January 14: Bacon, Onion & Stout Braised Short Ribs

Today I made Bacon, Onion & Stout Braised Short Ribs. I couldn't find the bone-in ribs like the recipe called for, and I found a rib roast, but it was almost $150! So I just bought the boneless short ribs. I had to go to the liquor store to buy one bottle of stout (that's how I found out it was beer). I just hope no one from my church saw me go in there. I think it's against the rules to buy alcohol if you are a member of our church. I'm not breaking any rules, though, because I'm not a member. I do understand the reason behind it, and would not want to cause anyone to stumble. However, I feel that I have the freedom in Christ to buy some beer for my recipe.

So here are the ingredients:

 

First I seasoned the beef with salt and pepper and browned it on all sides in the skillet:

 

The beef went in the crockpot, and I fried the bacon, removed it, and drained out the fat:

 

Then the onions got cooked in 1 tbsp of the bacon fat:

 

To the onions I added tomato paste, flour, mustard, salt and pepper. I cooked and stirred that for 1 minute, then I poured in the stout.

 

All of that was poured over the beef in the crockpot along with the bacon, bay leaf, and 1 cup of beef broth. It was cooked on low for 8 hours:

 

While that was finishing up, I made some mashed potatoes:

 

And everything served up nicely, very tenderly, and I sprinkled parsley on top:

 

My husband informed me after we ate this dinner that this has been his favorite meal so far this year. It really was very good. I started cooking at about 8:30 this morning, so it cooked a really long time! The meat was so tender, and I couldn't believe how well the gravy turned out. It was so good on the potatoes. My oldest daughter liked it, but my other two didn't. I can't say my 14 month old didn't like it though, because the poor thing is too sick to eat.

 

I will definitely be making this again, and the boneless ribs were a success, so I don't think I will even try the bone-in ones next time. There is a tip at the bottom that says, "This recipe only gets better if made ahead and refrigerated overnight. This makes skimming any fat from the surface easier, too." I think, since the fat was well trimmed already, this part wasn't necessary for us. By the way, this recipe is from the Meaty Main Dishes category of the cookbook.