Short Ribs Delight

A cherished recipe for many years, this is an old card from my recipe box. It is on a well-worn index card which I typed on my first (manual) typewriter — and the card is pre-printed with colorful fruit around the edges. Circa 1970!

The beauty of this recipe is that it is done ahead and slow cooked, so you won’t be running around the kitchen at the last minute when it’s time to serve dinner.

What has impressed me (and so many of my guests) is that this is one of those “slam it out of the ballpark” dishes which tastes so good, but is so easy to prepare. Your whole house will be filled with the aroma of the slow cooking ribs and their rich sauce.

Use big, meaty short ribs. They should be as big and meaty as possible — not those skinny ones you see from time to time.

Ingredients

• 4 lbs. Short Ribs
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 2 large onions
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 T parsley
• 1 can crushed or diced tomatoes
• 1/4 C red wine vinegar
• 1 C ketchup
• 1/3 C brown sugar
• 4 cloves
• 1 can beef stock

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat a large oven-proof pot with heavy bottom over medium high heat on the stove top. Pat the beef ribs dry with a paper towel, and season with salt and pepper. After the pot is heated through, add the oil and brown short ribs on all sides. Do not crowd the pot or the ribs will steam rather than brown. You may have to brown them in batches, removing browned ribs to a plate. Use remaining oil in pot to brown onion and garlic. Add ribs back into pot and sprinkle parsley over, followed by tomatoes, vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar, cloves and beef stock. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Uncover and bake 1 to 2 hours more or until tender and falling off the bone. Skim grease while baking.

Serve with homemade mashed potatoes and a green vegetable.