This a great recipe for two reasons: it’s delicious, and the ribs are quite a cheap cut 🙂

To cook well the ribs, having them soft and still juicy, it’s not always easy. First of all you need a good quality beef, so ribs coming from an animal that has a good level of marbling. Indeed this is what will keep the meat juicy.

Then we have to cook it gently, slowly and at a temperature not too high. In this way the cartilages inside will turn into gelly, but for this it’s important also the final resting part.

If you have a BBQ it’s perfect because you can add also the extra flavor given by the wood, but also in the oven they will be very good too. In this last case, if you don’t have a BBQ you can add some smoke flavor for example by passing the ribs over a classic grill just before serving.

I also cooked them previously simply over the grill, but this method is better I have to say, and I have to say I have learnt it from Gianfranco Lo Cascio, one of the best BBQ masters in Italy (but, as he says, he learnt it from some American masters).

It takes long, but it definitely worth it.

 

INGREDIENTS (4 people):

• 2-2,5 kg of beef ribs, with a good marbling (I used Angus)
• extra virgin olive oil
• freshly ground black pepper
• salt

 

1. I suggest to start the preparation of the meat one day earlier, with the so called “dry brining“. It simply consists in massaging the meat with salt and pepper, and some extra virgin olive oil, then cover with a plastic wrap and place it in the fridge. This step will improve the water retention of the meat, keeping it more juicy while cooking. Of course, before there is to trim well the ribs, removing some fat if there is too much. I left it 12 hours in the fridge. How much salt? I suggest 1 and half small spoons for each kg of ribs. I suggest to use “fleur de sel“, mixed with just some thin salt.
2. The day after switch on the oven at 120-130 °C, static mode. Dry the ribs with a kitchen paper, then place them in the middle of the oven simply on a grid. Place the ribs laying on the bone side. And under the grid place a dripping pan with a finger of water, to collect the fat that will fall from the ribs.
3. Insert a thermometer in the middle of the ribs, close the oven and just wait. Let them bake until they reach the internal temperature of 95 °C.
4. Once you reached that temperature, switch off the oven and let them cool down in the open oven until they reach at least the internal temperature of 65 °C. During this resting phase the tougher cartilages will turn into gelly.
5. You can already serve them, or you can brown them on a very hot cast iron pan/grill if you want to make an even better crust, or as I said before you can pass them few minutes over a classic grill on a fire to add some smoke flavor.
6. Serve it and enjoy 🙂 I simply add a good extra virgin olive oil, or a chimichurri sauce, that’s all I need. When the meat is a good quality meat, I don’t want many other flavors. I suggest to pair it with some seasonal grilled vegetables.

PS: for these ribs I used (2 pieces of about 1,1-1,2 kg each, about 5 cm thick, with good marbling), it took about 4 hours to reach the 95 °C, and another 1 hour to cool down at 65 °C. So count about 5 to 6 hours to be ready. I started at 7:30 in the morning 🙂
Thicker and heavier ribs will require more time. But also the type of breed, the level of marbling, the dry brining, etc. are all factors that will change the baking time. That’s why you need a thermometer, because for this recipe the meat is ready when it’s ready.

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Products used:

Beef: free range Angus beef ribs from Terra Pannonia