The Best Short Rib Recipe Ever!

Are you shaking your head? I have done two recipes of short ribs. One was in the crock pot, the other was cooked in the oven. Well, what my kitchen was missing was a dutch oven, which my dear husband gave me for Christmas. Seven quarts! The best part: It is made of cast iron! There is something about cast iron that just seems to make a difference. So again, here is another recipe for short ribs with changes to the other recipes. I love playing with food, which you might have noticed! Check out what we are cooking up!

Looks good eh? This is what we are making!

Ingredients
12 short ribs
Salt and pepper
3/4 cup of flour
3 shakes of garlic powder
1 tsp of rubbed sage
1 tsp of thyme
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp of butter
64 oz beef broth
1/2 of a large onion sliced, rings separated
2 carrots, sliced
1 12 oz Porter beer
12 crimini mushrooms, each sliced in 4 pieces
1 bay leaf

So, what I did with this recipe was combine what I did with the crock pot and what I did in the oven. It came out beautifully, which Joe, you missed out on again! You need to visit more and stop telling yourself what a lucky guy Paul is…sorry…this was a personal note…

Take out the meat one hour before you start so that it warms up a bit. Sprinkle the meat with a bit of salt and pepper. In a plastic bag add the flour, garlic powder, sage, and thyme. Shake it up good! A side note here: Make sure that you turn on some music that gets you into the shaking mode…and that will carry you through cooking! Now you want to start the beef broth. Turn your pot of broth on and let it boil down to half so that you concentrate the fabulous-si-oso beef flavors!

While this is working, and let it do its thing, no need to interfere, heat the olive oil and butter in your cast iron dutch oven. Now turn up the music and start shaking baby! You and the ribs with the flour mixture! Wahoo! Feels good – eh? ♪♫ Shake it! Shake your booty….♫♫♪ Forgive me for I think that you might think that I am rattling…Hey isn’t that something you shake too? 🙂

When the butter has melted and olive oil is hot (medium heat does just fine with cast iron), blend them together with a spoon. Then add as many of the short ribs that you can fit…some on their sides, some on their backs, some on their fronts, some on that other side…Brown the meat. And, leave it to brown. Do not even think of lifting one of these lovely ribs to check to see how it is going. Give it between 5 – 8 minutes a side, depending on the thickness. Yes, four sides.

Browning short ribs

As they are done, remove them to a plate, and finish off the rest.

Browned short ribs

If you have any of the flour mixture left over, and there will not be much if you do, toss it. You can’t use it again.

Smells pretty good in the kitchen doesn’t it? While all this is going on is when I actually prepare the onions, carrots and mushrooms…

Porter, onions, mushrooms, carrots, oh my!

When the beef has been browned, and all the boney pieces are looking pretty on the set aside plate, add the onions and carrots to the dutch oven.

Look at those lovely browned bits

Stir it so that any browned bits start to lift. Cook until the onions are just transparent. Then slowly add the porter beer a little at a time. Enjoy the aromas as they waft up to fill your nose!

Porter added to onions and carrots

Once all the porter has been added, the beef broth should be reduced by half.

Reduced beef broth

Add this to the dutch oven. Now turn the oven on to 350 degrees. Next, toss in the mushrooms to the onions, carrots, beer and broth mixture, and bring this to a boil.

After adding the broth, the mushrooms go in

When it boils, turn the heat off. Arrange the short ribs so that all are in one layer. The broth mixture should come up to about 2/3 – 3/4 of the way up the ribs.

The ribs go back into the pot

Take that cast iron lid, cover the pot, and place this in the oven. Turn on the timer for one hour.

While all this is cooking, watch a movie, knit a cap, prune your roses… When the timer goes off, turn the ribs over. Cook another hour. Do some house work, or write a blog for this next hour. When the timer goes off on this hour, turn them once more.

Half way through cooking

Continue cooking for one half hour. Maybe while the last half hour is working on those ribs, you might want to pop one of the porters so you can imbibe! The beer aromas mixed with beef should now be making your stomach growl…right Conor? And, make some rice or mashed potatoes…and do not forget that green vegetable!

When the timer goes off, remove the dutch oven from the regular oven, and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Take the lid off and melt from the incredible aromas assaulting your nasal passages! Do not keel over! You have to now remove the bones. Toss the bones, and shred the beef a bit…or do what I did…let it cool, put it in the refrigerator, and have it for dinner the next night! The flavors will intensify! Ya, you betcha, they will!

Here is the finished piece!

Bones removed and dinner is ready!

Doesn’t it look lovely! The mushrooms were a nice addition. Most recipes do not add these, but they add a lovely earthly flavor. Well, dinner is served, and I will be thinking about what you are missing, that is unless you make this for yourself and your loved ones! Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by! Let me know if you try this, or if you liked this wordy post! Hugs and until tomorrow – of course! 😉