beer braised short ribs

Things I’ve done so far to procrastinate studying for finals:

1) Read other food blogs, including almost all of the posts from the virtual baby shower thrown for Bev from Bev Cooks. She is hilarious. Her blog also led me to browse this Pinterest page, which reminds me of Suri’s Burn Book and made me giggle.

2) Spend several hours on my sewing machine making 7 circle scarves that have been ordered by friends as Christmas gifts. The Etsy business isn’t exactly booming, but my own big mouth has been good for advertising among people who are stuck hanging out with me in person.

3) Reading on my Kindle. Actually, I got Defending Jacob as a Kindle book AND as an audiobook and could read it and then listen to it while I was driving. This is seriously the best thing ever it’s like I never had to stop reading. Is that the nerdiest thing I’ve ever said?

4) Snaking my drains. Yeah, that was gross. And I realized that I’ve been in school for way too long if that gagworthy chore seemed preferable to flipping my ginormous stack of flashcards.

5) Cooking these short ribs, and subsequently blogging about them. You’re welcome.

Beer Braised Short Ribs

1 lb boneless short ribs

12 oz dark beer

1- 1 1/2 cups beef stock

1 large yellow onion

3 carrots

3 cloves garlic

olive oil, salt, pepper

Pat the short ribs dry, then season liberally with coarse salt and black pepper on both sides. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan, then brown the ribs for 3-4 minutes on each side. We’re not looking to cook them through, just get some nice color and crust.

Take the ribs out of the pan and set aside. Throw in your onion and carrots (roughly chopped) and garlic. Season and allow it to cook for a few minutes and soak in some of the fat from the meat. Pour in the beer and the beef stock and stir together. I used Heavy Seas Peg Leg, which is a stout. You can use whatever beer you like, but I would recommend something on the darker side.

If you have a Dutch oven, you can stick the short ribs back in at this point and put them in the oven at about 250 degrees for 2 1/2 hours. I went for the slow cooker because I’m not entirely sure the lids to our pans are oven-safe. I am entirely sure that they don’t fit quite right from being dropped 8000 times and we’d be losing steam out the wazoo.

Pour the liquid and vegetables into the crock pot, then nestle the short ribs in there. Cook on high for 2 hours, flipping the meat halfway through. Then put the heat to low, and cook for an additional three hours.