A stew recipe called for beef chuck but the grocery store was out. The butcher suggested short ribs, he said it was the same. Is that correct

Take a walk on the wild side. Shorts ribs will taste great in place of beef chunks. Little more fat, fatty. Better flavor. Enjoy!

Susan W. I am in British Columbia. The short ribs here are as much as prime rib. All the braising cuts have gone through the roof but none more than Short Ribs :(

B eef chuck is an inexpensive cut, Short ribs are hugely expensive.

It's sort of like the difference between a pork butt/shoulder and pork short ribs. The latter will cook and tenderize much faster because of their lesser mass. I suspect that is what your butcher was trying to communicate. The fat may be higher, but the collagen content will be similar, and the low, slow cooking of collagen is what gives the result its tender silkiness.

I would expect there to be a LOT more fat. You might want to build in time to cool your stew, then defat it once the fats have solidified, then reheat.

No, they are NOT the same, but you should be able to substitute short ribs. There is probably more fat in the short ribs, and you will probably not want to cut the meat into as small of chunks as you would have with the chuck.

It will work in that they are high in fat, flavor and collagen like chuck. Are they boneless? If not, you will need more because of the bone. I think it will be delicious.