Beef short ribs are such a great application for sous vide cooking. You get very little moisture loss so the meat turns out incredibly juicy. It gets soft, then you chill it to set it up, and grill it or roast it to finish. It’s a rich, fatty cut, so instead of saucing it with a reduction we glaze them and serve them with black pepper jam with loads of shallots, and a bright, refreshing green papaya salad. When we put this on the menu at West as a starter, we couldn’t keep up. We had to bring it back on the opening menu at Hawksworth.
Serves 6
Beef Short Ribs
1.3kg (3 lb) bone-in beef short ribs
2 sprigs thyme, stems removed
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt
Pepper
Compressed Melon
100mL (7 Tbsp) water
100g (½ cup) sugar
½ honeydew melon, in 18 cubes 2cm (¾ in) each
3 juniper berries
Black Pepper Jam
30mL (2 Tbsp) grapeseed or canola oil
½ onion, chopped
2 shallots, coarsely chopped
2 knobs ginger, peeled and chopped
15 cloves garlic, chopped
1½ bunches scallions, sliced
15g (1 Tbsp) dried fermented black beans
½ Thai chili, seeded and coarsely chopped
10g (1½ Tbsp) pepper
125mL (½ cup) soy sauce
125mL (½ cup) water
100mL (7 Tbsp) hoisin sauce
Sugar
Green Papaya Salad
65mL (¼ cup) water
50g (¼ cup) palm sugar
2 lime leaves
½ fresh jalapeno or red Thai chili, seeds removed
15mL (1 Tbsp) fish sauce
250mL (1 cup) fresh lime juice
1 shallot, finely chopped
Salt
⅓ green papaya, peeled and sliced into very fine julienne
Beef Short Ribs Glaze
100mL (7 Tbsp) hoisin sauce
50mL (3 Tbsp) yuzu juice
30mL (2 Tbsp) light soy sauce
¼ orange, juice
Garnish
Sea salt
12 leaves Thai basil
BEEF SHORT RIBS
Rub the beef short ribs with the thyme, garlic, salt, and pepper, then cover and refrigerate for 5 hours. Transfer to 1 or more vacuum-seal pouches. Seal with a vacuum sealer and cook in a water bath at 63ºC (145ºF) with a sous vide immersion circulator for 48 hours. Remove from the water bath, cool the ribs, and remove from the bags. Trim the excess fat and bones and portion in 170g (6 oz) rectangles.
COMPRESSED MELON
Bring the water to a boil in a small pot over high heat. Whisk in the sugar until it dis- solves, to create a syrup. Cool rapidly over an ice bath. Place the cubed honeydew melon in a vacuum-seal pouch with the syrup and juniper berries. (You can also use a regular ziplock bag but the flavour will be less intense.) Seal with a vacuum sealer and refrigerate for 2 hours.
BLACK PEPPER JAM
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium to high heat. Add the onion, shallots, ginger, and garlic and cook until golden brown, stirring frequently. Add the scallions, black beans, chili, and pepper, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 5 minutes longer. Add the soy sauce, water, and hoisin sauce and reduce by ⅓. Cook until the mixture is thick and jammy and coats the back of a spoon. Adjust the seasoning and balance with sugar as required. While the mixture is still hot, blend it in a food processor until smooth but not puréed.
GREEN PAPAYA SALAD
Combine the water with the palm sugar, lime leaves, and chili in a small pot. Bring to a boil and cook until the sugar has dissolved. Blend for 1 minute with an immersion blender until combined. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Add the fish sauce, lime juice, and shallot and stir to combine. Season with salt. Refrigerate until cool. When ready to serve, mix the papaya with the dressing.
BEEF SHORT RIBS GLAZE
Whisk all the ingredients together until combined.
SERVE
Preheat the oven to 150ºC (300ºF). Cover or brush the short rib pieces with half of the glaze and heat in the oven until hot through, about 10 minutes. Halfway through cooking, brush with the remaining glaze. Cut each rib rectangle in half. Smear some of the black pepper jam on each of 6 serving plates and place the short ribs on top. Season with sea salt. Add the melon and papaya salad, and garnish with the basil leaves.
Buy this book
Hawksworth: The Cookbook
£33.99, Appetite By Random House
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