Taking meat out of the freezer tonight I found a package of short ribs cut on the thin side. Finally it clicked why I bought these so I'm trying the maui style ribs that Dinanna55 mentioned many moons ago. Looks like they were a hit in Hawaii but the place has closed down. Here is one recipe that was linked to in her post and a link to one on epicurious. I'm going to play around with both of them and hopefully come up with something good. They sound different and unique to me tonight. Rib recipe keeps Hawaiian secret safe Azeka's is a ribs and snack shop in Kihei, Maui that has been in business for more than 50 years. The shop's legendary Maui ribs recently inspired Patricia Shorting to e-mail me in search of a recipe. Shorting had a card listing the ingredients -- soy sauce, cane sugar, fresh garlic, fresh ginger and sesame oil -- but wanted to know the proportions. By Times Colonist (Victoria)February 20, 2006 Azeka's is a ribs and snack shop in Kihei, Maui that has been in business for more than 50 years. The shop's legendary Maui ribs recently inspired Patricia Shorting to e-mail me in search of a recipe. Shorting had a card listing the ingredients -- soy sauce, cane sugar, fresh garlic, fresh ginger and sesame oil -- but wanted to know the proportions. Azeka's website, azekas.com, says the shop came up with a special marinade for barbecued beef short ribs in 1976, and it quickly became a favourite of Maui residents and visitors, solely through word of mouth. "Don't forget to try the ribs at Azeka's Market!" people would say. The marinade is based on an original recipe of Bill Azeka's mother, and the shop treasures the formula so much, it trademarked the product. The chances of getting hold of the secret recipe are, well, nil. So, if you want to taste them, go to Hawaii, or they'll ship them to you frozen and you can cook them yourself. The other option, of course, is to come up with a recipe that resembles the tasty morsels of ribs served at Azeka's. The place to start is with the meat. As noted, the cut used is beef short ribs, which may come as a surprise to some. Most associate short ribs with thick, five-centimetre-wide pieces of meat that require long, slow cooking to make them tender. For Maui-style ribs, however, the short ribs are thinly cut, one-centimetre-thick, long strips that become tender by deliciously marinating the meat, not slowly cooking it. The result is short ribs that take 10 to 12 minutes to cook, not two hours. As for the marinade, the key balancing act is between the salt from the soy sauce and the sweetness from the cane sugar (sold at some supermarkets and Asian markets). In a first go-around, I used three parts soy to one part sugar. It wasn't quite right for my taste, so I opted to go with two parts soy to one part sugar. That may sound like a lot of sugar, but when I tasted the ribs, they were sumptuously sweet, not overly sweet. I added the ginger, garlic and sesame oil in small amounts until I achieved the somewhat subtle, I-know-you're-still-there flavour I wanted to achieve. All three ingredients have pretty powerful tastes, and if you overdo it with any one of them, they, not the ribs, could steal the show. Is the Maui-style rib recipe I came up with like the one served at Azeka's? Likely not. And that's a good thing, because it's nice to have secret food finds that keep you wondering why they're so delicious. That being said, my ribs were tasty and can be cooked indoors or outdoors. Because of the high sugar content in the marinade, you need to cook the ribs over medium heat -- any hotter and the sugar will burn before the ribs are done. Eric Akis's columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday. The best-selling author can be reached at ericakis@shaw.ca Maui-style Beef Short Ribs I used Kikkoman soy sauce in the marinade. It's a little lighter in colour and didn't turn the ribs a deep black colour, which some of the darker soy sauces do. I didn't want that to occur with my ribs because they'd be darker and less appealing-looking once cooked. Preparation time: 10 minutes, plus marinating time. Cooking time: 10-12 minutes. Makes: 4 servings 8, 5 to 6 bone, thinly cut strips of beef short ribs, about 3 1/2 lbs (see note) 1 1/2 cups soy sauce 3/4 cup cane sugar 3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger 3 garlic cloves, crushed 1 1/2 tsp sesame oil Place the ribs in a sided dish just large enough for a single, slightly overlapping layer. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and stir to dissolve the sugar into the soy sauce. Pour over the ribs. Cover and marinate the ribs in the fridge at least 8 hours, or overnight, turning them occasionally. Preheat an indoor or outdoor grill to medium heat. Remove the meat from the marinade; discard the marinade. Lightly oil the surface, then grill the ribs 5 to 6 minutes per side, until cooked through but still juicy. Adjust the heat downward if they're darkening too quickly. Note: At some supermarkets, unmarinated, thinly cut short ribs are labeled Maui-style short ribs. Eric's options: After marinating, these ribs could be frozen raw -- something you may wish to do with half the ribs if you're only feeding two. Thaw them overnight in the fridge the day before you intend to cook them. © (c) CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc. The link below has the recipe from epicurious. I've always had good success with the recipes from that site. If you google there are many more but they all have the same basic ingriedents. I'm going for it!! David

Lisbet, that is an interesting read! The most useful advice seems to be the wet wrap; I'll try that next time. I don't have a frost-free freezer or a vacuum food sealer, but I don't think the problem is freezer-burn, as there's no visible damage. Also, the labels on the meat packages don't say "previously frozen." I'll keep experimenting, especially with the temperature and pan. For many years, I've simply bought a small quantity of ground meat and cooked it the same evening (or perhaps the next day), but recently my supermarket began selling it in vacuum-packed 3-pound packages, so I've been stocking up. I also freeze half-pound blocks of ground beef to use in pasta sauce and other dishes; I flatten them as much as possible before freezing, so they'll thaw quickly in the pan. Maybe I've cooked them at a higher temp than the burgers, but they don't have the rubbery texture when cooked that way. Sue

Is she still vegetarian, Jodi? I turned when I was about 16 so it's been a while. The problem with veggie burgers is that most restaurants just throw it on the grill with the others, which grosses me out. Sometimes they will do it on a separate grill. I went to Chipotle for lunch today and the guy before me got soft tacos, so the worker got steak sauce all over his gloves so that when he picked up my bowl, it smeared all over the inside along the sides. I stood there staring for about 10 seconds wondering if I should ask him to make a new one but I ended up just wiping the sides off before I ate it. I realize most people aren't as uptight as I am about it! I just try not to think about it but it's hard when you see it happen.

I just remembered. I have had McDonalds burgers many times! Every time I traveled to a different country, I always ended up going to their McDonalds at least once. For instance, when I was in Paris, I was getting tied of French food the last days. Let me tell you, a French Big Mc tasted really good. When I was in Argentina, where they really like meat, I even had a Royal Cheese with wine. Yes, you can get wine with your "Big Mac" there. From Pulp Fiction ------------------------------------------- VINCENT: ...You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris? JULES: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese? VINCENT: No, they got the metric system there, they wouldn't know what the f??k a Quarter Pounder is. JULES: What'd they call it? VINCENT: Royale with Cheese. JULES: Royale with Cheese. What'd they call a Big Mac? VINCENT: Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac. JULES: What do they call a Whopper? VINCENT: I dunno, I didn't go into a Burger King. -------------------------------------- dcarch This post was edited by dcarch on Fri, Jan 16, 15 at 14:36