Taste Test

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All about the short ribs

For this blog entry I’ll be focusing on beef short ribs. Short ribs can be taken from the brisket, chuck, plate, or rib area of the cow and what makes them so unique is that instead of having a whole piece of rib you more have about inch thick cuts from several ribs. Short ribs are cut horizontal to the bone so you are able to see the marrow and the shell of the bone that is surrounded by the juicy meat. 

it should also be noted that you will get a different fat-to-meat ratio depending on where the short ribs are taken from. If you get short ribs from the plate area of the cow they will be a little tougher, but can be a little cheaper, so those are best done in a braise. For a little more expensive, about $10 a pound, you can get your short ribs from the brisket or chuck cut of a cow. The short ribs from these cuts are going to be more tender so you may opt to do a marinade followed by pan sear(I suggest a Korean BBQ). The best cut you'll be able to get short ribs from is the rib area, these will be very tender and can be done in either a braise, marinated and pan seared, sous-vied, baked or grilled. 

I choose to focus on one of my favorite short rib dishes which is Korean BBQ marinated short ribs with steamed vegetables and rice. To start you’re going to need a mixing bowl,  a saute or cast iron pan or grill, a sharp knife, and a few pots to make the rice and steam the vegetables

 The Marinade 

1 tbsp brown sugar 

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp rice wine 

1 tsp dark sesame oil

1 tsp minced ginger 

2 cloves of garlic minced 

salt and pepper to taste

sesame seeds and chopped green onions  (optional)

*it is suggested that the short ribs me no larger than 1 inch thick 

From here you can either choose to leave the short ribs whole or cut them in between the ribs to have smaller pieces(which I suggest). You should let the ribs marinade for at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours 

While waiting for the short ribs to marinade pick out your favorite vegetables, broccoli, carrots and bell peppers are my go to, and begin to peel and cut them into bit sized pieces. After the vegetables are done I would set up two pots for my rice and vegetables and have a pan or grill ready to cook my short ribs. 

The short ribs don’t take very long to cook so I would normally start my rice and vegetables first and then put on my short ribs when both are about half way done. The total the cooking time for the short ribs should be about 10 minutes and for everything about 20, plus another 5 for the rice to rest. You can garnish with extra sesame seeds and green onions if you’d like.

Overall this is a rather simple dish the anyone can make, it might table awhile to gt the hang of if you’ve never worked with this cut of meat before, but this is a great recipe to start with. I hope you enjoy your meal and the background of where it came from.

*this recipe is for 2 people - for 3 add an extra tbsp or tsp and for 4 people double the recipe*

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Spiced pickled apples, an attempt

my first experience with preserving something went well until the end product came together. I tried to do preserved apples with cinnamon and clove; at the time it felt festive and fitting to the season and the recipe I found in one of my mums old cookbooks seemed rather easy.The recipe I used called for cider vinegar, sugar, whole clove, cinnamon sticks and apples.

Spiced pickled apples

3 Medium apples

1 cup cider vinegar

1 cup sugar

5 whole cloves

2-3 cinnamon sticks

 I used a 750ml glass mason jar and started off by sanitizing the jar and lid in boiling water for 10 minutes, then removing it onto paper towel to dry. next I added my vinegar, sugar, water, clove, and cinnamon sticks to a small sauce pot and brought it to a simmer. While the pickling mixture was coming up to a simmer I sliced my apples and in the remaining time played some Pokemon.

i let the pickling mixture simmer for a minute or two to ensure that all the sugar had been devolved, and then I let it stand off the heat for about five minutes just so it’s not completely boiling when i pour it into the jar. I placed the apples in the jar along with the cinnamon sticks and place a small pot of water on the stove to boil. I pour the pickling liquid over the apples until it just hits under the brim. I put the lid on the jar half way and wait until the water is boiling. 

 Once the water was boiling I placed the jar upside-down so that the lid was on the bottom of the pot and let it sit for about 5 minutes to get all the air out. When I first took the jar out and turned it right side up and tightened the lid I thought I did a pretty good job. I came back about an hour later to find all my apple slices floating towards the top of the jar and all of them looked like I had left them out of the fridge all day. This continued for the next few days after and the apples just kept looking worse and worse. I’m pretty sure I ended up leaving some air in the jar when I finally sealed it and it began to decompose. 

Unfortunately my first attempt at pickling didn’t go as planed, but I am still hoping to try this,or a similar recipe in the spring, and maybe with peaches. 

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Sensory evaluation

For my sensory evaluation I decided to try an oyster from work. My work gets their oysters from Raspberry point in P.E.I and during a Friday service we can go through roughly 200 or more. The oysters can be ordered in trays on 6 or 12 and come with a house made cocktail sauce, a ginger lime marionette, Chef’s blueberry hot sauce, freshly grated horse radish, and lemon wedges. I held off on adding any of our sides to my oyster because I didn’t want to mask any flavor I could get from it. 

While I was shucking the Oyster it put up a little big of a fight for me but I was still able to pry it open. I was taught to always smell an oyster before i plate it to check if they’ve gone back so I followed that rule and it smelled a bit like fish, but nothing overwhelming. For the tasted overall it was very salty, I could almost taste nothing else besides salt when I tried to eat it, it really just felt like I had a mouthful of seawater with maybe a piece of seaweed swimming around. The texture wasn’t much better. It felt the equivalent to having a slug on my tongue (another story for another time) and I just couldn’t bring myself to swallow. 

Overall I can say I do not like oysters, which is a little disappointing since I was hopping they would taste a little better and a little more complex flavor than just salt. I think I would have liked it a little more if I had tasted even just the slightest variation of flavor besides the saltiness. From this experiences I wouldn’t say i’m opposed to trying another oyster but I’d certainly try it with something like a ginger lime marionette.