OM NOM NOM

Once in a while, I use a recipe that turns out surprisingly better than I had expected.

I've become more "opportunistic" of late in the choices of meat I buy. I used to be "If it's not a steak, I don't really want to look at it" but that often led to me taking steaks that only looked sort-of OK, and turned out to taste less-than OK. So I've gotten pickier about the appearance of the meat, but less picky about what cuts I buy.

Yesterday, the Kroger had some decent looking beef short ribs. I'd never actually cooked short ribs myself, but had eaten them a number of times (They are one of the dinner choices sometimes on the Texas Eagle). I also thought I remembered seeing a recipe in either Cuisine or Cook's Country. So I bought them.

A quick check of the recent issues of either magazine failed to turn up what I was looking for, and a consult of Mark Bittman's big book didn't turn up anything that seemed appealing (Yes, probably any pot roast recipe would work, but I wanted to try my first go-round on a recipe designed for this cut).

SO I checked he good old Settlement Cookbook. They had one recipe for Spanish-style boiled short ribs. (I don't know about boiled beef; I mainly think of it from some of the British novels I read, and the description given there is not very appealing). But they also had a braised recipe, which sounded pretty good.

They call it "Oven Barbecued Short Ribs," though barbecue purists would probably not consider it true barbecue, especially because of the braising style of cooking. But it is very, very good. I will give the recipe as written first, and then list my changes to it.

2-3 pounds beef short ribs
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup tomato sauce (the plain unseasoned kind, not spaghetti sauce)
2 Tablespoons chopped onion
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 Tablespoons vinegar
1 Tablespoon prepared mustard
dash of cayenne pepper

Brown the ribs on all sides (You probably won't need to oil the pan, short ribs are pretty fatty). Place the browned short ribs in a Dutch oven, covered casserole, or other covered ovenproof dish. (I used a Corningware roaster). Mix all the other ingredients and pour over the short ribs. Cook 2 hours or until tender at 350 degrees.

I modified the recipe by doubling the wine, sauce, onion, and vinegar. That was partly because I had a 2-cup can of sauce and a 1 cup bottle of wine (those little serving-sized bottles are nice if you like to cook with wine but don't drink it yourself: it's much easier to use up.) However, I also used a much larger container than I needed for my four short ribs, so they needed more liquid to cook in .

And I don't like mustard, so instead of it and the salt, I used maybe about a half tablespoon of Penzey's Adobo Seasoning - which has salt and cayenne in it along with other flavorings.

After I put it in the oven, I thought, "They say "barbecue" but there's no sweetener in there" and I was concerned it would not be very good, but it was. (I think sweetener would have detracted from it. I used a merlot wine which I suppose is sweeter than some).

I also cooked it longer and lower (about 3 hours at 275 degrees) but that was partly because I planned on working out in the yard and didn't want it to get done too early.

It was *excellent.* One of the better recipes I've made and something I'll definitely make again, provided I can find short ribs. (They can be hard to come by). I have a little more than half of the batch left over, I expect it will probably make good sandwiches later this week.