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Quick-Seared Short Ribs With Charred Scallion Salsa
![Quick-Seared Short Ribs With Charred Scallion Salsa](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/07/17/dining/15Romanrex/merlin_156252858_78745786-8129-4875-82dd-25d37d5b0f18-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 1¼ to 1½pounds boneless short ribs, at least 1-inch thick
- Kosher salt and ground pepper
- 1large bunch scallions or spring onions (either red or green spring onions work)
- 4ounces tomatillos (6 to 8 tomatillos)
- ¼cup fresh lime juice (from 2 limes), plus 1 lime, quartered
- 2tablespoons canola oil
- 2teaspoons cumin seed or ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼cup olive oil
- 1cup cilantro, leaves and tender stems
- Tortillas, for serving
- Hot sauce, for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
Season short ribs with salt and pepper.
- Step 2
Thinly slice half the scallions and half the tomatillos and combine in a medium bowl along with lime juice. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Leave the remaining scallions and tomatillos whole.
- Step 3
Heat oil in a large skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium-high heat.
- Step 4
Sear short ribs until deeply golden brown on both sides, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a cutting board or platter to rest.
- Step 5
Without wiping out the skillet, add remaining whole scallions and tomatillos to the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Cook, turning occasionally, until totally tender and lightly charred in spots, 4 to 6 minutes. Add cumin and toss to coat, lightly toasting the seeds. Remove from heat and, using tongs, transfer the vegetables to a cutting board.
- Step 6
Coarsely chop the scallions and tomatillos and place in a small bowl; add olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Step 7
Thinly slice short ribs crosswise and place on a large serving platter or plate. Spoon charred scallion sauce over the meat. Serve with remaining fresh scallion mixture, cilantro, tortillas, hot sauce and lime wedges for squeezing over the top.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
It’s delicious but there’s a reason the short rib is typically braised and not just quickly seared. This would do very well with a rib eye or sirloin or other more tender cut. A quick sear leaves this short rib far too tough if you’re simply slicing it across the grain. You end up chewing these tacos substantially.
1-1/4 to 1-1/2 lbs of short ribs
Not a fan of this recipe. After making this recipe I’m convinced that short ribs need to be slow roasted. After following the recipe we debated just throwing it out. We were hungry and it was late so we ate it, and you know wasting food, bad, etc. The tomatillos cut this way and not marinated were cumbersome on the tongue and challenging to the throat. The charred tomatillo and onion was tasty, of course, but I don’t recommend this recipe in this form.
I thought this was a great dinner, and it exceeded my expectations given other reviews that the short rib was better subbed with a steak cut. I had my short rib at max an inch thick (it may have been less) and cooked according to directions and it came out a perfect medium rare (sliced thin not chewy). the high acid of the tomatillo and lime went perfectly with the short rib, which was a nice fat marbling thing going on. I’d say boneless short ribs are a must. Alison Roman does it again!
Be sure to take your time on this recipe. Make sure you're getting well-marbled short rib. Season it ahead of time and give it ample time to rest; the result will be a tender piece of short rib with tons of flavor. I found the suggested cooking times to be slightly on the short side. Giving the meat and scallions/tomatillos sufficient time to sear/char will provide a fantastic result.
1 1/4 to 2 lbs short ribs, maybe?
Thank God for those leftover sesame noodles from the night before. This was a disaster. Y’all must REALLY love to chew. Yikes.
Delicious! Don’t forget to char the tortillas on the stovetop
To my surprise, this does work. You just have to let it rest and cut it very thinly across the grain. My quibble is that the price of boneless short ribs is not that different from the price of skirt steak or hanger steak, and I don't think it is as good.
It's pretty clear to me this is a recipe for meat that's going to be like eating bubblegum...
This is a revelatory technique for cooking short ribs. I pretty much followed the recipe, with a few minor tweaks: I seasoned the ribs, then left them out at room temperature for about 2 hours. I cooked until their internal temperature reached 120-125. Let them rest for 10 minutes after cooking, then slice thin as indicated. The salsas were a surprising and delicious complement.
Absolutely delish. Butcher gave me two pieces that were slightly thicker than an inch so I finished them in the oven, but they were so delicious and tender. Going to make the again this weekend for different people!
I made a slight modification to step two. After the raw tomatillo, scallion & lime mixture had marinated for the time it took for the remainder of the recipe to cook I threw it in the food processor. I am not a huge fan of raw scallions so this way it created more of a salsa verde to drizzle on top of the meat. Next time will definitely add a jalapeno to increase the spice level.
My husband and I couldn't believe how tender, buttery and melt in your mouth this seared short rib was. Perfect alternative to a ribeye, the key was to slice thin. So happy to have found a new way to cook this cut of meat that rivals any steak!
Agree that the beef short rib was not amenable to the rapid sear - turned out tough and fatty. A nice lean cut such as prime filet would be much better. Also added 3 Serranos to the seared vegetables which elevated this from the usual NYT fear of spicy and was consistent with tomatillos and cilantro (who serves tomatillos without Chile NYT?!)
Sear “both sides?” Don’t short ribs have 4 sides? Confused.
Loved the two kinds of tomatillo salsa! I read the instructions wrong and sliced the meat and removed the bones BEFORE cooking, which reduced cooking time. We put the veggies and tortillas on the grill. Not sure I'd do this again with short ribs, but it was delicious.
Thank God for those leftover sesame noodles from the night before. This was a disaster. Y’all must REALLY love to chew. Yikes.
Cooking time way on the short side. Let them rest for 10!
This was so good. The same ingredients some raw, some charred was like magic. Next time I would do about a quarter of the scallions raw and the rest char instead of 50/50. Short ribs were delicious, I salted them about an hour before cooking and let them sit on the counter to come to room temp. Slice very thin and enjoy with an ice cold beer.
Be sure to take your time on this recipe. Make sure you're getting well-marbled short rib. Season it ahead of time and give it ample time to rest; the result will be a tender piece of short rib with tons of flavor. I found the suggested cooking times to be slightly on the short side. Giving the meat and scallions/tomatillos sufficient time to sear/char will provide a fantastic result.
Can this be made with flanked cut short ribs?
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