Asian-Spiced Braised Short-Ribs
- 12 tsp. five-spice powder
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 Tbl. ginger, minced
- 3 Tbl. canola or olive oil
Season short ribs with salt and pepper. Mix rub ingredients. Rub onto ribs and set aside for 15 minutes.
Note: rub is for about 6 lbs of short ribs (boneless?). We did it recently with 3 lbs of bone-in short ribs and halved the rub.
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 bunch green onions, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 Tbl. ginger, minced
- 1/2 tsp. dried chili flakes
- 2 Tbl. brown sugar
- 5 whole star anise
- 2 Tbl. peppercorns
- 1 cinnamon stick
- zest of 1 orange
- 1/2 c. orange juice
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1/3 c. sake
- 4 Tbl. soy sauce
- 1 c. red wine
- 3 c. beef stock
Preheat oven to 350. Heat a large pot or Dutch oven, add ribs and brown on all sides. Remove, set aside. Add onion, green onions, garlic, ginger, chili, and saute until onions are soft. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Return ribs to pot, cover with tight fitting lid. Place in oven and cook for 2.5 to 3 hours, stirring once or twice. Remove ribs, strain marinade.
Remove excess fat either by ladling off, or by putting sauce into the fridge overnight and peeling off layer of fat (much easier). Reduce sauce to about 2 1/2 c. add ribs to reheat and serve with mashed potatoes.
For an optional, lighter touch, add a bunch of carrots, roughly chopped, in the last 1/2 hour of cooking.
November 2015 version:
Did this recipe with 3.3 lbs of boneless ribs and the full amount of rub. Used 2.5 cups of veal demi-glace from Jackson's instead of beef stock. Put in a bunch of carrots, whole and peeled, at the 2.5 hour mark. At 3 hours, removed carrots and ribs and strained the sauce through a fine mesh strainer. Added squeeze of lemon juice and knob of butter to the sauce. Forgot to add cilantro. It was delicious!
The salt became much more concentrated after 3 hours, so no need to reduce the sauce.
Tom says there is no point in doing the rub at all—the spices will become toasted, but you cannot properly sear the rubbed ribs, or the rub will burn. Consider searing the ribs with only salt and pepper and then adding all other rub ingredients into the sauce (with the onions so spices, garlic and ginger will become toasty).
Served 5.