happens to a short rib than chuck.
When I want to make braised short ribs, the bone is an important piece from a presentation perspective. I also feel the sauce made from the braising liquid has more depth from the bones but that’s sort of splitting hairs. Nailing the short ribs is an ALL DAY affair. Boneless takes maybe half as long in my experience.
Both work great. Red meat braised in wine rarely sucks. If we’re making braised short ribs dinner is ready when dinner is ready. If I’m braising chuck, we can eat dinner on time
I like to cook them slower and longer, probably 6-8 hours at 275. Pre roast veggies , reduce 2x the wine and liquid to half volume before even braising.
You want to cook them until they’re about 80-90% tender. Then remove and cool down to say 120 degrees to let the juices return to meat. Then remove and cover meat, strain the liquid, reduce to the right consistency, return meat and sauce to roasting pan and finish in the oven for 90 minutes in the new sauce.
This keeps them from falling apart and let’s you go from oven to table ready for dinner with everything rocking and rolling.
It’s rare when Flannery has boneless short rib, but they did recently, and wow do they look spectacular (color brightened up significantly after sitting open in the fridge for a couple hours to dry out)
I’m all about boneless short ribs (from Costco, most of the time) but I do see the benefit of bone-in for the extra flavor (though these are not lacking in said flavor, to be sure)
Braising in red wine over the next 3 hours, can’t wait. 100% chance of Silver Oak Alexander Valley for Jen tonight - her favorite wine with her favorite meal (and I don’t think I’ve ever done boneless Flannery short ribs, so this should be a treat)
I think there is a lot of leeway in what they can call boneless short ribs. My local grocery chain often has them and they vary greatly in their composition. I buy when the striations of fat look the most like short rib and not when they look like a cut up chuck roast.
That’s a really good point. I normally try to do the same and in a pinch yesterday picked up some that were bone-in but had a composition much closer to chuck. Texture was just totally different, in an off putting way.
The flip side of that is that on Sunday I made a batch of braised shortribs, half bone in, half boneless, and I’d chosen some that looked like they were cut from close to the rib, and I couldn’t have told you the difference. In fact, I might have preferred the boneless since with the bone-in you tend to get the connective tissue which attaches the meat to the bone and it makes cutting/separating a bit awkward when actually eating in comparison to the boneless.
I’ll still buy the ones that look more like chuck if the price is right, but grind them for burgers, Bolognese, meatballs, etc.
fun weekend- bought a pack at costco without reading closely…open em up to brown off and they are thin sliced flanken, no good for braising. had to run to grocery to get bone in replacements, braise turned out fantastic.
Im ok with the costco boneless, but cant always get them
