One of the things that makes meat taste succulent is what is known as “marbling.”
When an animal eats more calories than it needs, the excess is stored in specialized fat-storing tissue that surrounds the muscles and organs. If the animal continues to eat to excess, eventually that tissue becomes over-filled, and the overflow is rerouted directly into the organs and muscles themselves.
This intramuscular fat is called marbling, and though it does not serve the health of the animal, it works wonders for the taste of its meat.
Marbling tenderizes meat in two ways. First, it stretches the connective tissue into thin sheets, making it more likely to soften during cooking. More importantly, it isolates one muscle fiber from another, helping them to separate into tiny easily chewed packets.
Unlike surface fat, which bastes only the outside of a meat, marbled fat melts into the fibers individually, spreading its flavor impact into every bite. In addition to being flavorful itself, fat is essential for the perception of all aromatic flavors, so marbling helps carry the impact of sauces and seasoning on the meat to the palate.
Short ribs are part of the rib cage of a steer. They lie along the side of the animal, between the spare ribs (that run along the belly) and the rib roast (that runs along the back).
This means short rib meat is pretty flavorful and a little tough since the muscles in that area help support the ribs and the internal organs. At the same time they’re just a little bit away from prime rib, one of the premium cuts of beef, making short ribs a great buy -- for a fraction of the price of rib roast you are getting meat that’s of very similar quality.
