GAMLE RAADHUS RESTAURANT, OSLO (Nettavisen): We’re in a venerable establishment in central Oslo, run by chef Jørn Lie. Previously he was in charge of the national team of chefs and is passionate about traditional cuisine.
Inside Gamle Raadhus restaurant, he has just opened three marked parcels thundered. They are bought by the budget chains Rema 1000, Kiwi and Extra.
— This can become bacon if you salt or dry it, but they’re not ribs like most people think ribs should be, she says as she studies the meat.
At first glance, all three cuts of meat look like ribs. But some things are different. On a rib there are layers of meat and fat on top of each other. Here the chef finds only flakes of fat around the edges, but the meat isn’t marbled like a short rib should be.
– We get the good taste of the rib because the meat has layers of fat in between. That’s what gives good taste, says Lie.
The chef carefully studies the pieces of meat. He folds the pieces and squeezes the meat.
– There are no bones here, says Jørn Lie. By the way, wait a minute. There is some bone on one side of this one, says Jørn Lie.
Abdomen with some bone
There’s about a quarter of a rib on First Price’s piece of meat.
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– Most of these are boneless, so it would be wrong to sell them as Thin Ribs. I think it would have been much neater to call all these pieces belly lists. Because this is a book list, says Lie.
There are no bones on the other two pieces of meat.
– Buklist everything, says the chef.
The belly strip is part of the flank of the pig, but the term is used for the boneless part. If you fry it like a regular rib, the result can be sad, according to the chef.
Ribs have ribs
– Ribs are called ribs because ribs are included. Buklist lacks legs. I use the sirloin for the jam, but I never fry the sirloin like a rib, that would be a disaster, says experienced chef Eirik Lillebø, Jørn Lie’s colleague and co-owner of Vaaghals and Code restaurants.
– But what actually happens if you roast the sirloin like it’s a rib?
– It’s almost impossible to get both crispy rind and juicy meat on one belly strip since the piece of meat is so thin and boneless. I fought a lot to make it happen, says Lillebø.
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He says thundered in capital letters on the hills. All three are budget chain brands and cost NOK 69.90 per kilo at Rema 1000 and NOK 76.00 at both of the other two.
– It’s okay for these to be cheap, but it’s not okay to mislead people even if the product is cheap. When it says fine ribs on the package, the consumer should feel that they are actually getting fine ribs, says Jørn Lie.
– It doesn’t help that these are cheap goods, you shouldn’t deceive people even if it’s cheap, says Eirik Lillebø.
– Must use the correct name
Norgesgruppen, which owns the Kiwi chain and the First Price brand, makes no secret of the fact that thin ribs are a popular product.
– Thin ribs are a favorite product among consumers. Prime rib should contain ribs and that’s why we call this product prime rib. We are keen to use the correct name for the correct section, says Kine Søyland, communications manager at Norgesgruppen.
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The First Price beef we bought at Kiwi’s was the one that actually had ribs in it. But most of it was boneless.
– Buklist has no bones. Nettavisen’s picture shows that our thin ribs have ribs on about a quarter of the cut part. It becomes nearly impossible to avoid a little belly fat when you’re cutting your ribs thin, says Søyland.
He adds that they are keen to use the whole animal and some rib pieces will have fewer bones. He also says they get few complaints about the product.
– Extra large pork sides are trimmed, and therefore the back will contain little to no bone. These pieces are sold as Prima thin ribs and are a cheaper variant of regular frozen thin ribs, says Randi Støyva, quality manager at Nordfjord Kjøtt AS, which supplies the meat to Rema 1000.
It is clearly explained on the consumer label why the product may contain little or no bone and less fat than other cuts, says Støyva, who adds that they will consider better labeling next year.
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Coop: – Not according to our needs
– The agreement with the supplier is that there has to be some bone on all the pieces, so this is something we will follow up with the manufacturer, says communications manager Harald Kristiansen of Coop, which owns the Xtra chain.
Kristiansen points out that Xtra Series ribs are the cheapest option, but says they still need to maintain good quality.
– With a thinner piece of meat, of course there won’t be as many layers of meat/fat and not as juicy. But it’s entirely possible to prepare them for a prime rib meal, and in tests we’ve done, the rib has become crispy and nice with normal cooking methods, says Kristiansen.
