Smoked Short Ribs with Gochujang BBQ Sauce

Over this past Fourth of July, I rolled out my smoker. I’ve made most of the classic smoking cuts, including spare ribs/St. Louis Cut (which are actually not exactly the same thing), boston butts, shoulder butts, picnics, briskets, etc. However, I had yet to attempt perhaps the best combination of preferred cooking methods in a piece of meat: the Short Rib. Short Ribs are an interesting cut because they do share a lot of the same characteristics as the ribeye, as well as with a brisket. In terms of flavor, they are obviously much denser, more rich, and fattier than a Ribeye, but they still have much of the same flavor profile. Texturally is where the two rib cuts differ. Short rib has a melt in your mouth quality, while still maintaining its structural integrity when cooked properly. Cutting it, and its’ mouth feel almost reminds me of a cool grandparent at a birthday party. It’ll let you know that it’s there, but it’s not going to give you any problems having a good, indulgent time. Short Ribs are a bit difficult to cook. There are a few schools of thought with cooking short ribs- whether you should cook them quickly (as in Korean BBQ), braise them, or smoke them. It all depends on the way you cut them. Anything remotely thick and cut lengthwise can not be cooked quickly. Korean short ribs in the United States are cut in a style known as LA-Kalbi. This is a thin cross cut, historically taken off the chuck rib plate, but today LA-Kalbi can also be cut from the standard short rib plate. When cut this way, the ribs are able to avoid some of the textural problems that make cooking short ribs a hassle. It breaks the strong connective binds, and you can render the delicious fat that are so characteristic of short ribs in seconds over high heat. However, when cut lengthwise, none of that connective tissue is broken by the butcher, so you have to give a lot of love to the meat. In my opinion, I do not like braised short ribs. It’s a great way to make a delicious piece of meat taste like red wine and onions, served over some kind of grain. It will taste good, but it will not taste like the delicious piece of meat that you spent your money on. I think smoking is the best option, but obviously not everyone has a smoker/the means to have one. If you don’t have a smoker, this meal will obviously be a bit harder to create. However, there are  plenty of great alternatives. You can cook this low and slow in a low oven, and then finish it on the grill. You can use an instant pot, or even a crock pot. The options are endless- get out there and explore. Once cooked in your preferred method (I obviously like to cook things low and slow, with a very simple dry rub. A great piece of beef should taste like beef, with spices used simply to highlight the natural flavor of a high quality piece of meat. I typically use mostly salt and pepper, with just a tiny little bump of garlic powder and mustard powder for added depth.) it is vital to serve such a large cut with something that can cut through all of the richness. That’s why I developed a barbeque sauce that’s more or less a hybrid of classic korean BBQ flavors, and American Barbecue sauce. I am going to dedicate an entire post to this sauce, but regardless, it’s important to have a sauce that will give you plenty of acidity to cut through the rich fattiness of the short rib. That’s why using ingredients like gochujang and Apple Cider Vinegar in tandem works really well here- two different sources of acidity, each with a completely unique flavor profile. Apple Cider Vinegar offers a sweet, in your face acidity, whereas the gochujang is predominantly hot, with funk from its fermentation, a bit of sweetness, and just the right amount of acidity to cut through fatty meats. With some mustard, maple syrup, and brown sugar as a base, this sauce really is fantastic and augments any barbeque, but works especially well with a fatty, smoked cut. This meal is all about balance- how to use different flavors together in order to create something that defies the sum of its parts. How to combine a giant piece of meat that deserves to be the centerpiece of a meal with a sauce that won’t mask, but enhances the flavor of that piece of meat is next level cooking. 

In terms of how long to cook the short rib, the texture I like has all of the fat rendered, but is not cooked to pulling consistency. I still want the short ribs to have a steaky bite, but for all of the fat in them to just melt in my mouth and flood my mouth with all sorts of flavors and emotions- I know that something is truly delicious when I start laughing after I eat it (see instagram for my reaction)- food that brings genuine emotion, for me, is what separates a good cook from a great cook. Cooking with love, and genuine passion is what makes food taste delicious, and what makes me want to keep eating and experimenting.