Boneless short ribs!!!

I got my first package a couple months ago and put up a post on how absolutely wonderful they are. Tonight, I couldn't eat with my family. I made polenta two days ago with Italian sausage and mushrooms.

We had polenta left over so I bought a package of boneless short ribs and a can of Le Seur peas. I cut the short ribs into 1" cubes and browned them in olive oil. I added a chopped onion and a garlic clove. A couple minutes later, a jar or Rinaldi traditional sauce and a can of chicken stock. I left the can of peas on the counter with a note to let the beef bubble on low for 3 hours before putting in the peas.

They called me to tell me how good it was. I ate it at 8 tonight and it was so good, I want to have it tomorrow for breakfast. Maybe on mashed potatoes this time, but I'd like some more. I don't think any cut of cow tastes more richly of beef than short ribs, and you can use the boneless version just like you would a chuck roast. I think it has more taste.

I can see how that would be a good thing and I will have to look for them. Some time back I discovered "Farmer style boneless pork ribs" which are actually more shoulder than ribs... They are great!

I like to roll them in seasoned flour, brown them in a hot skillet, then smother in some kind of sauce or juice and simmer covered till done...

The gravy is killer with the pork cooked in the juice or sauce.

Costco has a Raspberry Chipotle and a Smoked Bourbon Pineapple sauce that really works for me!

That's an amazing coincidence. I just finished off the last of the left overs from yesterday's short ribs. I browned them on all sides in hot olive oil, then (after removing them from the pot) sauteed some chopped onions in the fat, then some garlic, then a couple cans of San Marzano tomatoes (hard parts and bits of skin removed by hand, then hand-crushed), salt, oregano from the herb garden out back, bay leaves), short ribs back in, simmered for three hours. Great sauce (or, if you prefer, "gravy") for pasta, and great eating the short ribs when the meat is falling off the bones (mine had bones). The bones add something to the sauce's flavor, I think.

PS Shame on you for using Rinaldi.

My Mom's family is from Italy and they like Rinaldi.
We used go grow, tomatoes, peel them, chop them, and stuff them in bottles with basil and garlic and boil them in a washtub out on the lawn. Rinaldi is easier!

I put olive oil in a pan and cut up a half an onion and a couple cloves of garlic and cook them nice and soft before adding the sauce. Towards the end I add basil, oregano, and parsley. It's still easier than making sauce and it's good.

I am still pretty impressed with boneless short ribs. The pieces are small, but boy is the meat tasty.

Do they have the rubbery tube that encases the bone on it, or is that removed?

Rob, I cook in big batches and then freeze them like this. The Tupperware contains home-made chicken broth, two of the vacuum packs contain meat sauce, and one contains marinara. I don't have to cook so often this way.

that's pretty cool hawkeye... you just freeze your sauce in a container and then quickly vacuum pack once its frozen I assume??? nice way to keep the frost out and not end up with all of your tuperware in the freezer!!

You got it. That's exactly right. I sometimes do the broth that way too, if I'm running low on Tupperware.

It is a good idea. My problem is I cook for 6 people every day, and my Brother and his wife get a doggy bag of everything I make. I might have a quart of sauce left over from a #10 can after supper.

The boneless shortribs are minus the rubbery center, just meat. I've seen them in 3" by 2" by 1" squares and in 3" by 1" by 1" strips. They trim the extra fat off the outsides too. You don't have to skim it all off your sauce. They are really nice.

We had ours on cheesy (smoked gouda) grits with whole corn kernels. Yowzer.

I like to take English cut short ribs (why they're called this I don't know) and grill them like a steak. I usually just season with salt and pepper and put them over very hot coals bone-side down. The bone seasons and helps cook the meat. A quick flip for browning and after a quick rest, they're good to go! The flavor is hard to beat and though not the tenderest piece of meat you'll ever eat, you won't mind the extra chew because they're delicious.

I learned about that one a long time ago. Your thought are dead on. They even cook up good in the oven on a grill rack.

A little chewy but oh so good.

Amen brother! Here's a great write-up on the matter:
http://justcookit.blogspot.com/2009/06/barbecued-beef-short-ribs.html

I have cooked many many short ribs in a braise. I've never tried to cook one dry. I'd be scared to, quite honestly. The left over sauce and peas from yesterday went over orecchiette (Italian for earlobe) pasta. I have no more, and have to wait a while before starting again.

The sauce it makes is almost as good as the short ribs.

Cooked up some boneless short ribs. Browned them in some butter, then put them in some left over pizza sauce and simmered them for about 4 hours.

Served them over curly Q noodles. Yum Yum!

They turned out GREAT!

Virgil B.

I bet they did.

I think they're great. They're $4 a pound but you don't need to eat a pound each. I made bbq for 100 on Saturday and the guy ordered way more than he needed. We had 2 cases of spare ribs and easily had a case left over. He was giving them away. I snagged two and a cornbread pan and put them out in the truck. I gave my Brother a rack and left one at my Mom's. I painted them with KC Masterpiece bbq sauce and heated them up on the grill. My Brother picked every piece of meat off his and put it in tomato sauce. Tonight was the third night in a row he had it. He said it was good. Meat simmering in sauce is kind of like magic in the forest. I really liked the peas in the sauce with the short ribs though. Over polenta is good. With peas was better.

you had me at polenta....

My Southern grandma used to make me poleta all the time, but she called it corn mush.

You can buy a pound brick and feed 10 people. My family likes to remind me that polenta used to be served with little birds. We always did Italian sausage and wild mushrooms when they were available.

I used to cook at my neighborhood church during lent. They filled the place, and we had to make soup every Friday. People were supposed to donate what they would have paid for a meal out, and get a bowl of soup in return.

One of the old priests, Father Pasquale Rotundi got me one Friday and said next Friday he wanted polenta. I said that it wasn't soup, but he said it sticks to the ribs and would be filling. We made about 20 pounds of it and filled a lot of bowls. People didn't know what to make of it. You've got to have upbringing in there, I think, or it can be a bit odd.

Yes, they are great grilled over an oak fire.

Short ribs take forever to get tender. I'd burn them to smithereens on a fire. I've got to put them in some kind of liquid.

Our church is doing to dinner thing again though. They are raising money for "needy" families in town. You come to dinner down stairs at the church, eat a bowl of soup, and make a donation. It's been a long time since they did that.

Rob, I'm doin' my honest best to recreate your recipe without the name brand sauce. Added a little Thyme, Bayleaf and Black Pepper. I'll probably do the mash'd 'taters trick. The Wap Sheppard's Pie.

TR Hawkeye: I like the vacuum pack idea as we have way too much storage space taken up by stacks of empty containers. Did you put a liner of some sort in those containers? There appears to be wax or parchment paper inside the vacuum packs. I would have just run hot water on them till they released but a liner would remove that task if that's what you did.

I'm another cook who doesn't cook small. When I make soup it's usually 4 gallons or more at a time and then broken into freezer size containers.

I prefer short ribs with the bone in. At completion of braising they are removed by the long cooking time and slip free of the meat. I like to think the bone adds flavor.

The term short ribs describes the cutting preparation of the ribs rather than any description of the actual ribs. I occasionally get them uncut and slow BBQ style smoke/cook them just as I would do the ribs removed from a standing rib roast.

We get boneless short ribs, short ribs 10" long and 4" wide that look like caveman ribs, and then some half that size. Off the bone, they are trimmed and you don't get as much fat to skim off your gravy. We really like those. I made them last week with onions, chicken stock, and mushrooms. At the end, I added sour cream and served them over noodles. For $4 to $5 a pound, I think they're the best thing going.

Turned out very good. I had the bone in kind. Bones were about 3" long. I pulled the ribs out after 4 hours and shredded the meat and added it back to the sauce. I tossed in a bag of frozen peas and carrots for the last hour. Served over mashed 'taters. I will add some red wine and a little crushed red pepper next time.

Was at the store trying to figure out what I wanted for dinner when I walked by a display with Rinaldi tomato sauce on sale(two jars fer three bucks). I immediatley remebered this thread! Short Ribs!!!

Picked up a pound and a half of boneless short ribs and headed home.

Browned up the ribs with diced onion, garlic, and a little left over pepper, padilla I think?

Deglaze with some Cab and the left over carton of beef stock from Christmas dinner.

One jar of Rinaldi Original and shes bubblin away!

The Rinaldi seems nice, better tomato flavor than most jarred sauces.

May have to run back to town for some more wine and some pecorino.

Thanks for dinner guys!

My Grammy was from Italy and she liked it. Especially when she didn't have to stand over a pot stirring for 3 hours. Either Rinaldi or Hunt's sauce in a can. She used both.