Oven Asado

Ingredients

• Beef chuck short ribs (bone in)
• Celusal BBQ Salt - Iodized

Method

Remove the beef from the fridge 30 minutes before cooking. Short ribs release their fat gradually — rushing them from cold into the oven locks in the chill and uneven carryover. Rinse under cold water to dislodge bone fragments from the butcher's cut, then pat dry thoroughly. Moisture is the enemy of roasting colour; a damp surface steams rather than browns.

Heat the oven to 200°C. Salt each rib generously on all sides with the iodized sea salt, working it into the meat. The salt won't fall off during cooking despite what conventional wisdom suggests — it dissolves into the surface moisture and forms a crust as the meat heats. The iodine in table salt also promotes browning via the Maillard reaction, though you'll taste no iodine itself at this concentration.

Place the ribs bone-side down on a rack set over a roasting tin. Position the tin directly below to catch the rendered fat — this is your basting liquid and flavour base. Roast for 20 minutes, then flip bone-side up. Flip again after another 20 minutes. This rotation prevents the underside from stewing in its own juices and ensures even cooking across all surfaces. The meat is done when it yields to moderate pressure and a skewer inserted into the thickest part meets only slight resistance — expect 40–45 minutes total, though oven temperature varies.

The resting-meat step is non-negotiable. Remove the ribs and rest them for 5–10 minutes uncovered at room temperature. The residual heat continues the cooking (carryover reaches roughly 5°C higher), and the muscle fibres relax, reabsorbing the expelled moisture. Cutting into warm meat before this step bleeds out everything you've built.

Serve the ribs with the rendered fat spooned over. In argentinian-cuisine, asado relies on this fat as the vehicle for flavour — it's not a by-product to drain away.