While you will never catch me sitting down to eat a rare steak or roast beef, I do enjoy eating meat – especially when it is slow roasted or braised. I recently bought some beautiful short ribs on the bone even though I wasn’t quite certain what I wanted to do with them. I came across this recipe for Korean slow-cooker short ribs and decided that in honor of Frances I had to try them. Only Frances or her mother can tell me if this is authentic; I can simply say they are delicious! This is real Korean comfort food. The flavors only get richer the more you eat!
If you are feeling lazy, just serve it over some cooked rice so you don’t lose a drop of the yummy sauce. If you are feeling more ambitious, you could choose to add some carrots and potatoes or water chestnuts, dried red dates and ginkgo nuts to the slow cooker about half-way through the cooking time or serve with sugar snap peas that simply have been steamed or stir-fried. This is a wonderfully easy and delicious dish to make for a relaxed dinner with friends. And wouldn’t you rather be taking part in the evening instead of stuck fussing in the kitchen?
Slow Cooker Asian Short Ribs by Chungah Rhee from Damn Delicious and Eating Korean by Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee
Yield: 6 to 8 servings, depending on the number of banchan served
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup beef broth
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3 cloves garlic, minced, about 1 good tablespoon
1 rounded tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
5 pounds bone-in beef short ribs, cut crosswise into 2″ pieces (Although don’t fret if the short ribs are cut differently. Do try to get them on the bone, however, as the bones lend flavor and gelatin to the sauce.)
1/4 cup water or broth
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Optional Additions
1 pound baby carrots
1 pound red baby bliss or other small potato
For Garnish
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
3 scallions, thinly sliced
DIRECTIONS:
- In a large bowl, whisk together soy sauce, beef broth, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and red pepper flakes, if using.
- Place short ribs into a 6-qt slow cooker. Stir in soy sauce mixture until well combined.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 3-4 hours.*
- In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 1/4 cup water or beef broth. Before stirring in the slurry of cornstarch, use a spoon to carefully skim off as much of the fat that has risen to the top as you can. Then stir the cornstarch mixture into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high heat for an additional 30 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened. If you don’t remove the fat first, your sauce will never appear to get thicker – to say nothing of the fact that the fat has done its job of keeping the meat moist and adding flavor, but eating all of it is neither tasty nor healthy.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley or scallion and sesame seeds, if desired.
NOTES:
*To test for doneness, pull on a bone as it should slide out freely. In a Korean home, this dish would be served with the ubiquitous kimchi and a choice of banchan. Left-overs will keep in the fridge for up to a week. Simply gently reheat.
