I was about to fall back on the tried and true red wine braised short ribs for a recent dinner party, but thought I'd try this recipe instead. What a wonderful wonderful and thoroughly delicious recipe. Honestly, the ancho chili twist is a delightful surprise and not too spicy. In fact, the slow braising produces a rich, complex and mellow flavour with just a little kick. Add more chili if you want it spicier, but this is very well balanced as is.

Aside for a little time-consuming browning of the meat, short ribs are a great one for dinner parties since you don't have to worry all that much about timing. Pull them out of the oven when you are ready!

As an aside, I have heard about taking the ribs out of the dutch oven and putting them under the broiler just before serving to give them a nice crust. I'm not sure this is something I'd do with this recipe though since the sauce is thick and would not carmelize all that much - just make sure you get a good browning on the meat in step 1.

Hey There,
Dawn here, from Rouxbe. Cannot tell you how happy I am that you liked the recipe. It is one I also make often for dinner parties for that same reason - it makes me a better hostess cause I can then relax and actually socialize with my friends!

For the record, not sure about the raw onions, especially because there are lots in the actual sauce. But if someone tries it and it is great, let me know.

The chipotle drill-down on this recipe is quite good. Apart from the canned chilies there are a couple of brands of chipotle sauce that could be used if you don't find them in a can. The Tabasco brand has a chipotle version, but it's not as good as the Búfalo brand - a Mexican brand from Herdez. In any case, the canned chilies are better though.

I made this dish just for the two of us -- awesome. Left-overs were equally good. Esp liked the hint of tipping up the dish to make the removal of fat so easy -- I haven't made ribs much in the past as they are so greasy. Also the smashed sweet potatoes have since become a standard side dish at our house. Or should I say casa, in homage to the ancho chilies.

I made these ribs for a recent birthday dinner along with the suggested sides of smashed sweet potatoes and roasted glazed carrots. We were *very* impressed with this entire meal! The flavours, colours, textures all complemented each other perfectly.

The only change I made was to half the amount of chipotle chilis, as I was concerned that it would be too hot. My mistake, there was no heat at all. Next time I will add the full amount of chili.

Made these for dinner the other night and they were very nice. I thought they would be quite spicy, but they were just right. thanks.

I made these ribs yesterday and put them in the fridge after to serve today. When I went to de-fat the cold ribs I found somewhat less fat than shown in the video. I'm concerned that the 350F braising temp caused boiling in the oven and emulsified a lot of the fat. That said, the sauce is still pretty good.

Don't worry...the ribs you used where just likely less fatty than the ones we used in the video. I have made this recipe many times and the amount of fat that rises to the surface is always different, it just depends on how fatty the ribs were to begin with.

As far as the temperature, this shouldn't matter too much. I have cooked them at this temperature before (especially when I am short on time) and they are fine. You are correct though, that slower and lower is the way to go. Hope this helps!

This looks great. Would I need to make any adjustments if I were to use pork rather than beef ribs?

The cooking time for pork ribs might be shorter (since they tend to not be as thick as beef short ribs). Cook the meat until it is fork tender. This sauce will pair well with pork.

After browning and cooking the sauce, can the ribs be done in a crock pot?

Thank you.
Dwight

Indeed you can use a slow cooker or crock pot for this. Just as you said, brown the meat and make the sauce then put everything into the slow cooker.

Here is another forum thread where I talk about a bit more about "Braising in a Crock Pot or Slow Cooker. Hope this helps!

I tend to store my chipotles in adobe as done in the drill down?

Now how would this chipotle puree be measured to use in this braised ribs recipe?

Thank you.

The recipe calls for 2T of chipotle peppers and 2T of the adobo sauce...I usually use about 4 tablespoons of the puree. But really you can play around with it to match your taste buds.

I saw that the recipe called for 2 1/2 cups of water - I made some rouxbe dark chicken stock a while ago and wondered if stock would be a suitable replacement - or would it be too much?

The stock would likely be okay, just depends how much flavor it has (because there are already so many flavors in the braising liquid). Maybe try it or just try half water and half stock. Cheers!

The first time I made this recipe I was extremely pleased. I did use a little bit of dark stock in place of some water, but it was wholly unnecessary. As the OP said, this sauce is rich, complex, mellow, and well balanced.

would I be able to do all the searing the night before and then braise it the following day from a food safety point of view?

Really don't see the benefit or advantage (even time wise) for pre-searing. For steaks, highly don't recommend it. For braised dishes or a pot roast, it won't affect the final results. But make sure to collect the sucs in the pan.

Is honey an acceptable substitute for maple syrup?

For sure you can substitute honey for maple syrup, just know that the flavor will be slightly different due to the missing "maple" flavor. Please let us know how it turns out for you.

For chipotle pepper sauce? Cant find it anywhere. Can I omit it? If the only consequence is less spice that doesn't break my heart. I just want to make sure the success of the dish doesn't hinge on a product i don have. ;-)

If you leave out the chipotle in this recipe it will greatly affect the final result, as that is one of the main flavors of this dish. The chipotles do add heat, but they also add good flavor and a bit of smokiness.

This thread also talks about this same subject.

The chipotle in cans (in adobo sauce) are available in more and more stores these days and they can also be ordered online.

Cook's Thesaurus gives a substitute for chipotle that you can make yourself. I have not tried it but here is the link.

Hope this helps!

Sorry my fault, I meant the chipotle sauce not the peppers themselves. I found the peppers in the can, its the sauce that evades me.

If you found the chipotle peppers in the can they usually come in the adobo sauce - didn't the one you purchased?