I am not going to lie, braised shorts ribs take a good amount of time to cook and if you rush it you will be disappointed.  The first time I made this dish my growling stomach dictated the cooking window and I ended up with chunks of meat that were quite frankly nasty.   I found myself spitting my first bite into my napkin, much the way I did as a child when my dad made his signature liver and heart dish.  Be sure to plan ahead with this recipe and get the meat in the oven well before you plan to eat.   The meat falling off the bone goodness is well worth the time.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

Meat

- 5 LB’s bone in short ribs

- 2 teaspoons salt

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- 2 shallots, finely chopped

- 4 carrots, skin removed and roughly chopped

- ½ large white onion, chopped

- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

- 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

- ¼ cup scallions, chopped

- 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce

- 1 tablespoon Chinese Five Spice powder

- 3 tablespoons flour

- ¾ ruby port

- 6 cups beef stock

- 1 tablespoon butter at room temperature

Salad

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- 1 bundle bok choy, cleaned and roughly chopped

- ½ teaspoon salt

- ¼ teaspoon sugar

- 2 tablespoons lemon juice.

Instructions:

To start, make sure your oven rack is situated to allow room for your Dutch oven.  Pre-heat oven to 325°.

Season the meat with 1 teaspoon of the salt.  Heat the olive oil over high heat in a large Dutch oven.  Brown the meat on each side for about 3-4 minutes.  Depending on the size of your pot you may need to do this is two batched.  Remove the meat and set aside.  Lower the heat to medium and add the onion, shallots, carrots, garlic, scallions and ginger.  Cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.  Whisk in the hoisin sauce and 2 tablespoons of flour and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes.  Pour in the port and 2 cups of the stock and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and continue cooking for 15 minutes, stirring throughout until the sauce thickens.  Return the short ribs to the pot along with the remaining 4 cups of stock, the remaining teaspoon of salt and the Chinese five spice.  Increase the heat to high and bring to a slight boil.  Cover, remove from the stove and transfer to the oven.

Cook the ribs for 2.5-3 hours, checking in every 20 minutes to monitor cooking progress.

Towards the end of cooking the meat make the salad.  Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large sauté pan.  Add the bok choy sauté for 7 minutes.  Season with the salt, sugar and lemon juice.  Remove from the heat and cover until use.

The ribs are done once the meat is noticeably falling off the bone at which point remove the pot from the oven.  Using tongs remove the meat from the pot and set aside.  Return the pot to the stove over medium-high heat.  Mix together the remaining tablespoon of flour and the tablespoon of butter until a paste forms.  Whisk the paste into the sauce and continue to stir until the sauce thickens- about 10-15 minutes.  Return the meat to the pot and cook for an additional 5 minutes.  Plate a few pieces of the meat per person with a generous helping of the sauce with a side of the bok choy.