TastyDays

Braised Beef Short Ribs

Braised Beef Short Ribs (Commonly known in UK as ‘Jacob’s Ladder’) are a popular cut of beef. Beef short ribs are larger and usually more tender and meatier than their pork counterpart, pork spare ribs. A full slab of short ribs is typically about 10 inches square, ranges from 3-5 inches thick, and contains three or four ribs, intercostal muscles and tendon, and a layer of boneless meat and fat which is thick on one end of the slab and thins down to almost nothing on the other. There are numerous ways to butcher short ribs. The ribs can be separated and cut into short lengths (typically about 2 inches long), called an “English cut”, “flanken cut” across the bones (typically about 1/2 inch thick), or cut into boneless steaks (a style recently introduced in the U.S.A. as a cheaper alternative to rib steak). In Korea, short lengths of rib are often further butchered by butterflying (or using an accordion cut) to unfurl the meat into a long ribbon trailing from the bone, or the meat can be removed from the bone entirely and cut into thin (1/4-1/8 inch thick) slices. Short ribs may be long-cooked, as in pot-au-feu, a classic of French cuisine, or rapidly seared or grilled, as in Korean cuisine, in which short ribs (called galbi), are marinated and grilled over charcoal (long-cooking thinner, shorter cuts are also a korean favourite). A specific type from Hawaii is known as Maui-style ribs. Other popular preparations are barbecue and braising.