Slow Cooked Beef Short Ribs

Beef short ribs are enjoying something of a resurgence in popularity, elevated to culinary heights by the nouveau chefs of today. If you Google them, you'll get scores of recipes and all of them have two things in common: cook them for long periods of time, braised in liquid. Everything else are just minor details. I've posted one recipe Beef Short Ribs & Tomato Ragoût, which was an adapted recipe from Pioneer Woman.

The recipe I am posting today was highlighted recently on The Daily Meal, and I decided to try it - somewhat. As usual, I made a few adjustments. I cooked my ribs at a slightly higher temperature (250 degrees instead of 195), as well as some changes to the braising liquid and final broiling phase. Okay, I guess I changed the recipe a lot. But still, this was worth the eight hours of cooking time.

Ingredients
For the ribs
6-8 large beef short ribs
20 baby carrots
3 stalks celery, cut into 4-5 pieces each
1 large yellow onion, cut into quarters
2 cups beef stock (like Swanson or Kitchen Basics)
3 tbsp minced garlic
1 cup dry red wine
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried coriander
1/4 tsp ground cumin
2 bay leaves
6 tbsp canola oil
salt & pepper to taste

For the glaze
1 6-oz can tomato paste (like Hunt's)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

The Recipe
In a large dutch oven with a tight fitting lid, heat the canola oil on the stove over medium high until shimmering. Liberally season the ribs with salt and pepper, then brown the ribs in the hot oil, about two minutes on each side. Remove the ribs to a platter.

Add more oil if necessary, then toss the vegetables and garlic into the hot oil.  Season with salt and pepper, and stir constantly for about ten minutes just until they start to pick up some color. The onions should have fallen into pieces and become slightly caramelized.

Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees.  Add the ribs back on top of the vegetables, bone side up.  Whisk the wine, beef stock, oregano, coriander and cumin together, then pour in between the ribs.  The liquid should come 1/4 to 1/2 of the way up to the sides of the ribs.

Bring the mixture to a boil over the stove, then put the tight fitting lid on top and place the cooking vessel in the oven for eight hours.

Mix all of the glaze ingredients together a few minutes before you're ready to take the ribs out of the oven.

Remove the ribs to a grilling pan, bone side down, and liberally apply the tomato glaze to top and sides of the rib meat.  Place under the broiler and cook until the glaze becomes brown and bubbly, 3-4 minutes, but watch carefully as the tomato paste can quickly burn.

Take a cup or two of the braising liquid and place in a fat separator.  Take a few of the vegetables from the dutch oven and mash in a small mixing bowl, then add some of the liquid that has separated from the fat.  This makes a delicious gravy for mashed potatoes, or in my case, some mock mashed potatoes made with cauliflower (leaving out the garlic from this recipe).