This recipe is just unbelievably good. Although it is a relatively easy recipe to follow, it takes two days to make. Day One is a crock pot affair with the ribs as they cook down all day. Day Two is the all-important step of removing most of the fat from the dish, and then simmering the mixture until the meat falls apart and shreds, which makes easy goings for the tacos.
In a later iteration of this recipe, we cut back considerably on the quantity of sugar. The original recipe called for over a half cup and we found 1/8 cup was sufficiently sweet for this dish.
I give complete credit to my Number One Fan for finding this recipe on Tasty Kitchen, and then starting the cooking process. I finished it the next day. It's a very rich dish, so you actually need only a couple of tablespoons of the meat for each taco. Hence, this dish will yield food for 5-6 hungry people, or give you a week's worth of damn fine leftovers.
Ingredients
For the Short Ribs
3 pounds beef short ribs
5 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp fresh ginger
3/4 cup light soy sauce
1/8 cup Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
6 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
Ingredients
For the Cucumber Slaw
1 whole cucumber
1 whole carrot
1 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
4 tsp rice vinegar
1 packet Splenda
2 pinches salt
1 dash Tabasco Sauce
black pepper to taste
And:
You'll need however many flour tortillas for the tacos you intend to eat. I personally used whole-wheat flour tortillas to maintain a friendly carb, low hypoglycemic-index diet.
The Recipes:
Day One
Toss all the ingredients for the ribs into a crock pot. Add a little water if needed to be sure the ribs are submerged in the cooking liquid. Cover with the lid and set the crock pot on high for three hours, then reduce the heat to low and cook another four to five hours. Remove the ribs to a platter and take out the bones and any sinew. That's the light colored connective tissue between the meat and the bone. It's not harmful or even un-flavorful to eat, but can be a bit chewy and the dish just looks better and has better consistency without it. The meat should be falling off the bones and this step should go fairly quickly.
Important Step
Put all of the ingredients into a container to be refrigerated overnight. Be sure that the container is such that the rib meat is completely submerged and not rising above the surface of the cooking liquid. This is important so that you can easily remove the fat from the dish the next day. Refrigerate overnight.
Day Two
The next day, you will notice a fairly deep, orange fat cap has risen to the top and solidified. Remove it and you have just cut the fat content of this dish by 90%. Short ribs are so good precisely because of their fat content. Removing the fat cap takes away the bad stuff while leaving all the flavor behind.
Place the rib meat and all cooking liquid in a saucepan over medium heat, and simmer for 30-45 minutes. While the meat is simmering and the liquid is reducing, use two forks to shred the meat. When this step is done, you will have a saucepan full of delicious, shredded rib meat in a thick sauce that doesn't run. It's important to get the sauce consistency to that of a Sloppy Joe, or your tacos will otherwise be very messy indeed.
Next, make the slaw:
Peel the cucumber and cut into matchsticks. Peel the carrot and either shred using a vegetable peeler, or cut into matchsticks. Add the vinegar, salt, Tabasco Sauce, Splenda and pepper, and toss. Add the cilantro just before serving, and toss again.
Now, finish the dish:
To make the taco, warm up the tortilla as directed on the package (wrapping in a damp paper towel and microwaving for a few seconds is the easiest way).
Put 1-2 tablespoons of the rib meat mixture in the taco, top with the cucumber slaw and chow down.
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