October 24, 2011

Braised Korean Short Ribs

Hi there. Yep, I'm still around. Just been a little quiet lately...and fairly busy. Once again, my life has undergone a dramatic change. After only a year and a half of marriage, I am divorced...again. For the past 6 months, I've been trying to...well...I guess I've been trying to find happiness. For me, happiness wasn't in marriage, so I made the difficult & painful decision to end that marriage. 

I've finally gotten into the groove of solo living and have started cooking more regularly. Just last night I made an apple pie with salted caramel sauce that was probably the best pie I'd ever made. I got such comforting satisfaction from cooking again. I'll definitely get back into the kitchen soon, especially now that fall weather is finally here. 

Cooler temperatures always signify the beginning of comfort food season for me. And, I love it...soups, stews, casseroles, hearty pastas, braised meats...I love it all! 

This recipe, which I made earlier in the year for a cooking class I was teaching, is going to be one of my "go to" dishes this winter, for sure. Braising meat until it is fall-off-the-bone-tender usually takes several hours to achieve. However, with a pressure cooker, you can get the same result in a matter of minutes.  Braised short ribs take 6-7 hours on the stovetop but only 45 minutes in a pressure cooker.

I was a bit scared to use a pressure cooker at first; I had visions of the thing blowing up in my kitchen and boiled hot food straying everything. But, it was very easy and safe to use. You simply add your ingredients to the pot, seal the lid in place, cook on high until the pot is pressurized (a knob will pop up), lower the heat, then cook the prescribed amount of time. To release the pressure, you just set the pot in the sink and run cold water over the lid. In seconds, the pressure knob will go down and you can safely unlock the lid. I am a total pressure cooker convert.

You can also cook apple sauce in 10 minutes, chutneys in 20 minutes, whole artichokes in 15 minutes, dried/unsoaked beans in 30 minutes, pork shoulder in just over 1 hour, steamed veggies (including corn on the cob) & stewed greens in less than 5 minutes, steel cut oats in 11 minutes, & oxtail in 45 minutes. 

Braised Korean Shortribs




 Serves 4-6

1/3 cup dark soy sauce
1/2 cup beer
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 small onion, peeled & minced
6 scallions, quartered crosswise
6 large garlic cloves, crushed & peeled
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
3 pounds beef short ribs *
freshly ground black pepper
toasted sesame seeds (for garnish)
green onion, sliced (for garnish)

* I used thinly sliced short ribs for this, but you can use any short ribs you find.

  • To make the marinade: whisk together the soy sauce, beer, and sugar in a bowl until the sugar is dissolved.  Stir in the honey & sesame oil until smooth. Add the onion, scallions, garlic, ginger, & red pepper flakes. Season with black pepper to taste. 
  • Place the short ribs in a deep dish & pour the marinade over them. Be sure each piece of beef is well coated. Allow to marinate for four hours, refrigerated. 
  • Transfer the beef AND the marinade into a heavy-bottomed pot.  Cook over medium-low heat, partially covered, for 6-7 hours, or until the beef is fork-tender. (Alternately, you can cook the beef in a pressure cooker for 30-45 minutes, depending how thick your ribs are cut.)  
  • To serve: Transfer the beef to a serving platter. Garnish with a sprinkling of sesame seeds & sliced green onion. Serve with steamed rice.

8 comments:

White Sugar Brown Sugar by Rachel Garlinghouse said...

Wishing you happiness, K! Glad to hear you are back in the kitchen. <3

Kelly @ Barbaric Gulp! said...

Thanks, Rach! :-)

Kitchen Riffs said...

Sorry to hear you've had to deal with some personal issues, but welcome back to blogging!

Short-ribs recipe looks good - some nice spice to counterbalance the sweetness in the recipe. Looks like a good balance.

I have to admit I've never used a pressure cooker. You might want to do a post on pressure cooking 101 for us newbies.

Kelly @ Barbaric Gulp! said...

There's not much to pressure cooking, really. It was so much easier than I expected...you really do just add your ingredients, lock the lid, bring to a boil until pressurized, cooked the right amount of time (see a pressure cooker cookbook or look for times online), depressurize the pot & unlock the lid. Easy-peasy! :-)

Ninja Baker said...

You make me want to run out and buy a pressure cooker! Congrats on continuing to search for your personal happiness - drinks are in order whenever our schedules sync up. Miss you lady!

Cynthia A. said...

Thank you so much for the recipe, I made it using thick cut short ribs and it was delicious! I didn't have beer on hand, so I added water to the marinade to make up some volume. They came out wonderfully soft from the pressure cooker - I'll have to use it more. I boiled off the cooking juices to reduce them, and added a little bit of thickener - powerful flavour!

Wishing you well ;)

Kelly @ Barbaric Gulp! said...

Glad you tried and like the recipe, Cynthia. Thanks for reading!

Anonymous said...

nice post wish you good luck this is so nice.