short ribs braised in guinness

i worked a catering event for my friend, chef paul, back in december for his company's holiday party. paul decided on a succulent and rich main entree of boneless short ribs braised in guinness beer. after working almost 10 hours straight, us kitchen slaves were left to fight and salvage what little buffet scraps were left in the bottom of the pans. i came up wearily with some mashed potatoes, guinness gravy, and a couple morsels of meat.

o. m. g.

literally the best short ribs i have savoured in my entire life. through this day i have been craving and secretly plotting to steal that recipe from paul. the meat was fork tender, the gravy rich and complex. the aroma... omg. so yesterday, i finally got around to picking up a pack of boneless short ribs at albertsons.

and dialed up chef paul to see if i could glean the recipe from him. instead, i asked him outright, "i'm calling to steal your short ribs braised in guinness recipe." paul laughed and half-obliged. you can't really expect a chef to give up all his secrets can you? so after i rattled off a list of things i had picked up, he added, "you need some tomato paste or something to finish the gravy and blend the veggies and add that back to the mix." ah, so that's how he got such rich flavor. other than that, i was on my own, relying on my kitchen experience and what i could remember of braising technique and sauce reduction from cookbooks i've read. here's what i did...

i began by salting the ribs moderately on all sides. i didn't pepper them since the high heat needed to sear meat can scorch the pepper, resulting in a burnt, bitter taste. this is debatable, as the book, kitchen science, discusses, but i decided to omit the pepper this time.

after heating olive oil in a hot saute pan, the ribs went down to sear on all 4 sides until nicely browned.

while that was going, a total of about 10 min, i took the opportunity to rough chop 4 carrots, 6 celery stalks and 2 small brown onions.

after the ribs had been browned, they were removed to a platter and i dumped in the chopped veggies. 5 whole cloves of garlic, smashed, were added and everything was tossed with some salt and pepper.

i then added 1/2 a can of guinness and 1/2 a can of chicken broth to deglaze the pan.

and the ribs were nestled back in.

2 bay leaves and some parsley sprigs went next. and then i clamped a tight-fitting lid down on the pan and a pair of potholders ushered the hot pan into a 350* oven.

1.5 hours later, i checked the ribs which were pretty much fork tender. the aroma that fills the house is amazing. so out comes the scorching hot pan onto the stove.

i remove the veggies to my processor and blend away until i have a thick puree. oh yes, i removed the bay leaves first.

meanwhile the sauce has begun reducing over med-high heat.

i whisked in about half the puree and added a nice pat of butter to enrichen the sauce. and the thick, aromatic gravy was poured over the ribs in a serving platter garnished with fresh parsley.

the gravy actually resembles more a vegetable puree soup and has a beautiful tan-brown color.

i realize at this point that i have no veggies left to eat, having pureed the whole lot without thinking! darnit. oh well. time to taste.

as you can see, the meat falls apart in meaty fibers. very tender and meaty. the gravy was pretty rich tasting as well; the guinness definitely adds a smoky, complex note to the sauce. but for some reason, it just wasn't as robust in flavor as chef paul's version. i guess that's why he's the chef and i'm not. haha. but this was still pretty damn good. and the gravy will taste great over some mashed potates which i'll make tomorrow.

i think for my next run on this, i'll add some fresh herbs to add another flavor dimension to the sauce, like thyme or something. i had a package in my fridge, but it had gone rotten with mold. bleh. i can never use up those $1.99 packs of organic herbs fast enough.

chef paul! what's your secret?!? =)