This weekend Memorial Day is celebrated in the U.S. and Pentecost in France. Three day weekend and time for barbecues. Of course I went to the deep country in Villiers-Louis where my Weber grill has taken up semi-permanent residence.
In anticipation of the holiday, I visited Jacques for early morning coffee and to discuss the British flanken cut of beef ribs. Jacques, a retired butcher, understood what I wanted but not quite why. Bones, as he said, are for dogs in France 🙂 He’s such a hoot! Anyway, he took me across the street to the market and helped me place my order a week in advance. The young butcher did a good job.
I decided to go for an Asian/Japanese/Korean style marinade that was dictated by my cupboard contents. Really, I outdid myself 🙂 I’m going to repeat this marinade.
The ribs were tasty, if a little on the not so tender side. I marinated them for a day and a half but I think I’ve either got to have the butcher make a thinner cut or forget about having them a little rare and cook them longer, off the coals with the top on. Still, we abandoned knives and forks and used our hands. Scrumptious!
Beef Ribs
3 spring onions, whites and greens, chopped
8-10 garlic cloves, chopped
1 inch ginger piece, chopped
1/2 cup sake
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3/4 cup tamari soy sauce
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp peanut oil
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 cup water
3 slabs beef ribs, flanken cut
Mix all ingredients together and pour over the ribs. Marinate over night. Remove the ribs and rinse. Strain the marinade and discard vegetables, keeping the liquid for basting.
Barbecue the ribs to desired doneness, basting with marinade.
The French so love a gratin and as an American, macaroni and cheese speaks to me. I made this macaroni and cheese in a “I can’t be bothered” fashion, cutting the onions and red bell pepper like “whatever”, and deciding what should be included at the last minute, on my way out of the door.
Tossing on some random parsley leaves for the photo shoot.
3 Cheese Macaroni Gratin
1/2 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 tbsp butter
1 lb small elbow macaroni, cooked
1/2 cup reblochon cheese, grated
1/2 cup tomme de savoie cheese, grated
1 cup comte cheese, grated
1 1/2 cup creme fraiche
Bread crumbs
Saute the onion and bell pepper in the butter until the onion is soft, then toss with the hot macaroni. Add the reblochon, the tomme, 1/2 cup of the comte and the creme fraiche. Stir to blend well. Pour the mixture into a baking pan and top with the rest of the comte, then the bread crumbs.
Bake in a 425 F oven for about 30 minutes.
While Sophie was grilling these chicken brochettes, I passed by and brushed on a little of my marinade. Mmm, good.
And for dessert, overkill. I really should have asked the name of this torte.
My goodness. I’m salivating at the thought of that meat and mac & cheese! I love using Korean marinades for beef–my mother is Korean, so it makes me feel like I’m home. 🙂 I’ll have to try yours next time. And my boyfriend will go nuts for that mac & cheese!
Thank you Katie.
Those beef ribs look amazing. And the macaroni gratin looks delish! Lovely photos as usual!
Thank you Tessa. The macaroni and cheese turned out to be a keeper.
Reblogged this on Impazziamo: Artistic.
YUMMY! Those ribs and marinade looked so good! Happy Holidays! -Helen
Thank you Helen.
What a wonderful marinade. I do believe you’ve outdone yourself! Yum! Oh and how I love a good Mac and cheese. Your table of food looked so inviting and delicious.
Thank you Karista.
That looks soo good, a big fan of ribs and a great combination with the man n cheese.
Cheers
Marcus
Hi Marcus. My ribs still need work to make them a little more tender but the mac was fab!
You do live well (jealous). That’s great looking meat, Rosemary. I can’t resist a good quality cut of beef, no matter what the cut. As long as it’s a good cut, it will taste good if prepared properly. Delicious.
Thank you Frugal. I send you the cut, you send me the skillet 🙂
You’re going to have to try a little harder than that – Welsh beef is second to none… 😀
Says a Welshman.
Yeah, what of it? 😀
So agressive 🙂
Oh yeah, me I’m an animal 😀
🙂
Ohhh that ribs look tempting, I can already imagine myself nibbling on the bones like a hungry dog 🙂
That’s exactly what we did rs 🙂
That’s a great marinade. I can’t help thinking that the torte looks like it’s decorated with mini pork pies and slices of smoked meat – I’m sure it’s not but do tell what it was made with 😉
🙂 mini cream puffs filled with vanilla cream, on top of layers of torte, whipped cream and vanilla cream with chocolate cream swirls and strawberries. Bleah.
Not really my kind of food, but it does look quite kitsch – like the pictures I have in my 1963 copy of Larousse 😉
It was eaten to the last crumb. The yellowish photo reminds me of old Sunset cookbooks.
Looks like you had a Remembrance day to remember:)
Memorable.
I usually make pork ribs but those beef ribs make me want to cook beef next time. Very lovely food and the picture of the table is charming. Thanks for sharing your family celebration.
I’m also a big fan of pork ribs but beef ribs are not to be sneered at 🙂
I love all that garlic. What a great spread!
thank you Greg
Lovely post as usual. We are having an early summer in Dublin, having had no spring, with temperatures in the mid 20s. There has been a lot of barbecuing going on here too.
Best,
Conor
Thanks Conor. I remember the 6 months we spent in Dublin when we had snow in May. Everytime the sun came out, you could see the Dubliners in shorts and tank tops. We still had on our wool coats 🙂
Beautiful marinade and beautiful ribs. That’s so funny how the French are about what you can eat and what you can’t. Ordering a turkey in France for Thanksgiving always elicited shock and disbelief, even though the same butcher filled the order for a Thanksgiving turkey the year before and he must get orders from a bunch of Americans every year because there was more than one turkey waiting the days before Thanksgiving! I like to think he thought it was fun to pull the same routine every time.
I’m glad you stuck to your guns and got what you wanted. They look amazing.
(and I am in love with your serving utensils! what beautifully beaded handles!)
I think my husband bought those in Kenya. I love them also 🙂
So pretty!
The beef ribs look delicious! Here in the south your butcher wouldn’t have laughed at your wanting ribs – croustillous (an Occitan word) – pork ribs – are very popular and we all eat them barbecued a lot!
Lucky you chaise. I have gotten them to cut pork ribs for me and I am totally satisfied with them. http://cookinginsens.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/jacques-does-ribs/
We parboil ribs before grilling them, which helps keep the meat tender. I suppose you could parboil them and then put them in your marinade and then grill them.
Hi. The problem with parboiling is that you can’t grill them rare afterward. I’d like a pink center, which we had. I think the problem might have been the meat. I’m going to talk to the butcher again.
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