Short rib mystery

Rafael_331862

I hope someone can tell me why the BBQ braised short ribs were so much more toothsome and tender than the red wine braised short ribs (which were stringy by comparison).

I just slow roast-braised boneless short ribs in 2 different side-by-side pans. I usually braise boneless ribs in red wine and vegetables, possibly some beef broth added. This time I decided to compare red wine method to barbecue by roasting them at the same time and temp. I had never tried a BBQ braise, Each pan got about 3# of boneless short ribs, which I cut into 3" chunks and browned stove-top in oil, I reserved the beef and carmelized fennel, elephant garlic, onions, and carrots and split the veggies between the two roasting pans.  

For the BBQ ribs, I added about 1.5 c of marinara (store bought simple and organic - no additives) and about 2/3 c of BBQ sauce, (also store bought organic with simple ingredients - no soy sauce (I'm allergic to soy)) and 1/2 c cabernet with the veggies on the bottom and distributed the beef chunks in the pan with the braising liquid and veggies. They were immersed in the thick liquid about 1/2 their depth.  

For the red wine version, I added the veggies to the pan and about 2 c of cabernet and then placed the beet. The beef was submersed about 1/3 to 1/2 the way in the braising liquid. I brought the braising liquids to a boil with the beef before putting them in a 275 oven.  

I turned the beef chunks occasionally during the next 5 hours before deciding they were sufficiently tender.

The BBQ short ribs were tender and toothsome and could be shredded with a fork. The red wine version were just as they have always been, with an exterior crust and, while tender, also stringy and slightly drier. Certainly they were nowhere near as "toothsome" and succulent as the BBQ.

What gives? Why were they so different? Theories welcome.

Chris_Young_80640

I reckon that evaporative cooling is the culprit. Although your oven was at 275, the short ribs were cooking at a much lower temperature. The reason is that the evaporation of water (as well as alcohol in the case of the wine bathed ribs) cools the cooking liquid down to some much lower temperature. Certainly the temperature is no higher than the boiling point of water, because until the water is gone it can't get hotter than the boiling point of water. In practice, my experiments with braising have shown a typical cooking temperature is around 175F.

But, the alcohol in the wine changes things. It will evaporate even more strongly, and thus cool the braising liquid even further. You can think about it this way, if you've ever gotten rubbing alcohol (or one of those alcohol-based hand sanitizers on your hand) they feel very cold as the alcohol evaporates. The alcohol in the wine is doing the same thing to those ribs, cooling them far more than water alone would. Thus, your wine-braised ribs are probably cooking 5 or 10 degrees cooler than the ribs cooked without wine.

And this is enough to explain the mystery. For every 10F or so that you lower the cooking temperature, tough collagen takes about twice as long to reach a similar degree of tenderness. That would certainly explain why they are stringy and less tender.