So, I wanted to get everyone's thoughts on this.
The pieces done with SPOG+chile seemed to come out fairly tender. The others were kinda tough. The SPOG+chile seemed a little different in shape/consistency before being rubbed, and much different shape/consistency after cooking.
I don't attribute this to prep differences on my end, rather it seems almost like Costco packaged two different cuts of meat in a "boneless short ribs" package. I've read that "boneless short ribs" is not exactly a defined cut, and that sometimes these cuts can come from different areas.
That said, I'm wondering if I did something wrong in the cooking to cause them to be tough. I kept temps low, about 205-220 for most of the cook. I'm on propane, so that was easy. Total cook time was ~6 hours, and I finished them to around 185-190 degrees IT. Then, since I braised them, I figured the braising liquid would maintain great moisture and tenderness. I let them rest (in the braising liquid) for ~20 minutes prior to plating. Yet some of them were tough...
I'm wondering if it's hard to go low-and-slow on this cut of beef? After all, they were ~1.5" square fingers, and Costco blade-tenderizes, so I'm wondering if I just had too much surface area and dried them out. But I figured braising would help that. Maybe I should have cooked them longer, up to 200+ deg IT?
I'm not sure what I did wrong, and it's got me terribly confused. Any advice you can give would be much appreciated.