Short Ribs

I have never made short ribs and I can't really recall if I've ever eaten them before. I guess maybe I have had them before. For some reason, I believe my dad would have made short ribs.

But as far as short ribs go, it's not something I would normally crave or even choose at a restaurant. But my good friend, Michelle loves short ribs and raves about making them in the crock pot. A couple of months ago, she was talking about how delicious they were and I thought, "yeah...I've gotta try that sometime." And then I saw a Barefoot Contessa episode where she makes short ribs, but slow cooks them in the oven. They looked good! I wasn't sure if I would try Ina's recipe, because she had fennel in there and I'm not too crazy about that. Again, I just knew I wanted to try the short ribs.


I went in search of short ribs at my local grocery store and had a tough time finding them. Finally, weeks after my initial "gotta try 'em" moment, I found the short ribs. There was a nice amount of meat on them, they looked great and the price was right. I brought them home and they sat in the freezer for about a month. ( I am a procrastinator)

In my continuing effort to use what's in the freezer, I pulled out the short ribs and took a peek on All-Recipes to see if I could find an interesting recipe. I came up with Slow Cooked German Short Ribs. Now, I don't really know what would make these short ribs German, but I had all the ingredients so I decided to give it a whirl.


The next morning as I gathered the ingredients together, I realized I suddenly did not have the red wine needed for the recipe. Marc had decided to toss out that bottle that had the perfect amount of wine needed for this one, so I was forced to improvise. I used 1/4 cup of dry white wine and added 1/2 cup of Pepsi in there for good measure. Thankfully, it all worked out!

I served this over egg noodles along side some frozen peas and corn. And I will be making short ribs again. ;o)


Slow Cooked German Short Ribs
(Source) All REcipes

• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3 pounds beef short ribs(used only 2 lbs.)
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 slice onion, sliced
• 1/2 cup dry red wine(used 1/2 c. pepsi and 1/4 dry white wine)
  
• 1/2 cup chile sauce
• 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water
  

1. In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons flour, salt, and pepper. Coat the short ribs with the flour mixture.
2. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Brown short ribs in olive oil.
3. In a slow cooker, combine onions, wine, chili sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and chili powder. Mix thoroughly. Transfer the short ribs from the skillet to the slow cooker.
4. Cover, and cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours.
5. Remove ribs, and turn the slow cooker control to High. Mix the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour with 1/4 cup water, and stir into the sauce. Cook for 10 minutes, or until slightly thickened.