Beer Braised Short Ribs

A search online found this recipe for beer-braised short ribs. As usual I tweaked the original to suit my tastes.  The original recipe called for thyme but I added Fine Herbes which is a mixture of dried parsley, chives, tarragon, and chervil. It also used cornstarch to thicken the liquid but I prefer to use Veloutine.

Here's what you need:

   * 4 pounds bone-in short ribs, trimmed of fat (or leave the fat on if you are okay with that but you will have a rather fatty gravy unless you strain it)
   * salt and pepper to taste
   * 1 tablespoon olive oil
   * 1-2 medium-size onions, chopped
   * 1/2 cup low-sodium beef broth
   * 1 1/4 cups dark beer. I used Rickard's Dark beer
   * 1 tablespoon brown sugar

  * 1 teaspoon dried Fine Herbes
   * 1 teaspoon dried thyme (or use fresh if you have it - even better)
   * 2 cups baby carrots
   * 8 ounces white mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
   * 2 tablespoons or more of Brown Veloutine for thickening the gravy
   * 2 tablespoons brown mustard - your choice of spicy, hot, Dijon, Grainy or any other kind. Please don't use French's yellow mustard!

Method:

Brown the ribs

Sprinkle salt and pepper on the ribs then sear them lightly on all sides in a tablespoon of Olive Oil. Set heat to medium. It works best to do this in two batches. When browned, remove from oil and place in crockpot

Add chopped onion to hot oil and saute until onions are translucent but not brown. Stir in one can or bottle of dark beer, one tablespoon of brown sugar and one teaspoon of Fine Herbes. Bring to a boil, stir and then pour over the short ribs in the crockpot.

Cook on LOW for 5 hours then add the carrots, mushrooms, Veloutine and mustard. Stir and cook for 2 more hours. You may have to increase the setting to HIGH for the last hour or so.  Add more seasonings if needed. That's right, you have to dip into this yummy gravy and taste it!

Saute the onions

Add Beer and Beef Broth to the sauteed onions

When the carrots are cooked, you can thicken the gravy using as much Veloutine as needed. Unlike cornstarch it will not leave a taste no matter how much you add.

 The bones will fall off the meat so be sure you remove them before serving this. We fed them to our pot-belly pigs but I wanted to use them for beef broth.

The original recipe called for serving the short ribs over egg noodles but I decided that I wanted mashed potatoes to soak up that yummy gravy. Why waste it!!

Add a green vegetable such as garlic brussel sprouts and you've got a delicious and nutritious meal.