Cuts · US butchery
Beef short ribs
The barbecue cut whose name is least reliable. 'Short ribs' can mean thick plate ribs, chuck ribs or thin cross-cut strips, and the three cook completely differently.
Known as
The same muscle carries different names in different butchery systems, and some of those names mean different cuts elsewhere. Where a name is ambiguous, BBQHQ says so rather than picking one.
- United States
- Beef short ribs
- Plate short ribs
- Dino ribs
- Flanken
Cut across the bones rather than between them — a different product from the same anatomy.
- short ribs — barbecueMeans different cuts to different trades here
Even within the US, 'short ribs' can mean plate ribs, chuck ribs or thin flanken strips cut across the bones. They cook differently enough that the word alone is not an instruction.
What to ask a butcher for
- United States: Say which: thick plate ribs cut between the bones, or thin strips cut across them.
- United States: Say whether you want it cut across the bones (flanken) or between them (English).
Where it comes from on the animal
Rib bones and intercostal meat
Rib and plate · high use · connective tissue: high
The meat between and over the ribs. Which ribs, and whether cut across the bones or along them, is entirely a butchery decision — which is why 'short ribs' names at least three visibly different products depending on where you buy them.
Muscles: Intercostales, Serratus ventralis
Asking a butcher for it
Named the way us butchery names it. If the counter does not recognise the name, the anatomy is the fallback: ask for the cut by where it comes from.
- What to say
- Beef short ribs, or Plate short ribs (US) depending where you are.
- If that draws a blank
- Ask for rib and plate — the muscle is Intercostales, Serratus ventralis.
- What to specify
- Typical weight is 1.5–4.0 kg.
What it is suited to
Derived from how hard the muscle works and how much connective tissue it carries, which is the pairing that decides whether a cut wants a fire under it or beside it. BBQHQ does not rank cuts and does not name a best one.
- High connective tissue: this wants long, low, indirect heat. Collagen converts to gelatine slowly and well above any safety endpoint, so the cut is tough until it has had the time and tender afterwards. Cooking it fast makes it worse, not quicker.
- A hard-working muscle, which is why it carries the tissue it does and why it rewards patience.
BBQHQ holds cooking evidence for this cut as beef short ribs.
What to use instead
A substitute is not the same as an equivalent. These are graded, because “yes, use that instead” is the answer that ruins dinners: most real substitutions work only once something about the cook changes.
Workable, once you change the cook
A UK butcher sells beef ribs, and which ribs and how they are cut varies enough that 'short ribs' does not reliably describe them. Say which you want: thick plate ribs cut between the bones, or thin strips cut across them.
- IMPS separates plate short ribs (item 123, ribs 6–10, M. latissimus dorsi continuous) from chuck short ribs (item 130, ribs 2–5, M. serratus ventralis). Different ribs, different muscles, one English name.
- UK retail generally does not make that distinction at all.
- Flanken-cut and English-cut are different products from the same bones and both are sold as 'short ribs'.
Asking for it in another country
UK butchery: Closest available
A UK butcher sells beef ribs, and which ribs and how they are cut varies enough that 'short ribs' does not reliably describe them. Say which you want: thick plate ribs cut between the bones, or thin strips cut across them.
What differs
- IMPS separates plate short ribs (item 123, ribs 6–10, M. latissimus dorsi continuous) from chuck short ribs (item 130, ribs 2–5, M. serratus ventralis). Different ribs, different muscles, one English name.
- UK retail generally does not make that distinction at all.
- Flanken-cut and English-cut are different products from the same bones and both are sold as 'short ribs'.
The UK side of these mappings rests on AHDB’s published cutting specifications, which BBQHQ has read. The US side does not: USDA’s Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications and the Beef Checkoff cut pages both refuse automated access, so no mapping here reaches “same cut” across two butchery systems. See the open question.
Typical size
1.5–4.0 kg