This is my Sunday specialty. One pan and a Coke, leftovers on Monday, get my shit together on a Tuesday.

I do not deserve your award but let me fulfill your request and expand on my last paragraph.

Buy two beef short ribs per person. Look for the quantity of meat per rib. Marbling is less ideal in this method. The less fat, the better. A few mashing potato’s, asparagus, sliced almonds, paprika, beef stock, your best tasting (not expensive) red wine, and unsalted butter. We’ll “salt n’ pepper to taste” later. Cheap fresh herbs like chives, rosemary sprigs (leave on stem), thyme (annoying but take off stem), fresh bay leaf, and fresh sage (not too much, I use one big leaf). Stay with me if they’re worth it.

A few nights (1-3) before your event, stove on medium and oven set to 275°F/135°C. Sear your ribs in batches, on all sides. Sear the ribs in the same pot that you’re going to put in the oven (described later). During the sear, if you “crowd” your pan, you will only steam the meat. It’s harder to get that nice sear/char, so… in batches. Remove from the pot and set aside. They shouldn’t be cooked to temp at this point, we will fully cook them soon.

Next on top of the fond, add your mirepoix. Adjust the amount by portion/pot size. With my Dutch oven that’s about (4) US cups of onion to (2) cups celery and (2) cups carrot with a pinch of salt for 5 ribs. Don’t worry about “cook till translucent”, let’s work on getting the fond off the bottom of your pot.

If the mirepoix doesn’t get the fond off, this next step will. Add your red wine and watch out for the steam, scrape the bottom of your pot with a wooden spoon and turn off the heat. For me, I think it’s about 2 cups of wine or maybe 2/3rds of a bottle of wine.

Add your herbs, put your ribs back in the pot, and fill the rest of the pot with beef stock until the braising liquid almost reaches the top of the ribs. This is where most of your salt and msg comes from. Lid on and into your oven for 3.5-4 hours. When we talk about “low and slow”, it’s less about the temp and more about the time. Yes, you want the meat to be at 165- (ideally) 200°F or 73°-93°C but the most important part is that your pot has TIME to render the connective fibers that are chewy and often inedible without heat and time, like a diamond… except diamonds are also inedible, so that’s a bad example.

Remove the ribs set aside in a container(A). Strain the liquid into a container(B). Put the mirepoix into a container©. Refrigerate over night or up to 3 days. Use the herbs in another dish, freeze or throw away, your choice.

You’re still with me? Here’s the easy part that makes you look like a pro chef.

Heat an oven (air, toaster, wood, whatever) to 375F/195C. With a fork, peel the (now) solidified fat off the cold braising liquid… I save this to fry my morning eggs and toast with. Please don’t discard this gold if you can help it. Dump the rest of the braising liquid into a large sauce pan and set to the side. Trim the ends off the asparagus, toss in oil with paprika, a tiny bit of salt, and a generous helping of sliced almonds. Put in an oven safe dish, set aside. Peel your potato’s. I love quick and easy rustic potato’s but the skin doesn’t work in this recipe. Put your mirepoix in a small sauce pan on the stove set to low/warm.

Ready and set, now let’s go!

Potato’s go to boil until fork tender. Set aside. Stove on medium, reduce the braising liquid by half, drop the stove to medium low and put the ribs in the (now) sauce, cover with a lid.

Put your asparagus mix into the oven for 20+/- mins while you drain and mash your potato’s with butter, a touch of salt, garlic powder, and a splash of milk. Go easy on the salt. Your braising liquid will already be pretty salty. The potato’s are meant to balance the dish.

By now the ribs should be heated through, the sauce gets a 1/4TBS of butter, spoon the sauce over the ribs, plate the mash and cover with your mirepoix. Place the asparagus mix next to the mash then lightly smash the ribs into the mash and drizzle with your pan sauce. Let the artist in you go wild here. I usually put edible flowers from my garden on top as a garnish but chives work really well too. Two slices of radish has also worked in a pinch, just anything other than brown. Blue and red leaning IMO.

No it’s not one long run on sentence, I’m an awful home cook but trying to get better with every dish. This recipe is easy, I swear. If they’re worth it, start here. This isn’t Mary me Chicken (like it’s a question), it’s “WITNESS MY FRENCH CUISINE FOR I AM YOUR CHEF AND YOU WILL NEVER GO UNSATISFIED”

Yeah it’s not great. I wish I didn’t have it because my wife loves it and I’m jealous