Braised Beef Shortrib Tacos

I got bone-in beef short ribs from an Amish Market in Baraboo. Short ribs are a fatty cut of meat which is part of the ribcage. It expands and contracts with each breath, constantly being worked awake or asleep. This meat is absolutely chock full of collagen this are intra-muscular, tough stringy proteins. This makes it an extremely tough and well-worked piece of meat with a depth of flavor which is nearly unmatched in the rest of the cow.

Stolen from http://sassy-spoon.com/ A great Charleston SC food blog!

Collagen can go two ways. Cook it under high heat and it'll bunch up and get tight and tough. The long proteins will basically turn into a stiff raincoat around each muscle fiber and will become nearly impossible to eat.

But if you gently cook it slowly, over a low heat the collagen, instead of freaking out and bunching up, will relax. It's like lowering yourself into a hot tub after a long day of standing on your feet cooking. The collagen becomes gelatinous; it turns into tiny sheets of meaty jelly between each muscle fiber. This makes the meat incredibly tender without adding much fat. This is the joy of braising. It's like a little hot tub for meat!

Amish Braised Beef Ribs

I have a good great friend who regularly goes to the meat market near Baraboo. She picks me up beef short ribs, chickens, tongue, smoked pork hocks. All the great odds and ends which make my OK cooking great.

I wanted to create a beef taco from rib meat. Beef rib meat is incredibly tough and takes a huge amount of time to cook properly. It's easy to overheat and dry it out before it's done cooking, so I decided not to smoke it. I wanted to get some good smoky flavors into the meat so I first charcoal grilled the meat to get a nice hard sear on the outside of the meat.

You lose some of the fond and rendered fat by charcoal grilling rather then searing it in a dutch oven. I think this is well balanced by the delicious grilled flavor that is imparted.