Beer braised short ribs without the fear

When we lived in the UK, Neil would donate blood so regularly, he became a 'special' donor. Imagine our humiliation when we learned that Canada refuses to take UK blood for fear of mad cow disease. It's true. For the rest of our lives, Neil and I cannot give blood in Canada. What makes this such a shame for Canada is that I have blood type O, able to be successfully given to anyone, regardless of their type.

Of course, mad cow disease was a serious threat and worry in the UK in the 1990's. I remember the hysteria of everyone removing all beef products from their kitchen shelves and even McDonald's withholding all hamburgers for a little while, (can you imagine)? TV shows would be full of presenters urging extra vigilance when shopping, highlighting the potential horror of even the merest trace of a beefy type ingredient. "Throw it away, don't take any chances" seemed to be the motto. There was even an X-files episode of mad chicken disease where chickens were fed chicken by-product rendering the whole village mad. It seemed to be shown around the time of the scare, maybe just coincidence.

There is a lot of information on BSE here, if you are interested, but the reason I'm mentioning all this is because even though beef on the bone is now legal again in Britain, it has taken me a while to feel fully confident eating it, even in Canada. (A few years later the whole countryside was off limits in the UK due to foot and mouth disease, but that's another story).

So it's not without slight trepidation that I cook beef short ribs, although I have been enjoying them here for some time. Not familiar with this cut in the UK, I recently read it is sometimes referred to as 'Jacob's ladder'. I have mostly eaten these at a huge barbecue spread in a Korean restaurant along with pork, seafood, chicken and steak. The table transforms into a huge grill onto which a server will grill the meats, ready to be dipped into many sauces such as the spicy, sweet and tangy Saamjang and earthy, rich bean pastes. The air is heavy with the smell of roasting meats which sizzle tantalizingly on the grill, while young, incredibly fashionable Korean ESL students get drunk on half a glass of Soju and try to sing Karaoke.

I found an interesting recipe on the Internet to jazz these up and then totally abandoned it and did my own thing. The initial barbecue rub was used, however and gave a nice sweet, spicy and earthy taste when rubbed on and left to marinate for 1 hour. I seared the ribs as specified and then cooked them slowly in a mixture of stock, sherry and beer. Sounds disgusting but tasted delicious with the barbecue rub thickening the sauce.

I cooked the ribs slowly for 3 hours which created soft but not gelatinous meat falling from the bone. I think another hour would really have produced succulent and melting ribs. The kitchen was filled with the scent of tomato, sherry, cumin and chili powder, competing with the Freesias I bought the day before, filling the apartment with their sweet fragrance.

I love Swiss chard bright lights mostly for its mineral, salty flavour but also for the candy coloured stalks that are totally edible and look so beautiful sliced finely and stir fried with the leaves, some yellow pepper and mushrooms. A little salt, maybe a quick squeeze of lemon juice and a little butter and you have a beautiful side dish, also very good for you, full of vitamins.

I must share this amazing green bean recipe with you. I've seen these wrinkled beans before but I have never cooked them myself. They are boiled very briefly in very salty water and then fried in butter for about 7 minutes whereby they become wrinkled due to the salt content and brown and crisp on the outside while the interior remains soft. I think they must work on the same principle as the famous wrinkled potatoes (papas arrugadas) of the Canary Isles which are also boiled in very salty water and then left to sit and wrinkle while the water evaporates.

 

To my mind these look like some exotic grass or maybe asparagus that have been charred on a barbecue or even those Spanish grilled leeks called calcots, dug up when still young and then buried again to retain their sweetness and white colour. The Spanish go crazy for them, tearing away their black charred outer layers with blackened fingers and literally dropping the tender insides into their mouths to be eaten with Romesco sauce. I have never partaken in this ritual but these beans had the same charred outer flavour and tender insides. I could almost imagine being there.

Recipe: Beer braised short ribs

4 meaty short ribs

Barbecue rub

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp hot chili powder

1/8 tsp celery salt

1/8 tsp onion salt

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Mix this all together and rub over meat, let stand for 1 hour.

1/2 onion, peeled and finely diced

1 stalk celery, finely diced

1 carrot, peeled and finely diced

1 clove garlic, peeled and finely diced

1 bay leaf

3 tbsp oil

1/4 cup sherry or red wine

1 tin plum tomatoes

1/2 bottle beer or lager

1 beef stock cube

1/2 tsp salt or more to taste

Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a heavy pan over medium heat and sear the ribs on all sides until very dark brown. Remove from the pan and pat dry on kitchen towel.

Add the onion, celery, carrot, garlic and bay leaf to the pan with the extra 1 tbsp oil and saute over low heat until soft. Place the ribs back in the pan on top of the vegetables.

Add all other ingredients, bring to the boil, reduce heat to low - medium, cover and let cook for about 3.5 - 4 hours until the meat is very tender.

Once cooked, you can remove the meat and keep warm while you reduce the sauce to thicken. It should be quite creamy from the spices and sugar from the barbecue rub. Mashed potato would probably be the best accompaniment  for this or some rice. Do try the green beans sometime.