Bone in versus boneless short ribs

June 21, 2018 6:50 PM

Difference in cooking

I have a recipe that calls for 4 pounds (8 good-size pieces) bone-in beef short ribs braised and then roasted at 325 degrees for two and a half hours.

I have 1 1/2 pounds of boneless short ribs with which I would like to approximate the recipe.

What is my best approach? I know without the bones it will be different.

Thanks

posted by leafwoman to Food & Drink (2 answers total)

How are the boneless short ribs cut? If they're cut similarly to how the bone-in beef short ribs would be, english style not flaken, then I'd say fairly similar.

When you say braised and then roasted for 2.5 hours, do you mean they're in the braising liquid the whole time but covered for part and then uncovered for part? If that's the case I'd say keep them covered for the same amount of time but check maybe 25-30 minutes sooner to see if they're done, the worry being that you might overcook the meat to the point of dryness, though you may not get enough color on the short ribs.

What you're trying to do is hold the meat between 160f and 180f to break down the collagen, and then roasting it to brown the meat and give it flavor. The bone would act as an insulator in most cases and slow down the transfer of heat on that side, but in braising environment I'm not sure how much of an effect that would have as there's a lot of steam and heat in the vessel from the liquid.
posted by Carillon at 7:08 PM on June 21, 2018

Yeah, takes longer with bone, so check it earlier (maybe @1hr?) and shorten up the time if necessary. Maybe also take it down to 300F so it has more time under the heat.
posted by rhizome at 8:30 PM on June 21, 2018