Tuesday Dinner

Tonight was a new-to-us recipe - I made Korean-style braised short ribs in the crock pot. I served them with rice and they were delicious - very easy, too. I came across a fantastic price on marked down short ribs not long ago. After a quick conversation with the butcher on how to best cook them, I browsed through lots of short-rib crockpot recipes. I took what I thought were the best elements from several Korean-style recipes, and this is what I came up with:

Dredge 2 - 3 lbs. beef short ribs in flour seasoned with salt & pepper, and brown on all sides in a little oil. (Do about 3 - 4 ribs at a time to keep from overcrowding pan.) Place ribs in crock pot. Pour over 1 can pineapple chunks (reserve juice) and 1 sliced onion. For braising liquid, mix together reserved pineapple juice, about 1 cup soy sauce, about 1/4 cup each brown and white sugar, 1 tsp. minced garlic, and 2 tsp. sesame oil. Pour over ribs and cook on high setting for about 5 hours, or until meat is tender. Skim as much fat as you can from the surface. Serve with rice.

NOTE # 1: All the recipes I found called for ginger. I thought I had some, but couldn't find it when I went to look. Recipe was delicious without it, but I definitely would have used it if I could.

NOTE # 2: Cooking on low for 8 - 10 hours would have worked just as well, I just didn't have time to cook that long.

NOTE # 3: If you can make this an entire day ahead of time, even better. The fat will rise to the surface and harden, then you can just peel it off. (Which is what I intend to do with leftovers tomorrow.)


Totals:

$4.02 - short ribs
$1.09 - pineapple
.20 - rice
.50 - onion, soy sauce, sugar

$5.81 for dinner for 4 (sister joined us), with plenty of beef left over