Working with Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors is still an honor and pleasure to have them as my client. They certainly have every reason to be the best meat supplier for both home and restaurants. My recent projects (the fourth and fifth) with them were their super fresh, gorgeous beef short ribs and tomahawk (also known as cowboy) steaks. (Side note, my work are featured mostly at Urban Daddy Perks, as they create customized, exclusive meat shipments for their readers on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.)
Beef short ribs – Raw and Braised
The beef short ribs were huge fist-sized hunks of beef. Beef short ribs are traditionally braised. I ended up cooking them in diced tomato in sauce, seasoned with star anise, five spice powder, rock sugar, Szechuan pepper, a head of garlic, fresh ginger, salt and fresh cracked black pepper and let it braise for an hour. Usually short ribs that I get from other sources tend to take about twice the amount of time to yield the same, succulent fork-tender results. (The recipe will be featured toward the bottom of this post.)
Huge, 40-ounce tomahawk steaks
The tomahawk (or known as cowboy or large cuts of ribeye) steaks are a carnivore’s dream. Each steak tipping the scale at least 40-ounces, if not slightly more! Never in my wildest dreams would I ever work with such large, beautiful cuts of steak. No marinading is needed for this steak, as it would ruin its texture and it doesn’t take too long to cook it, as I’ll explain in detail a bit later.
Braised short ribs
6 pounds of beef short ribs
2 14.5 ounce cans of diced tomatoes in sauce
3 fresh tomatoes, diced in large chunks
1 head of garlic, peeled and smashed
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
6 star anise
1 teaspoon Szechuan pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon five spice powder
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
2 pieces dried tangerine peel, aged preferred
Juice of 1/2 lime, freshly squeezed
Salt and black pepper, to taste
- In a large French oven, braiser or heavy-bottomed pot that can hold all of the short ribs, heat up the pan with olive oil and sear the short ribs until they are evenly browned around all sides, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove and set aside.
- In the same pot in medium-high heat, add all the ingredients except for the last two, stir and scrape the bottom of the pan. Add the short ribs into the pot, cover, lower the heat and let it simmer for 1 hour. Check every 20 minutes to see even cooking, browning, and if there’s enough cooking liquid. Add more water if necessary.
- Remove the cover. Season with salt and pepper and add the lime juice (it tenderizes the meat and balances out the richness of the short ribs) When done the meat should be very tender but not falling apart and plate.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Season the steaks with salt and pepper and set them on a sheet tray lined with a wire rack. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, once the oven is preheated.
- While the steaks are getting partially cooked in the oven, prepare and fire up the grill at high heat. Once the 20 minutes are over, remove the steaks from the oven and place the steaks directly on the hot grill. Cook each side for 7-9 minutes per side to get a medium-rare steak.
- Remove and set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Slice and enjoy immediately.
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Ways to order Pat LaFrieda’s meats:
By their online store: http://lafrieda.com/
or through Urban Daddy Perks http://perks.urbandaddy.com/new-york.html
