Culinary Disasters

You have to love Indiana in the middle of winter.  Over the weekend we had a high of 11.  Oh was so nice especially Saturday morning when I decided to play racquetball and had to sprint into the gym.  The greatest part was walking errr…running out from the gym to the truck soaked in sweat. 

Actually the highlight of the weekend was deciding to head out and picking up a tripod.  Whoever suggested this idea needs to be thanked repeatedly.  Instantly took care of shaky pictures and is a lot easier to use then trying to aim, point, and click while cooking.  Best 20 dollar investment I have made in a long time.

This dish follows a lot of the same principles of the Guinness stew but incorporates beef short ribs which are one of my favorite cuts of beef for braising.  I have ended up with an overabundance of them after a meat market mix-up on my part (I thought I needed short ribs and bought 10lbs more not realizing I already had 12lbs at home).  Which really does anyone see a problem with this type of mix-up?

As with any dish feel free to modify the dish to your tastes.  Not a turnip fan no rule saying you have to keep them in.  If it was not freaking cold outside I would have incorporated them after a quick grocery store pit stop.

For this dish you are going to need:

• 4 lb of beef short ribs
• 1/4 lb of bacon cut into 1 inch sections
• 1/2 white onion medium dice
• 1 carrot medium dice
• 1 stalk of celery medium dice
• 2 cloves of garlic finely diced
• 1 turnip cut into 1 inch sections
• 2 bottles of guinness draught
• Leaves from 4 sprigs of thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• all-purpose flour
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 2 tb of cornstarch dissolved in 2 tb of water
• Canola oil

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

In an oven safe pan with a tight fitting lid over medium high heat start cooking the bacon.  Once the bacon is done strain out the bacon leaving the bacon grease in the pan.  Add in another TB of canola oil.

While the bacon is cooking salt and pepper the short ribs.  Cover the ribs in flour and shake off the excess.

Once the bacon is done add in the short ribs a couple at a time and brown on all sides (about 5 minutes a side).  Once one batch is done remove it and set aside on a plate to rest.

Once all the short ribs are browned drain out the excess liquid from the pan.  Add in the 2 bottles of Guinness and bring the mixture to a boil and reduce by 1/4 (about 5 minutes).

Add the short ribs, bacon, thyme, and bay leaves to the pan.  Cover and place in the oven for 2 hours.

After 2 hours remove the pan from the oven and remove a couple of the short rib to a plate.  Add in the turnips, celery, carrot, onion, and garlic to the pan and stir around to disperse.  Add the removed short ribs back to the pan, cover, and place back into the oven for another hour.

After a total of 3 hours of cooking remove the pan from the oven.  Place all the short ribs on a plate to rest.  Trim them of any excess fat and remove the bones.

Return the pan to medium-high heat and adjust the seasoning.  Once you are happy with the taste of the sauce whisk in the cornstarch and water mixture.  Bring the mixture to a boil and test the thickness.  If the sauce is still to runny dissolve another TB of cornstarch in a TB of water and whisk in.  When you are happy with the thickness of the sauce remove the pan from the heat.

I decided since it was so cold out to make some horseradish mashed potatoes (basically make mashed potatoes and instead of the roasted garlic stir in a couple TB of prepared horseradish). 

Serve the dish with the sauce drizzled over top of the beef ribs on the plate.

Tags: beef, pork, All //