Grilled Cheese With Beef Short Rib Sandwiches

This is related to the post before about entertaining on Independence Day. Here is a more in-depth recipe and explanation of the grilled cheese with short rib sandwiches.


For the final dish of the evening, I made a sandwich of braised short ribs, sharp New York cheddar and sliced red onions on grilled sourdough bread (Taken/adapted from a recipe on Epicurious.com by LA chef Govind Armstrong). It was the hit of the night and given the time it took to make, it should’ve been.

I wasn’t exactly sure how many I’d be cooking for and what type of demand there’d be, so I bought 10 pounds of boneless short ribs ($3.99 per pound), three loaves of sourdough, and 3 pounds of a NY sharp cheddar ($9.99 per pound). While I always prefer to cook with meats on-the-bone, I simply didn’t have enough room to cook 20 pounds of bone-in short ribs just to end up with the same amount of meat as the 10-pounds of boneless. The cheddar, on the other hand, was picked for it’s easy melting ability and reasonable price.


10 pounds of boneless short ribs pre-cooking

For the preparation, there were two operations. The first, braising the short ribs, was done the day before and the day of. The second, assembling and cooking the sandwiches, was done on the spot at the party.

There are tons of different ways to braise short ribs, but most recipes are some variation of this:
1. Season the meat with healthy doses of kosher salt and pepper, and add canola oil to the pan.

2. Sear the meat for 5 minutes per side in a pan - A good sear means a happy short rib.
3. Remove the meat and add onions/celery/carrots/garlic for a few minutes - Be careful of how quickly it will burn in a pan this hot with oil
4. Deglaze with a cup of cabernet sauvignon - Make sure it cooks down a bit
5. Add fresh herbs of your choosing - I am liberal with my use of fresh thyme (Italian parsley can be added too)
6. Add a few cups of beef broth - Ratio is roughly 1 cup of wine to 3 cups of broth.

Once boiling, add the meat back in (and the juices that accumulated under it) and put it in the oven (covered) at 325 degrees. There are tons of variations for how long they should be cooked, usually it’s about 4 hours in total, with some recipes calling for braising every 15 minutes after the first 2 hours, some others calling for removing the top of the pan for the last hour or two and so on. I like to remove the cover after 2 hours, and if the sauce isn’t covering much of the meat, then I’ll spoon some liquid on top. If not, I leave it be.

Like with any meat with high fat content, low and slow is the way to go.

On Friday, I cooked about 5 pounds of them in a slow cooker for about 8 hours, but didn't think they were quite as delicious as previous short ribs I've made, particularly the sauce. So Saturday, I made two separate pots of ribs with the remaining 5 pounds and thought the final product was more much flavorful and richer.

Here are some pictures of the meat during the searing and then braising process.

The short ribs searing

Short ribs being added back to the pan with vegetables, herbs and broth

The finished short ribs, simmering in broth

Once finished, I prefer to let the meat rest in its juices for a while and then transfer to a plate to further cool. Once the meat is out of the pan, discard of all of the vegetables and herbs, fire the stove top up high, and make sure the sauce reduces by about half. This will ensure a truly rich and delicious finishing sauce.

At this point, you either have a delicious dinner of short ribs or you can shred them and go further. To shred, simply pull along the grain with a fork. It will come apart immediately.

Depending on your time, either refrigerate or move to the grill area. I cooked mine in two different batches so they needed to be re-heated at Todd’s. I simply threw them in a large pan at 325 for about 20 minutes.



Once ready to go, part two of the cooking begins. To begin, I buttered one side of each slice of the sourdough. I added a few pieces of raw red onions to the sourdough and then added a handful of the shredded short ribs - spread across so it filled but didn’t spill out over the sandwich. Then, I added one and a half slices of the sharp cheddar, put the other slice of bread on top and threw it on the grill for about 3 or 4 minutes per side. Timing really varied depending on how hot the grill was and how much room there was. You do want a certain amount of fire to hit the sandwich so the bread will be crispy, but you have to be careful because there’s a fine line between perfectly crispy and burnt.

The recipe calls for finishing them off in the oven, however, since that wasn’t an option here I just had to be extra judicious and careful.

This seems like one hell of a process, and it was, but once you tried them they were well worth it. The shredded short ribs were incredibly tender and juicy on their own - I mean after 4 hours of braising you’d hope so. In fact, at one point, one of the guests took a handful of meat on a tortilla chip and scarfed it down (I’d say one of the better compliments the meat could receive). Anyway, the ribs put together with a delicious melted cheese, the crunch of a crisp red onion and a hearty bread created an utterly gluttonous and thus fantastic end product.


The sandwich being assembled


The sandwich just off the grill


The final product, sliced. This one wasn't grilled quite as long so the cheese had only just started to melt

People started requesting the sandwiches at 7pm on the dot and at 1am I still had the grill fired up churning them out, so they were a success and I highly recommend making them at your next gathering - large or small.

They take plenty long to make, but all in all, well worth the effort.

Entertaining on Independence Day

So last night I cooked for my friend Todd’s 4th of July party. Throughout the night there were about 50 people eating, from about 7pm to 1am. All in all, it was a success, with largely rave reviews of the food. There were certainly things I’d do differently if I hosted the party tomorrow, but for the most part it was a controllable chaos. Due to a lack of pictures of certain dishes, I’m going to quickly recap the foods I served and then post a separate in-depth recipe of the hit of the party - the Grilled Cheese with Short Ribs with Sandwiches - which were utterly gluttonous and thus fantastic. Let’s be honest, can you think of two more rich or satisfying foods than slow-braised short ribs and crispy grilled cheese? It’s like candy for grown-ups.

More detailed posts about the other dishes will be coming soon, once I can do them justice with worthwhile pictures.

So for the party I was given two requirements - I could only make finger foods and the budget was $200. I wasn’t exactly sure how many would be eating, but we assume in the 40-50 person range. Past those considerations, I was free to take it any direction I wished.

I wanted to serve some creations that weren’t usual party fare, but knowing that every palette is different, also have some food that are safe for all eaters. So, to start, I made a roasted garlic and lemon hummus, served with baked pita bread and a vegetable spread. The hummus, which was shockingly easy to make, basically consisted of garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, a few heads of roasted garlic and some kosher salt. The consistency took a bit of time to get down but with some tasting and adjusting it was solved quickly. Best yet, there was a plethora of hummus and it barely cost $10.

The choripan, pre-slicing...

Starters were not the focus here, however. For the more substantive food, there were three options. First, an Argentine street food specialty, choripan (above). It’s their version of our hot dog, but with considerable more zest and spunk. I’m going to write a full post about choripans later, but here are a few details. My version of the choripan consisted of a spanish chorizo, marinated in a chimichurri sauce, then fire roasted for a few minutes to get a nice char and served on a mini grilled baguette. Argentinians use a combination of beef and pork sausage, but I find that a spicy pork sausage works particularly well and is readily available here in DC.

Hardly scientific, the chimichurri sauce consisted of a ton of chopped up fresh Italian parsley, red chili pepper flakes, minced fresh garlic, kosher salt and medium-grade olive oil. Once the chorizo was roasted on the grill, 2-3 minutes per side (I used smoked chorizo so the time was shorter), and the baguette had been grilled for a minute or two, I assembled and sliced them into mini finger-food sizes bites. In all, the 25 chorizo cost $40 dollars and the chimichurri sauce was less than $10 total. Depending on preference, you can buy chorizo for far less than the $40 I paid.

At their best, the choripan can be spicy, zesty, hearty, chewy, crispy and altogether delicious.


Cheddar Sliders...

Second of the meat options were sliders (above), served either plain or with a sharp cheddar. Nothing too special here, this was the safe options for guests with less adventurous palettes - a nice way of saying boring eaters. The main takeaways here were making sure we had a cheese that melted well and preparing the meat with flavorful seasoning prior. For the seasoning, I used a mix of kosher salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, old bay seasoning and a healthy dose of worcestershire sauce. The burger meat, 6 pounds worth, went quickly and for hardly $15 it wasn’t practically free.


The grilled cheese with short ribs sandwich

For the final dish of the evening, I made a sandwich (above) of braised short ribs, sharp New York cheddar and sliced red onions on grilled sourdough bread (Taken/adapted from a recipe on Epicurious.com by LA chef Govind Armstrong). It was the hit of the night and given the time it took to make, it should’ve been.

I wasn’t exactly sure how many I’d be cooking for and what type of demand there’d be, so I bought 10 pounds of boneless short ribs ($3.99 per pound), three loaves of sourdough, and 3 pounds of a NY sharp cheddar ($9.99 per pound). While I always prefer to cook with meats on-the-bone, I simply didn’t have enough room to cook 20 pounds of bone-in short ribs just to end up with the same amount of meat as the 10-pounds of boneless. The cheddar, on the other hand, was picked for it’s easy melting ability and reasonable price.

The shredded short ribs, which had been braised for 4 or 5 hours while cooking, were incredibly tender and juicy on their own. In fact, at one point, one of the guests took a handful of meat on a tortilla chip and scarfed it down (I’d say one of the better compliments the meat could receive). Anyway, the ribs along with a delicious melted cheese, the crunch of a crisp red onion and a hearty bread created an utterly gluttonous and thus fantastic end product.

People started requesting the sandwiches at 7pm on the dot and at 1am I still had the grill fired up churning them out, so they were a success and I highly recommend them. They take plenty long to make, but all in all, well worth the effort. For instructions and details on the short rib grilled cheese sandwiches, read the immediate next post on Read Meat.

There was one notable exception last night which I should've accounted for, vegetarian food. Yes, hummus is vegetarian, but that's hardly substantive fare. I audibled and made simple grilled cheese sandwiches for the few veges in the crowd but that probably wouldn't fly in most parties.

Aside from that, I’d say the night was a success. (And I stayed within the budget too, albeit barely.)

The simple roast chicken

When I first began cooking a few years ago I found a recipe on Epicurious called “my favorite simple roast chicken” by Thomas Keller. My interest immediately peaked since Keller is probably the most celebrated chef in America and currently has two of the top ten restaurants in the world: The French Laundry and Per Se. He’s known for incredibly advanced cooking, now specializing in sous-vide, but this recipe seemed both basic and delicious so I tried it.

I know it’s hyperbolic to say what I’m going to say, but it was the best chicken I’d ever eaten. It was far and away the single best dish I’d ever made, and probably still is, which is both ironic and infuriating since I usually can’t stand chicken and for all the time I’ve spent working on elaborate, difficult and exciting dishes, the simplest one always wins.

But I’m telling you I was at a loss for words. It was beautifully crisp, moist, flavorful, scrumptious, and just as predicted in it’s description, I quickly eschewed my fork and knife for my hands. How often do you find yourself with a dish so fantastic you’re practically licking the plate clean at a restaurant, let alone at home? But this chicken is so soulfully good it happened here, and continues to do so. The best part? It’s idiot proof (example later). I’ve given this to both experienced cooks and complete novices and the reaction has uniformly been complete and utter ease and satisfaction.

Ok, enough fawning. Fast forward to two weeks ago when food writer Andreas Viestad wrote an article in the Washington Post about Keller, specifically his roast chicken (go figure), so it was time to write about it here. The piece explains how cooking imperfections actually help this chicken and of course it included the recipe. Their recipe is slightly different from mine which is also slightly different from Keller’s cookbook, but they are all easy and I’m sure end up with a fantastic final product.

Onto the cooking...

The recipe I use calls for a 2-3 pound whole chicken, kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and fresh thyme. Simple and (reasonably) cheap.

A small chicken is actually really important here because it’s cooked at an extremely high heat so the bird can only cook so long before drying out too much. Yes it’s hard to get chickens that small but you can usually find organic chickens at Harris Teeter and Whole Foods in that range (the non-organic are often much larger). I think the perfect bird is right around 3 pounds and you can use one up to 3.3 pounds with no problems. When purchasing, make sure there are no bruises etc., you want a healthy good-quality chicken.

Once at home you have to clean the bird. If there’s a gizzards packet inside, remove and discard it. Rinse the chicken under water, set aside, and then dry both the inside and outside very well with paper towels. If you don’t handle whole chickens much drying the inside cavity might feel gross, deal with it. It’s really not bad and the difference in the final product is enormous. Drying might be the single most important step since as Keller says, “the less it steams, the drier the heat, the better.”


The trussed chicken

Once cleaned, pre-heat the oven to 450-degrees and then rub salt and pepper inside and outside of the chicken. Use a generous amount of salt on the outside, about 1 tablespoon. The salt makes the skin both crispy and flavorful.

Next, truss the bird (if you wish). Trussing makes for a much prettier chicken but otherwise it won’t make a major difference. Don’t know how? I first learned from this simple video:



Now add the chicken to a skillet, breast side up, and add to the heated 450-degree oven. If you mess up and add the chicken the other way, don’t worry too much. Last time I made this I was already halfway through a bottle of wine and accidentally put it in upside down, and yet, the final product was still fantastic. If you don’t have a skillet, a saute pan or Au Gratin dish work as well.

Set the timer for 50 minutes and leave it alone.

The recipe calls for cooking between 50-60 minutes, depending on the chicken’s size. I’ve found that 55 minutes is reliable, go for 60 only if the chicken’s larger than 3 pounds.

Remove the chicken, the skin should be browned and crackly (pictures below and up top). Add the fresh thyme leaves to the juices in the pan and then spoon over the chicken. Move the chicken to a cutting board for about 15 minutes so the internal juices run back to the center.


The finished chicken in the skillet

Carve and serve.

I find the easiest way is to first cut the legs off and work from there, splitting the breast down the middle and serving it with the wing attached. Honestly though, the best parts aren’t here, but in the bits that remain. There are a few delicious bites in and around the backbone that are worth forking out, but none quite as good as the chicken butt (Final four worthy in the meat bracket last week). Don’t believe me? Here it from Keller: “I take the chicken butt for myself. I could never understand why my brothers always fought over that triangular tip—until one day I got the crispy, juicy fat myself. These are the cook's rewards.”

If you’re looking for a more elegant presentation, put a breast on the bottom with a crispy leg on top, and garnish with a few dollops of various mustards around the side. If not, make a mound of juicy chicken and make sure to include all those delicious morsels still attached to it. Add more of the juices on top and leave fresh butter on the side.

Try it sometime, you'll be shocked just how good this simple roast chicken can be.


Crispy leg and chicken breast, once plated

The simple NY strip

I’ve always been cautious to have strip steaks at home, they’re one of the few cuts I’m convinced are better at a steakhouse. For one, they are distinctly better when dry-aged – the meat’s way more tender and the flavor’s far more concentrated. While you can sometimes find dry-aged NY strips at a butcher shop, they are incredibly expensive and just not feasible to buy. And two, a NY strip is a cut that’s just better on a grill. A lot of cuts are better braised or sautéed, but not the strip. The crust benefits from the sear of a burning hot grill and the flavor and meatiness of the cut goes hand in hand with a charcoal or wood-fired grill. When do you ever hear about a couple of guys sautéing a NY strip? It doesn’t happen. Needless to say, living in an apartment in DC means I don’t have a grill and have to use other options.

But I was at the Harris Teeter in Crystal City last week (the best market in the area) and found beautiful NY strips on sale for $6.99 a pound, way too good of a deal to resist. I figured it was worth a shot since the cuts we’re huge, they were beautifully marbled, and they were as fresh looking as I can ask for. I picked one of the larger cuts and at 20-ounces it was enormous.

Usually I love marinating or cooking meats in sauces, but for the strip I believe in a different approach, less is more. NY strips are impressive cuts with serious marbilization and a lot of flavor. This steak speaks for itself, there’s no point in dressing it up as or with something else.

In preparation, I heated my oven to 450 and put my trusty cast-iron skillet (pictured below) in to heat up. The main reason I use a cast-iron skillet is for the incredible heat it retains. I think the single most important aspect of cooking steaks is to have a surface that’s hot enough so the meat is seared and effectively cooked, without having to leave it on for too long. This ensures that the meat has a nice crust on the outside without being overcooked inside, and I think searing it preserves the flavor better. As an added bonus, this particular skillet has grooves that give the meat a grilled look – perfect for steaks, not great for sauces. After a few minutes in the oven, I took the skillet out and put it on a burner on high, all ready to go.

The cast iron skillet

For seasoning, I used kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper and a little olive oil. The key here was to use a generous amount of kosher salt (a full coating on either side), which helped bring out the flavor of the meat. Once on the skillet, the steak immediately began smoking, which was necessary for the crust. That’s where the beauty of the skillet came in, allowing the steak to immediately and get the color and crust it needed, without having to spend too long cooking.

The steak spent roughly three minutes on either side (without being touched) and then I sent it straight to the oven for another two minutes. I think the oven really seals in the flavor of the steak so it finishes well. I removed the meat and let it sit for 5 minutes so the juices spread out and then cut in half and served. I prefer steaks practically mooing still so a 20-ouncer was still about rare-plus after 8 minutes. If you prefer meat slightly better done, leave it in the oven for another 2 minutes and you’ll get a pinker version.

The meat was served on a "steak board," a traditional Argentinian parillas (steakhouse) serving dish. It might be the most wonderfully spartan addition to food yet. 

The steak resting on the steak board before slicing

Serving aside, the strip was absolutely delicious. The outside was nicely charred (thanks to the cast-iron skillet), while the inside had a frankly awesome reddish pink color. Look at it in the picture below. It was warm, flavorful, and juicy. The salt concentrated the flavors and even gave the illusion at times that it was dry-aged. Unlike so many home cooked steaks, it wasn’t overdone or dried out.

Beautiful char outside, juicy redness inside

The biggest difference between a steakhouse cut and this was that the fat here was slightly harder to cut around since it hadn’t been dry-aging for the last month or two. Aside from that, it was easy to make and surprisingly good, I’m certainly more eager to make strips in the future.

Harris Teeter Crystal City:

Potomac Yard
3600 S Glebe Rd
Arlington, VA 22202