Since the first time I ever had beef short ribs was Teriyaki style at Roy’s in Honolulu, I decided I should try to make my own short ribs teriyaki. First I found out that my regular butcher has something very close to short ribs after all, which he calls “naborst” (for all you Dutchies out here who can’t find short ribs either). The ribs themselves have been removed, but that’s not a big deal.

I decided that marinating in teriyaki would not be required as the beef would be cooked in the marinade for 48 hours anyway. The result was very tasty, but I was not completely satisfied with the texture of the beef. It was not as good as the short ribs sans teriyaki, even though it was cooked at the same temperature for the same time. The marinade seemed to have speeded up the cooking, which is not surprising because that often happens with marinating. I noticed something else that I found very interesting: the bag juices (a mix of teriyaki and beef juice) did not curdle when I heated them to make a wonderful teriyaki glaze. The wonderful beefy teriyaki glaze is the part that I liked best about this recipe. Next time I will try regular steak teriyaki in the same preparation (but a much shorter cooking time) or short ribs marinated in teriyaki but cooked without it (and then adding the marinade again at the end for the glaze). All to see if I can get a better texture. Not to say that this version was bad at all…

Ingredients

For 2 servings

500 grams (1 pound) short ribs without bones (or double that with bones)

2 Tbsp mirin

2 Tbsp sake

2 Tbsp Japanese soy sauce

1 Tbsp sugar

Preparation

Preheat the water bath to 57C/135F.

Start by making the teriyaki marinade. I always make it from scratch, but you could substitute with store-bought teriyaki. In a small saucepan, combine the soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar. Heat over low heat, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved.

Put the beef and the teriyaki marinade in a ziploc sous-vide pouch. Seal it with as little air as possible using the water displacement method (i.e. submerge the bag while pushing out the air and seal the ziploc just before it goes under water). Cook sous-vide for 48 hours at 57C/135F.

The beef will release a lot of juice during cooking. Take the beef out and pat it dry with paper towels.

Pour the bag juices into a frying pan. Heat over medium-high heat and add the beef.

Turn around the meat and baste it with the sauce until the meat is coated with a nice glaze and the marinade has become thick and syrupy.

Slice to serve.

I served it with the teriyaki sauce and sides of brown rice and roasted green asparagus (tossed in extra virgin olive oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper, roasted for 20 minutes at 225C/440F). I used the asparagus because I had some left in my fridge, but wasn’t convinced that asparagus and teriyaki are a good combination.