My Kitchen Rules: How to make Rob and Liam’s smoked beef short ribs with ‘nduja cauliflower cheese and slaw

Smoked beef short rib ‘nduja cauliflower cheese and fired slaw

Prep time: 1h30m

Cook time: 4h30m

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 2 cups smoking chips
• 6 beef short ribs (1.2kg)
• Olive oil, for brushing
• ¼ cup spice rub (see below)
• 2 tbs brown sugar
• 2 tbs honey
• 75g butter, chopped

Spice rub

• 3 tbs smoked paprika
• 2 tbs garlic powder
• 1 tbs ground black pepper
• 1 tbs ground white pepper
• 1 tbs onion powder
• 1 tbs dried oregano
• 1 tbs cayenne pepper
• 3 tsp salt
• 2 tsp dried thyme

Mayonnaise

• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 250ml light olive oil

Fired slaw

• 450g white cabbage, shredded
• 1 carrot, coarsely grated
• ½ small red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tbs finely chopped coriander
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise (as above)

Nduja cauliflower cheese

• 1 cauliflower, cut into florets
• 80g unsalted butter, chopped
• 75g plain flour
• 750ml milk
• 240g grated cheese
• 3 tbs nduja
• 25g panko crumbs
• 50g grated parmesan

Method

1 To make spice rub, combine all ingredients in a bowl.

2 Prepare a charcoal kettle barbecue for indirect cooking. Place an aluminium tray in base of barbecue, in the centre. Fill 3/4 full with boiling water. Surround with hot coals and sprinkle half the smoking chips over the coals. Position cooking grill in place.

3 Sprinkle each rib with 2 tsp of the spice rub and rub into meat. Brush with oil. Place ribs on grill in the centre, over the tray of water (the steam will help to keep them moist). Add lid to barbecue and cook for 2 hours, topping up coals, smoking chips and water as necessary.

4 Place a large piece of foil on kitchen bench. Add smoked ribs in the centre, then sprinkle with brown sugar, drizzle with honey and top with butter. Wrap in foil to form a package, then wrap in a second layer of foil. Return package to barbecue, seam-side up. Cover with lid and cook for a further 1 ½ -2 hours or until ribs are tender. Set aside for 30 minutes to rest. Slice into portions.

5 Meanwhile, to make mayonnaise, process egg yolks, juice and mustard until smooth. With motor operating, drizzle in oil until thick and smooth. Season.

6 To make fired slaw, place cabbage in a large metal sieve. Hold or position over smoking coals for about 5 minutes, tossing occasionally, to infuse. Place in a large bowl with the remaining ingredients. Season. Stir to combine. Refrigerate, covered, until needed.

7 To make cauliflower cheese, cook cauliflower in a large saucepan of boiling, salted water for 5 minutes. Drain.

8 Preheat oven to 200C.

9 Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add flour and cook, stirring, until mixture bubbles. Gradually whisk in milk to form a sauce. Cook, stirring, over low heat for 5 minutes.

10 Remove from heat. Add cheese and nduja and whisk until smooth and combined. Season with pepper. Stir in cauliflower. Pour mixture into an oven dish. Sprinkle over panko crumbs and parmesan.

11 Bake for 20 minutes or until top is golden and crisp and mixture is heated through.

12 Serve ribs and cauliflower cheese with coleslaw.

Tips

• We used Cape Grim beef ribs.
• We cooked our ribs as racks, but if you buy them already portioned, they will be just as delicious.
• We used a combo of grated mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan to make our cauliflower cheese.
• Store the leftover spice mixture in an airtight container. Use to flavour grilled meats or fish, meatballs or burgers.