Flanken Short Ribs

For the meat & game blog I decided to go to the best food market in Toronto, the St Lawrence market on front street and Lower Jarvis street.

They have a lot of good butchery counters at the St Lawrence market and decided to buy some beef short ribs and cook them for dinner that night.

Short ribs are a cut which can be taken from the brisket, chuck, plate or rib area of beef. They are cut from the short portion of the rib bone and the meat can vary in thickness.

There are 2 cuts of short ribs, one is called "flanken" and is cut across the bones and leaves the bone just 1 to 2 inches in length, and then there are the English cut short ribs which are the longer cut ribs and are cut parallel to the bone. I bought the "flanken" short ribs which are a bit easier the cook and they also serve a bit better, since they are a bit smaller in size. 

You can also grill short ribs in which you would marinated them for a good day with olive oil, shallots, garlic, peppercorns and rosemary for example, they will tenderize when you marinated them in spices and olive oil and it will soften the connective issue so they are easier and less tough to eat.

I decide to braise them and I will show you the results in the blog. 

Below are the short ribs before I prepared them in the first picture the short ribs were not cut and the second picture I cut the short ribs in half and seasoned them with crushed peppercorns and kosher salt

Flanken style Short ribs whole cuts

The short ribs cut and seasoned

Recipe for the braised short ribs:

4 whole flanken short ribs cut in half and seasoned

1 whole shallot diced

4 garlic gloves diced

1 piece of celery stalk diced

1/2 carrot diced

1/4 cooking onion diced 

1 sprig of rosemary

200 ml red wine

50 ml of olive oil

300 ml tomato juice ( fresh vine riped tomatoes juiced in vitamix)

200 ml beef stock

1/4 bunch fresh basil

Method:

Place the olive oil in a braising pot and heat up the oil very hot until it lightly smokes, add the short ribs in the braising pot and sear them golden brown on each side, take the short ribs out of the braising pot and saute the cut vegetables, sweat the vegetables until soft and de-glaze with the red wine, add the rosemary and reduce the liquid to a third, add the tomato juice and the beef stock then add the ribs, braise in the oven at 350 Celsius for 3 hours until the beef shorts are nice and tender and almost fall from the bone. Take the short ribs out of the braising liquid and strain out the vegetables, place the braising liquid in the braising pot and add the short ribs in the sauce. Serve with garnishes of choice.

Red wine Braised short ribs, pearl onions, roasted cherry tomatoes, green beans and creamy polenta

Below are the short ribs I prepared after my purchases of the short ribs at the St Lawrence market

Price of the short ribs and return on investment

I paid $29.50 for the 4 ribs and 1 short rib would serve one portion to a customer in a restaurant, of course these are retail prices and wholesale you would play less for them. You want to sell your food in a restaurant with a 30% minimum food cost, so when you add garnishes, your cost would be approximately $10.95, then the formula would be: (cost of ribs divided by 4 is 29.75/4=7.45 add 3.50 for garnishes, which would be $10.95 with a food cost of 35% you would sell the ribs for about $31.25.

If you look on the menu of Jump restaurant on Wellington street in Down-Town Toronto, the price of there short ribs are $46, which is expensive but it is of course a fine dining restaurant as well.

Short ribs would be a good choice on a menu because you can sell them for a reasonable price and it does not cost as much as a Filet Mignon. BBQ restaurant are very popular over the last couple of years and you will find them most likely on the menu in these types of restaurants.

Overall short ribs are very nice to eat and I served them with a creamy polenta and some nice vegetables which worked very well and they are a perfect winter dish!