Monday, April 30, 2018

Short ribs, Instantpot



He needs me.

* Use the pot's "sear" feature to brown the ribs. 
* Douse them with b.b.q sauce.
* Add a bit of water and cook under pressure longer than 30 minutes, sitting in the liquid.

Imagine how long you would bake these at low temperature to assure the meat is tender and pulls from the bone easily. Then divide by three for the time under pressure. Wouldn't you say about three or four hours? Then that would be one hour for pressure. 

The whole point is to simplify and speed. If you switch between pot and oven then you're missing the beauty and dismissing the marvel. 

I just now pulled out a similar package and realized I paid $13.00. That's rather expensive, don't you think? I bought them for their bones. I want to cook the H-E-double hell sticks out of the bones. For beef broth. 

I did this once before with terribly tough meat and pathetically scant bones. It's not that easy to find beef with bones at the grocery. I paid a lot of money for beef that wasn't that good.  I was disappointed. But I wanted to get on with my experiment.

I cooked the meat under pressure, overcooked the meat actually, then pulled it from the bones. The meat chunks tasted bland and were still a bit tough. At that point I was disappointed in beef.

Then I pressure cooked the bones for a few more hours in the original liquid. I just let the machine go. It turns off by itself and holds it at warm. You don't have to pay attention. This drew out all the available marrow into the liquid. The bones are now empty. If I had given the bones to a dog, the dog would be all, what? Where's the flavor in these things? 

Then I returned the meat to the fortified liquid and pressure cooked a third time briefly, about 20 minutes. That was enough to tenderize the meat perfectly and shove the flavor of the liquid into the meat fibers. The meat was delicious and full bodied, tender and moistened, and separately, the broth was outstanding. The best I had ever tasted. There were no herbs or spices. Just meat and salt to finish. It was an experiment. And it worked. 

Looking back at my post, I did roast the bones separately. I'm not certain that's necessary. It was a mess and a pain in the butt. I missed the beauty and dismissed the marvel. 

11 comments:

ndspinelli said...

My daughter just got one of these pots. She made pot roast. It was pretty good but I like the stove/oven way better.

Chip Ahoy said...

Hmm.

I can see that.

The best rib roast I ever made was in a microwave. In the days of yore, a previous incarnation, when microwaves were a new product, before we knew what they microwaves were good for and not good for. It had a sensor you stick in it that shut it off so it wasn't even turning around. For a dinner. And everyone went, man, this roast is really good.

I never liked ribs anyway, no matter how they were cooked. I'm trying to like them. Because they come with bones.

ndspinelli said...

Chip, As someone of your skills knows, bones are important for flavor and texture. It is getting increasingly difficult to buy regular chicken breasts. Many supermarkets only carry boneless breasts. It doesn't effect me as much since I'm a dark meat guy. But women love breasts. Grilled meat w/ bones of any kind is my fav. There are exceptions, like beef brisket, which is very flavorful and great texture.

deborah said...

The instapot would be worth it just for canning small batches of things that need to be canned under pressure.

ricpic said...

Beef brisket is to die for. I never thought I'd write to die for but I just did. Because beef brisket!

Chip Ahoy said...

Is that meat with flavor packet that goes on sale for St. Patrick's day?

Chip Ahoy said...

`I just now gave the women their knife sets. That was fun. They like them a lot.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Well, that would be enough ribs for a snack for The Dumbplumber. What am I supposed to eat?


I guess you could stuff more ribs in the pot, or make two or three batches. That seems like a big waste of time. Make one BIG batch. What about the leftovers for beef soup or something else? Boil the bones. Add back the broth from braising the ribs.... Barley, mushrooms, onions, celery, carrots, spices....yum.

I'll continue the old way, braising covered in the oven. If we are going to cook enough for two people and have leftovers, might as well just use the oven. Keeps the house warm too on a winters day and you might even be able to do rolls, a side dish, pie or something else at the same tine. Waste not want not :-)

Chip Ahoy said...

That's how my mother cooked ribs. I never did like them. Now, I'm thinking maybe she didn't cooke them long enough because they were too difficult to eat. All that work gnawing between grizzle and fat and sloppy bbq sauce for mere slivers of tough meat. What was the attraction supposed to be?

All the bones were discarded. Every single bone ever. She never did make stock. Didn't know what it is. And my dad's multiple attempts at making soup based on a sack of root vegetables advertised as such, never did work.

I look back at all the fond scraped out of pots and pans, treated as trash, and all the bones leftover from large family meals, and I cringe at the forfeiture, all from not knowing.

Since experimenting I've been surprised with the best soup stock ever with the most meager amount of bones.

That wasn't just Mum. It's everywhere.

The Buckhorn Exchange specializes in unusual meat, elk, alligator, pheasant, and the like. Park the car or walk past the place and the entire bock is pervaded with the smoke from roasted meat pouring out of the kitchen. Then, their recipe for baked beans that they publicize calls for chicken base and liquid smoke.

!

Come on.

Oh well. Whatever works.

ndspinelli said...

Chip, Corned Beef is a brined brisket. But I'm talking brisket, dry rub overnight and BBQ slowly for 4-5 hours. KC bbq brisket is that cities specialty. You eat it on cheap white bread.

chickelit said...

Under Pressure