Everyday Food (September 2012)
Here's something you probably don't know about us: We love a good infomercial.
There's just something about the rhythm of them, the constant repetition of how amazing the product is. And we love all the tropes: the skeptical husband, the professor/doctor/inventor who gets hauled out to talk about the "science" behind the hype, the black-and-white shaky-cam "there-must-be-a-better-way" clips. There's just something so hypnotic and pleasant about them. (Seriously, when we think about the hours of our lives spent watching the same Magic Bullet infomercial...)
Anyway, an infomercial based on this short rib recipe would start off something like this:
Do you love short ribs but hate how long they take to cook? All that searing and braising and waiting around? There must be a better way!
Introducing Pressure Cooker Short Ribs! All the delicious flavor and fall-off-the-bone tenderness of your favorite short ribs -- in only a fraction of the time!
We've featured a number of short rib recipes here on the blog, including our all-time favorite beef short ribs recipe. They all have two things in common: They're delicious, and they take a long time to cook. If you have a pressure cooker, you can shortcut the process. If you don't have a pressure cooker but still want to make short ribs, you can use this recipe to do that, too. Using a pressure cooker, you can have short ribs on the dinner table in under an hour; using a Dutch oven or other heavy pot will require more like 3 1/2 to 4 hours of braising time.
The smart thing that this recipe does -- which we would have never thought of on our own -- is to cook the vegetables inside the pressure cooker along with the ribs. They steam in the basket that's cradled inside the pot.
Our minds = blown. (If your pressure cooker doesn't have an insert, you can, of course, steam the vegetables separately.)
For our take on this dish, we opted to serve the short ribs with a sweet potato and carrot mash, subbing sweet potatoes for russets. The mash is flavorful and a nice mellow complement to the rich short ribs. The short ribs are excellent (but aren't all short ribs excellent?). The favors are basic, but delicious. Inside the pressure cooker, the meat gets the same lacquered tenderness that's achieved after hours of braising.
We loved this technique and fully plan to use it again, likely adapting our favorite short rib recipe to this same method.
The bottom line is that we can now make short ribs on a weeknight. And that's good enough for any infomercial.
Related Posts and Links:
- Braised Hoisin Beer Short Ribs
- This is a really great pressure cooker cookbook.
- This is the pressure cooker we own.
Beef Short Ribs with Potato-Carrot Mash
Everyday Food (September 2012)
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(This photo: Andrew Purcell/Everyday Food)
Total Time: 1 1/2 hours
Serves 6
Notes from Zach and Clay of The Bitten Word:
- If you'd like to make these short ribs but don't own a pressure cooker, here's what we recommend: follow the recipe as written, omitting the steps for the potato-carrot mash. Brown the short ribs in a Dutch oven on all sides. Remove them to a plate. Saute the onions, garlic and herbs. Add the liquid, return the short ribs to the pan. Cover and simmer over low heat until short ribs are falling off the bone, 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Make the mash seperately by steaming the vegetables and the proceeding as instructed.
- We served these short ribs with a sweet potato and carrot mash, subbing 2 sweet potatoes for the 2 russets.
Ingredients
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided1/2 cup all-purpose flour
6 beef short ribs (about 3 1/4 pounds)
Salt and pepper
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
3/4 cup dry red wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon
2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
4 medium carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
Directions
In 6-quart pressure cooker, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high. Place flour in a shallow dish. Season beef with salt and pepper, then coat in flour, shaking off excess. Add beef to pressure cooker and cook until browned on all sides, about 8 minutes. (Brown beef in batches, if necessary.) Transfer to a plate. Add onion, garlic, and thyme to pressure cooker and saute until soft, 4 minutes. Add red wine and 1/4 cup water and cook, stirring and scraping up browned bits with a wooden spoon, 1 minute. Return beef to pressure cooker.
Fill steamer basket insert with potatoes and carrots and place over meat. Secure lid and bring to high pressure over medium-high heat; reduce heat and cook until meat is tender, about 50 minutes (adjust heat to maintain pressure). Remove from heat, vent pressure, and remove lid.
Transfer vegetables to a bowl with remaining 2 tablespoons butter, and mash; season with salt and pepper. Serve short ribs with potato-carrot mash and drizzle with cooking liquid.
