A short season of short ribs

A few weeks ago I got a last minute invitation to a preview night of Zelman Meats in Soho. On a little back street in Soho, Rex & Mariano had been hugely popular with people I follow on twitter, but wasn't attracting enough regulars and lunchtime custom, so the owners decided to try something quite different.

The raw red prawns are still on the menu - and I was amazed by how good they were - but the big thing Zelman Meats is doing, apparently, is making the most of the cuts left after the premium steaks are taken off the carcasses for the Goodman restaurants. So at the preview night we were fed magnificent picanha (rump cap) and utterly divine short ribs.  

Aubergine with harissa & yoghurt (which was a bit undercooked), beautiful meat, stunning truffle chips

And just after this wonderful dinner I discovered that Ocado were selling beef short ribs. So I bought some.

Short rib ragu

We've had them as a rich ragu, with lots of red wine and mushrooms, stirred through pasta.

 We've had them cooked to shreds with chipotle, thyme, cumin and coriander and packed into tortillas.

Short rib chilli

Short rib tacos, with shredded salted cabbage and tomato and avocado salsa

And we've had them in a sweet chilli and tamarind glaze.

Work in progress - tea smoking the ribs

I haven't quite nailed the technique for the glazed ribs. I want to give the effect of a slow, cool barbecue, and tried to get it by tea smoking the ribs and slowly baking them in the oven. But if I start the ribs on the hob to get the smoke going the meat cooks too fast, and if I just do them in the oven it doesn't get hot enough to smoke.

The glaze itself -
2tbs tamarind paste
1tbs habanero sweet chilli sauce
1tbs ketjap manis
1tbs dark soy sauce
- is very good, but I do wonder about maybe adding some liquid smoke or a touch of pimenton or something to cheat the smoke flavour.

Anyway - while they look unprepossessing after an 8 hour slow bake, the meat fell apart as soon as it was nudged with a fork but was still beautifully juicy.

Creamy coleslaw was not the right accompaniment - too rich. An Asian-flavoured vinegar slaw would be better