Things to Know About Beef Ribs
Beef ribs are the bones that the butcher removes to make a boneless prime rib roast. Many butchers throw them away or save them for customers who want them as chewies for their dogs. If you can find one of these butchers, he might give them to you for nothing. Even if he won't, the cost is generally very low. I've seen them for $.50 a pound at a Bay Area Lucky's supermarket.
Despite the price or lack thereof, the meat on beef bones is delicious. After all, we are talking prime rib here! Some butchers leave a fair amount of meat on the bones, some don't. So do a little homework on your sources. Depending on how much meat is on the bones, you'll want to figure 1.5 to 2 pounds of bones per adult.
About This Beef Ribs Recipe
Technically, the term "barbecue" refers to a long slow cooking process, usually with lots of smoke. This recipe is done by roasting the ribs, then finishing them on the grill (or under a broiler if you don't have a grill). Total cooking time is less than 45 minutes. The marinade relies on common ingredients generally associated with oriental food, so these ribs have a distinct Asian bias, especially Korean. The recipe calls for 6 pounds of ribs to serve four people, but the amounts could be more or less depending on how much meat is on the bones. You may want to increase or decrease the cooking time, depending on how rare or well done you want the meat to be. Personally, I like them medium-rare.
Ingredients
There are only eight ingredients:
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 6 tbs dark brown sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2/3 cup Shaoxing wine or dry sherry
- 2 tsp five-spice powder
- 3 tsp minced fresh ginger
- 2 tsp crushed garlic
- 6 lbs beef ribs
Directions
- Put all ingredients except ribs into a pot and cook to combine, but do not allow it to boil. Your marinade is finished!
- Remove as much visible fat from the ribs as you can. Coat the ribs with the marinade and allow to marinate for 2 to 24 hours. Every once in a while rub the ribs with the marinade to make sure they stay coated.
- Place ribs on a rack in a roasting pan and roast at 400° for 30 minutes, brushing with fresh marinade every 10 minutes.
- Boil the remaining marinade until it reduces to a thick glaze. Everything up to this point can be done ahead of time.
- Shortly before serving, baste the ribs with the glaze, and grill them over indirect heat or oven-broil them a seveal inches from heating coils for 5-10 minutes, basting with the glaze once or twice during cooking. You don't want the sugar in the marinade to burn, so keep an eye on the ribs during this phase.
Make sure that you serve the ribs with plenty of napkins! Fried rice and a salad with a rice vinegar based dressing would be appropriate accompaniments. If you are adventurous, you might serve them with kimchee instead of a salad.
Michael Burwen - 30+ years as a business/market analyst for high-tech industry. Long-time interests are wine/food, woodworking, and consumer electronics.
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