Slow-Cooked Short Ribs

Short ribs are great comfort food and very easy to make, so long as you have plenty of time to let them cook.  In researching information on short ribs I came across recipes that called for cooking the short ribs for up to 11 hours.  Joy of Cooking on the other hand recommends about 2 hours.  I cooked mine for about 2.5 hours and they were falling-off-the-bone tender.

Ingredients:
- 8 short ribs
- 1/4c tomato paste (half of a small 6oz can)
- 1 large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 1T worcestershire
- 2 bottles stout beer
- 1T butter
- 1T vegetable oil
- Salt and Pepper
- 1/4c dried oregano, divided
- Smoky Paprika
- 8 dates, pitted and diced

Combine about 3T oregano, 2t smoky paprika, 2t salt and 2t pepper and rub all over ribs.

Heat butter and olive oil in a dutch oven.  When hot, add ribs and sear each side.  When each side of the ribs is brown, remove.  Add onions and saute in the fat from the ribs until brown and soft.

When the onions are cooked, add the tomato paste and remaining 1T oregano and stir to coat the onions.  Let cook for about two minutes.  Add worcestershire sauce, stir.  Then deglaze the pan with beer.

Return the ribs to the pan, reduce the heat to very low.  Place ribs meaty side down to make sure the meat stays submerged during the cooking.  Add the dates.  Now you can leave the ribs to cook for about two hours, or until they are the desired tenderness.  George and I took advantage of this opportunity and the clear weather to wakl up to the National Cathedral.

When ribs are tender, remove from the sauce.  Skim fat off top of sauce.  At this point you can reserve the ribs and reheat later.

 

Serve with sauce and a starch of your choice.  We served with pearled barley, which was sturdy enough to stand up to the ribs and also was nicely flavored by the rib sauce.  Potatoes or other whole grain would be good too.

Bon appetite!