This makes enough for 8 people. You could easily cut it in half if you wanted to. You'll need at least a 5 qt. ovenproof pot, and bigger would be even better. There is nothing better for a dish like this than a Le Creuset, because it cooks evenly and it is amazingly easy to clean all the caked-on meat sludge off. Plus, they are gorgeous and come in fabulous colors. (I have lime green.) For the short ribs, you want to cut them so that there is one piece of bone surrounded by a meat.



Asian Braised Short Ribs

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups apple juice
• 1 cup sake
• 1 cup mirin
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup soy sauce
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 12 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4-5 lbs. beef short ribs
• 2 large onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 8-12 small potatoes, trimmed, or larger white potatoes cut in chunks
• 1/2 cup chopped scallions

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine juice, sake, mirin, sugar, soy sauce, about 20 grinds of pepper, garlic, sesame oil, and 1 1/2 cups of water in a pot and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
• Put vegetable oil in a large ovenproof pot or skillet over high heat and add ribs. Season with salt and pepper. Brown well on one side, then turn and add the onions and half the carrots. At this point the pot will be really full so you can use tongs to move stuff around and make sure the ribs are getting browned.
• Carefully pour liquid over meat (you may want to put the pot on the oven rack first, then pour the liquid in) and bake bone side up and submerged in liquid. If there's not enough liquid add water or shove the ribs down. Cook them for 3 to 4 hours, until the meat falls from the bones. Check them every hour or so to make sure they're still submerged in the liquid.
• Cool ribs in the liquid for 1 hour. Take out the ribs and remove the bones. Strain the liquid. (At this point you can put the meat and strained liquid back together and refrigerate them overnight. If you do that, before the next step of reheating and reducing, you might want to skim some of the fat off, which will have hardened on top overnight.)
• Combine meat with strained liquid, heat to a boil then a simmer, reducing liquid until kind of syrupy and more viscous.
• About 1/2 hour before you are ready to serve put butter, potatoes, and remaining carrots in a skillet and saute until browned and tender. If it's going too slowly or if they're getting too brown without being cooked through, throw a couple tablespoons of water in the pan and cover it for about 5 minutes. (You can also do this the day before, refrigerate them and add them into the meat to heat.)
• Add vegetables to meat mixture, taste and adjust seasonings, then garnish with chopped scallions and serve over 4 cups rice.