SHORT RIBS BEST EVER

Old fashioned simple cooking that gives your food that extra ingredient, love.  Slow cooking like this rewards your taste buds with beautiful tender fall off the bone beef that has slowly braised in a rich deep au jus.  You just gotta have this with a generous helping of buttery peppery mashed Murphy (Irish white potato) potatoes, and a side mug of au jus, I have to eat this with a spoon so I can get all the flavours in one gorgeous mouthful, then a sip of au jus from the mug to complete the ritual, this is how my nan used to serve this and each spoonful takes me back to those comforting memories.

Prep time 10 minutes / Un-attended cooking time 3-4 hrs / Serving time 30 minutes

Ingredients

(1 large / 3 small ribs per person)

2 large or 6 small short ribs

2 tbsp peanut or coconut oil

1 ltr real ale

2 ltrs beef bone stock

3 carrots peeled and rough chopped

1 leek rough chopped

1 onion quartered

2 sticks celery rough chopped

2 bay leaves

1 sprig thyme

6 cloves garlic bashed

Sea salt and black pepper

Serve with This Glorious Mashed Potato

6 large potatoes

100g butter

1 tsp white wine vinegar

Sea salt and white pepper

Method

Place a deep braising tin on the job and add a glug of oil, brown off the ribs in batches if need be, drain off the oil, but not any juices, add all the other ingredients, if you need more liquid add water or more beef stock.  Cover the tin well, lay a rectangle of parchment paper on top of the ingredients then cover the tin with tin foil.  

Place in a pre-heated oven 160 degrees for 3-4 hrs or until the meat is tender falling off the short ribs.  While the ribs are cooking peel the potatoes and place in a large pan of water, when 30 minutes from serving bring the potatoes up to a boil and cook until fork tender, drain and leave to steam dry for a few minutes, add the butter to the pan and leave on a very low heat to melt, add back the potatoes and mash, season with the white wine vinegar and salt and pepper.

Remove the ribs from the oven and drain off all the braising liquor and vegetables through a sieve, using the back of a spoon push the braising vegetables through the mesh of the sieve, this will not only deepen the flavour of your gravy further but help to thicken it with out compromising the flavour. 

To serve place the rich buttery peppery mashed potato in the centre of the plate and lay a short rib across the mash and pour lashings of the rich braised gravy over the rib, allowing the juices to ooze all over the mash, enjoy.