By Lisa Mullis of Frenetic Lisa and Arkansas Outside
My family loves braised short ribs and I have a collection of short rib recipes like this one from Better Homes and Gardens. Braising uses a combination of high dry heat searing with a long moist cook. Many people use slow cookers for braising and recipes like this one have been adapted for the ease of using a slow cooker but if I’m going to be home I prefer to use my 3 qt. Lodge Enamel Dutch Oven.
I’ve used enough braised rib recipes that I have a pretty good idea of ingredient combinations that I like. I discovered a bottle of Samuel Adams Harvest Pumpkin Ale in my refrigerator. I remembered that it was a little sweet and thought it would be a perfect beer for braising my ribs so I decided to make up a recipe with ingredients I had on hand. Short ribs are a fatty cut so I used butternut squash and carrots to give the dish a slightly healthier twist while keeping a hearty texture, plus I thought the combination of the pumpkin ale and the butternut would be nice. I scaled the recipe to fit my three member family and my Dutch oven dimensions.
- 2 lbs beef short ribs
- 3 cups cubed butternut squash
- 1 small onion cut into wedges
- 4 large carrots cut into 2- inch pieces
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 8 oz beer (optional)
- 8 oz beef broth
- 2 Tablespoons molasses
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- Salt, pepper and fresh rosemary sprigs to taste
- Optional: mashed potatoes or egg noodles
- Heat oven to 300 degrees and heat a frying pan with the vegetable oil for searing.
- Salt and pepper the ribs to taste and dredge in flour.
- Sear ribs in vegetable oil over high heat.
- Place vegetables in the dutch oven and mix.
- Place the seared ribs on top of the vegetables.
- Mix the molasses, beer and broth in a small bowl then pour the mixture into the Dutch oven.
- Bake at 300 for 5 hours.
- This recipe could be done in a slow cooker on high heat for 4 to 5 hours or low heat for 7 to 8 hours.
- Serve over mashed potatoes or noodles.
My name is Lisa, I love to cook for and eat with my family. I run, lift heavy stuff and cycle to make room for more food. When I’m not looking at tiny things under a microscope at work, I write about my cooking, running, lifting and cycling and my friends who do all those things too at Frenetic Fitness and Arkansas Outside.