The Ordinary Times

My Bitchin Short Ribs Recipe

The first of an occasional series:

Short ribs – about 2″ in length, just like in the New Seasons butcher case, I cooked 8 pieces
Red Wine – Something not very tannic (tannins get a little sour when you cook them for a long time so save your high falutin bottles of Nebbiolo and Burgundy for when yer grillin a big fat steak) I usually stick to Italian wines, Barbera is a good go to for this, a decent Cotes du Rhone would be nice too. You’re gonna dump about 1/3rd of the bottle into this one.
2 Yellow Onions – roughly chopped
2 Carrots – peeled, rough chop
4-5 peeled Garlic Cloves (yes you have to use fresh garlic, none of this pre peeled BS)
Beef Stock
Some oil (preferably olive)

Seasdon your meat on all sides with salt and pepper and leave it out for 10-15min so it gets closer to room temp.

Put a big pan on the stove on med heat and let it get hot. Add some oil, add some short ribs (don’t crowd ‘em) and brown on all sides, do this in batches until all your ribs are browned (i like to get ‘em pretty dark). Set the ribs aside. Throw away the rendered fat.

Lower heat to med-low (maybe just low depending on your stove), add some fresh oil make sure the pan has cooled down and add the onions garlic and carrot. Cook these real slowly until the onions are nice and brown and the garlic and carrots are nice and soft. For god sakes whatever you do do not burn the garlic or onions.

Once all the veg is soft add a big glass worth of red wine and the same amount (maybe a little more) of beef broth. Let this come to a GENTLE boil and reduce for about 15 min.

Once this has all cooked together, you’re gonna need to blend it. If you have one of those hand held salad dressing makers that looks like an immersion blender that will do nicely. Otherwise just use a regular blender, but be sure to leave the plug off the top and hold a rag over it cuz that bitch will be ready to blow.

Once the mixture is blended strain it back into the original pan. (Straining could be considered optional, but if you’re gonna be impressing anyone you’re gonna strain the shit out of it.) Add all the meat to the pan, cover it with foil, put the lid on and bake in the oven at 325. Leave it for like 2 hours.

After the slow and low, crank that oven up to 400 and uncover the meat. Cook for another 30-40 min turning every 10.

Once that’s pull it out and take the meat out of the pan. Pour the broth into a bowl and let it sit for 5 min, skim off the excess fat. Now you’re ready to fucking eat. You can just dish up the meat and use the sauce like gravy, or just pour the sauce over the meat and then serve.

This shit is delicious and should be served with roasted potatoes and other roasted vegetables and the rest of the bottle of wine.

Short ribs are bad ass and kind of expensive (they also have the bone still in which is always a bonus) you could substitute stew meat or a big ass chunked up roast if you wanna slide by on the cheap (and spend more on wine).