Creekstone Prime Short Ribs - Disappoinment?

[GolfGeezer]

A few weeks ago I ordered Creekstone's Prime Chuck Short Ribs. There were on "special" at $68, regular price $98. I've never ordered from them before, but I love Beef Ribs of all sorts. These come as 2 racks, 4 bones each. These are not technically Dino ribs or Plate Ribs, but I've cooked a lot of this cut - most markets around here will sell them already cutup into individual ribs, and almost always cutting them in half. Once in awhile you can get the meat counter guy (can't really call them butchers) to pull the full racks they get from the back, which is much preferred.

I just thawed one of the two racks and was surprised at the amount of fat still on it. I mean, trimmed a good pound off the top. More importantly, these seem to have very little meat. Attached are pics of the rack trimmed and salted for smoking tomorrow. Not sayi9ng they won't be very tasty, but for the price, I really expected a superior rack with plenty of meat - afterall, they are short ribs, not back ribs.

What do you think? Am I expecting too much?

[Henrik]

Kind of hard to tel from just the photos, but I’m inclined to agree with you. 68 bucks is a bit too pricey for those. Get in touch with customer service and see what they say.

[Jfrosty27]

Henrik Yes I agree as noted above. I get Prime grade 4 bone racks from a local butcher for 6.99 per pound any day of the week. They are very meaty too. Every now and then my local Costco has Prime racks for as low as 4.99 per pound. I would contact Creekstone about it.

[GolfGeezer]

Thanks guys. It is hard to tell fro the pics, but you can see in the second one that there is one very small bone with almost no meat on top of it. There must have been almost an inch of fat at that one point. I’ll give them a call and see how it goes.

[Clark]

I'd try customer service as most companies value your business and want to make you happy.

[Smoldering Flea]

i ordered a bunch during the same sale and consistently had the experience where the 3rd rib is basically almost all fat. Based on the yield i gave up trying to cook them as quasi-dino "beef ribs" and instead cut them for kalbi (korean BBQ). At the sale price i felt the price was comparable / slightly favorable vs. high-end korean BBQ joints but with a much better product. But the search for a dino rib supplier continues...

[BBQPhil]

I ordered the same cut from Snake River Farms and they had about twice the meat on them. Don't recall the price, but not more than these.

[GolfGeezer]

UPDATE: I did speak with Creekstone's Customer Service rep - very nice, and helpful. She forwarded my pictures to their production department along with the fact that the pics are of the ribs after I trimmed the heck out of them. Unfortunately, the production people stated that based on the pics, the ribs were "cut to spec".

Fortunately, the customer service rep offered and issued me a full refund of the product cost (not shipping, which I understand). Would I order from them again? Possibly, but not these short ribs.

BTW, Snake River Farms ribs cost $139 per rack right now. Theirs are Wagyu Black grade, about 7 lbs which means that the rack is not cut in half like the CF ribs are (CF's are Prime, 3-4lbs each sold in packs of 2, which I am pretty sure means they've cut them in half).

[Smoldering Flea]

Different parts of the cow. The creekstones are cut from the chuck primal. The srf are further back in the plate primal. Have had both, SRF will have much higher yield—If you don’t mind leaving silverskin on you don’t really need to trim at all. Glad to hear things were resolved to your satisfaction.

[GolfGeezer]

Last Update after smoking: (and thanks for the info Smoldering Flea . Not sure I would spend $20/lb for the SRF, but never say "never").

6 hour smoke at 250*, wrapped for last hour, pulled at 200* (well, one probe at 202* and one at 190* in a different rib). 1 hour in cooler wrapped. Meh. One rib (the largest) was very dry, the others moist and good texture.

[Smoldering Flea]

If I could find the plate cut anywhere else I wouldn’t get the SRF. Don’t think I need the wagyu grade. Those ribs look great. If you don’t love how they turned out though I would suggest trying Korean bbq with the other half

[Steve B]

Well at least you got your refund. Even the bones look very thin. Sorry this didn't turn out better.

[Smoldering Flea]

I think about it as price per serving because the bone throws off the weight. SRF: 130 for three bones. 40-45 per bone which is basically what a beef rib costs at a good bbq place up here. Granted you’re getting wagyu which I question if you need but it does make it virtually impossible to mess up the cook. At call it .75-1 bones per person that’s 30-40 per serving.

creekstone: cutting up as Korean bbq. 68 on sale. =34 per 4 bone cut. Which can feed ~ 2 people. That’s 17 per person which I thought somewhat comparable / cheaper to a restaurant but with better quality meat. .

[GolfGeezer]

Smoldering Flea Do you have a recipe for the Korean BBQ? I have 1 more rack in the freeze and some Bulgogi sauce in the pantry, which I've never used. Always intended to try making those thin-style Korean ribs, but haven't got there yet.

[Smoldering Flea]

https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/galbi

The video will show the easiest way to cut the rib. The recipe is good if you like a non-marinated version. For marinated (credit to ATK) process in food processor: 1 peeled cored pear, 6 peeled garlic cloves 4 tsp minced ginger, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil, 6 Tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar. Add 3 scallions sliced thin. Add marinade to the sliced meat for 4-12 hours. Grill 7-12 min TOTAL