Edition: U.S. / Global

Lowly Short Ribs: Taste to Make a Sirloin Bow

Published: March 14, 2001

LATELY it's hard to open a menu without finding short ribs: on the bone or off, in ravioli or risotto, roasted or even deviled, with a French accent or Korean seasonings. They're this year's osso buco.

But this is one cut of beef that does not need a professional touch to transform it into something irresistible. Even a novice is virtually guaranteed success with short ribs.

Cook them slowly and gently and the meat turns soft and succulent, with intense flavor and luscious richness; you don't even need sauce. They take virtually no attention once they have been browned -- the less you do to them the better. Served straight out of a braising dish they make a hearty home-style meal, with nothing needed besides a heap of mashed potatoes to soak up the cooking juices. Any leftovers can be converted into the world's best hash, a ragout for pasta or a topping for risotto, just the way the chefs do.

Unlike other restaurant staples, short ribs are inexpensive and easy to find at the market. They cost $6 or so a pound in most butcher shops and sometimes less in supermarkets for the same quality as chefs buy. It's true, short ribs haul around a lot of excess baggage, including heavy bone and fat. But because the meat is so rich, about three-quarters of a pound makes an ample serving, although I usually calculate at least a pound a person so there will be leftovers.

Butchers often sell short ribs cut in blocky squares, about two inches in each dimension, with a small piece of bone attached. When they're sold in large slabs, two to three inches wide cut across several bones, they may be called flanken, which are typically used for Jewish-style boiled beef. These larger, longer pieces can be cooked like the smaller chunks. Short ribs can also be bought without the bone, but that's pointless -- you don't get the same flavor, and ideally the bones fall out easily once they are cooked.

In technical terms, the section of the steer that yields short ribs is called the short plate and also provides skirt steak. Short ribs are the low-rent neighbors next door to the palatial standing rib roast.

''The prime rib is tender, but the short ribs would be extremely chewy roasted rare like roast beef,'' said Mark Spangenthal, the chef at the Screening Room and the Dining Room, who gave a demonstration on short ribs at the French Culinary Institute earlier this year. The meat needs long cooking to break down the collagen.

Terrance Brennan, the owner of Picholine and Artisanal, opening later this month on East 32nd Street, has been serving short ribs several ways for years, including leftovers recycled as ravioli filling. ''They're rich and luscious, and they give you a big window of tolerance, so they're pretty hard to mess up,'' he said.

The first step is to sear the meat in a little fat, usually oil, although lard, butter or the drippings from diced bacon can also be used. I do this in a heavy casserole since the meat will be braised. (If I'm cooking for a crowd, I sear the chunks in a large, sturdy roasting pan in a 450-degree oven, turning them as the meat browns, and then braise them right in the roasting pan, tightly covered with a double layer of heavy-duty foil.)

To give the meat extra flavor, I brown diced onions, carrots, celery and garlic in the pan after removing the meat. The pan then needs to be deglazed with wine before I return the meat to the pan, add stock, herbs and other seasonings and set the covered casserole in a slow oven for two to three hours.

Depending on the final recipe, I might use leeks instead of onions or fennel in place of celery, and add ginger or chilies. Turning the short ribs into a hearty soup instead of a braised dish simply involves increasing the amount of liquid.

Ideally, I cook short ribs a day in advance and refrigerate them overnight after removing the bones. This not only intensifies the flavor but also makes removing excess fat easier because it congeals.

To me, red wine is an essential ingredient for short ribs. It bolsters the meat's beefy flavor, while the tannins and acidity help tenderize the gelatinous collagen that riddles the meat. The high proportion of collagen sets short ribs apart from ordinary stew meat and helps thicken the sauce, making it sleek and syrupy.

Although I've had nothing but success with the way I prepare short ribs, every chef seems to have a different idea. John Tesar of 44 & X Hell's Kitchen marinates a whole slab of the meat before browning and oven-braising it. He then chills it overnight and, just before serving, sears well-trimmed slabs of the succulent beef on a grill to serve like small steaks.

At Chow Bar in Greenwich Village, Peter Klein simmers short ribs briefly in a mixture fortified with Asian seasonings like ginger, soy sauce and five-spice powder, then braises them at a surprisingly high 450 degrees, rather than the usual 300 to 350.

At Village, also in Greenwich Village, Stephen Lyle first simmers short ribs on the bone in stock and wine with vegetables, then chills them overnight. He trims the meat, cuts it in large dice and adds more vegetables and stock to make a fortifying cabbage soup served with a large toasted crouton and grated cheese.