Where's the Beef?

It's right here in Alpharetta, GA. This week we made Beer Braised Beef Spare Ribs. This recipe comes from "The Best of American Beer & Food" cookbook. I tried to remember when I got this one (there is a story behind most of my cookbooks). I'm somewhat stumped on this one but I *think* I bought it while on a Camping/Mountain Biking vacation at Lake Willoughby in northern Vermont. We had one day of good weather but enjoyed it immensely with our best buddies, Adam and Sarah (and their awesome dog, Molly). Here we are post ride. On the right is Chris looking at the lake at sunset (that's Molly swimming out to get a ball).


  

 

So here is the cookbook I *think* I bought it on this trip. I have a bit of a tradition going on with cookbooks and vacation. So I'm probably right. I also try to buy an ugly fridge magnet and maybe a Christmas ornament as a fun way to remember our trips.

 

So on to the recipe. I split my "mise en place" into two categories. Pre-braise and Braise. Here is pre-braise (sans spare ribs, which were already being browned at this point. Pretty simple. A load of onions (chopped) 4 cloves of garlic (sliced), 1/4 cup of butter and 3 bottles of beer (one of which was a little light by the time we used it.)

 

Brown the short ribs then place in a deep stew pot. 

 

Then saute the onions and sliced garlic in the butter and place in the pot with the beef.  

Add the beer and cook until beer reduces about 1/3 of the way down.

 

Once that has happened, add 6 cloves whole garlic, 1/4 cup molasses, 3 TBS tomato paste some thyme, three bay leaves and enough chicken stock to cover the beef.

 

Simmer. Covered. For about 1.5 to 2 hours.

 

And wait.....

 

Carefully remove the beef (note, there is a bone with no beef on it...it gets verrrry tender) and strain the onions and garlic out (oh - also - skim the fat off before straining). Reduce the sauce until it thickens - this will take a bit of time. One way to tell if it has reduced, pull a spoon across the bottom and if it leaves a track, it's looking good (see below).

 

And then plate it up.

 

Here is the beef, with sauce on top on a bed of wild rice. 

We will definitely make this again! Do it when you have a lot of time - braising takes a long time and if you rush it, the meat will suffer. The slow, low heat melts the fat in typically tough meet and makes it 'melt in your mouth'. The flavor here was on point. Recipe called for brown ale but we went for a winter ale for fun. We might add more garlic in next time but when it's all said and done - good stuff. It's hard to go wrong with a good braise. And this was no exception.

Note: this isn't a typical braise which is browned meet placed on a bed of aromatics (onions, celery, carrots, garlic etc) covered 2/3 with liquid of choice. Place foil closely over meet and cover pot so liquid raises, hits foil and falls back onto the meat.