What cut of short rib do I have, and how do I prepare them?

Question

I have beef short ribs that I'm not sure how to prepare. I'm not even sure what cut they are. They consist of only bone and intercostal meat. The blade fat and meat have been removed. They are then cut in ~2" wide strips. They are not "flanken" ribs. As far as I can tell this cut doesn't really exist. In short they look like long strips of pork spare ribs, but are beef.

I was intending to grill them, but with the way they are cut I think they will be too tough. Should I braise them? Should I remove the bones and just braise the intercostal meat?

Answer 1

Perhaps you got what Argentines call tira de asado, which looks like this. If so, Argentines salt it well and barbecue it on a slow heat for about an hour, the majority of the time with the bone side to the heat. At home I would try cooking it in a very low oven for a couple of hours. Slow braising would also work.

If what you have lacks even the thin layer of meat you see in the picture then you got tira de asado after they took off the tapa (cover) de asado. Then you basically got stock bones. Make soup. (But skim off the abundant fat that will accumulate.)

Answer 2

Do they look like this?

If so, the traditional preparation is to braise them for a good long time at a low temperature (use a slow cooker, and keep it just simmering) in beef stock and onions. When they fall off the bone, take them out and remove any gristle, and re-assemble (for appearances sake).

Take your braising liquid, strain it, and boil it until it starts to thicken up. Add acid to taste (balsamic or wine).

I like to serve it on a bed of barley, and pour the sauce over.

This is tough meat, but very flavourful and it needs to cook slowly at a low temperature to soften the fibres.