Braised Short Ribs

I had such wonderful success with my braised pork shoulder butt that I couldn't wait to try my newly-learned technique on short ribs. So off I trotted to the Big Apple to see if they had some.

And they didn't let me down. These are some beautiful short ribs. They were originally longer, but I had to cut them in half so they would fit into the pan I wanted to use. You can see all of that beautiful fat marbled in there - that's flavor just waiting to happen.

When I was a child, every once in a while we had ribs for dinner. That was always a special night for me. My mother had a recipe for barbecue sauce that I loved - sweet and lemony - and she would cook the ribs in the sauce and then serve it up over rice. I still don't know which I loved more - the meat or the rice and gravy.

So I came up with a sauce that used the same basic ingredients as my mother's recipe. I sauteed onions and garlic, then added tomato sauce, brown sugar, Pickapeppa sauce, and a thinly sliced lemon.

I use Pickapeppa in place of Worcestershire sauce. It's similar in flavor, but it's vegetarian. I bought it when I was going through a no-meat phase and discovered I really like it, so I use the two interchangeably. My mother used ketchup, but I decided to just go with the tomato sauce.

I had a little more liquid than I should have, but it wasn't too big of a deal. It should really only come up about two-thirds the height of the meat and as you can see, it pretty much covered it.

A whole lemon was also almost too much. Half would have been better. But the basic process was as successful as my shredded pork, so I am all about the braising these days.

Home Cookin Chapter: My Recipes

BRAISED BARBECUE SHORT RIBS

2 lbs beef short ribs
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lemon, thinly sliced, divided
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
1 tsp Pickapeppa or Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in heavy pan until almost smoking hot. Add ribs and sear on all sides, about 10 minutes in half. Remove from pan and put on a plate.

If necessary, add more oil to the pan. Lower heat and add onions and garlic. Cook until well browned. Add half of the lemon slices and the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.

Lower heat as low as it will go. Gently place the ribs back into the pan, nestling them into the liquid. Place the rest of the lemon slices on top of the ribs, cover, and let simmer until the meat flakes off of the bone, about three hours.

Remove the meat from the sauce. Raise the heat and let the sauce simmer until it reduces and thickens. After the meat has cooled for a few minutes, remove it from the bones and separate it into bite-size pieces.

Serve over rice or polenta.

Created 11/09/08

Exported from Home Cookin 5.7 (www.mountain-software.com)