Beef short ribs look like a BBQ cut and behave like a shank. The bone and the fat are the point; the meat only turns tender after a long cook. 1.3-1.7kg Short Beef Ribs is a 1.3–1.7kg piece, which is three to four people with mash or a serious two-person dinner. Shop beef short ribs and keep slow cooker meat open in another tab if you want chuck and brisket in the same order.
Oven short ribs
Season, brown all sides in a casserole — 3 minutes a side, in batches if you have cut the piece into ribs. Onion, a spoon of tomato puree, stock or red wine to come halfway up, lid on, 160°C for 3 to 3 hours 30 minutes. They are done when a bone wiggles and the meat offers no fight, around 90°C. Rest 15 minutes in the sauce. If you uncover them for the last 20 minutes you get a stickier face; if you keep the lid on you get a wetter pot roast. Both are correct. Skim the fat on top before you serve, or chill overnight and lift the solid fat in one piece, which is the cleaner gravy.
Slow cooker and BBQ
Slow cooker: brown first, then low 8 to 9 hours. BBQ: this is not a 20-minute grill rib. Smoke or run indirect at 120°C for 4 to 5 hours, wrapped for the last hour if they look dry, until they yield. Sauce in the last 20 minutes only. People who grill short ribs like pork spare ribs serve chew. Beef Chuck 1.5kg is the boneless cousin if you want the same flavour in a stew from stewing beef without the bones at the table.
What to serve and what not to do
Mash, polenta, or a hard bread. Horseradish or a sharp pickle. Do not pan-fry a short rib as if it were a minute steak. Do not blast 200°C from the start. Leftover meat, picked off the bone, is the best next-day pasta sauce you will make from beef. A 1.5kg piece looks expensive until you count the plates; it is a cheaper proper dinner than four fillet steaks and it feeds the house. Pair with Brisket Joint 1kg only if you have the oven space and the afternoon — two long cooks at once is a party, not a Tuesday.
Brown, lid on, wait until the bone wiggles. That is beef short ribs, and it is a different craft to pork ribs even though they share a name.