My husband made this using white wine instead of beer. This would change the taste a bit but it was still a winner. The sauce was delicious as were the short ribs and he has filed the recipe in his "Favourites" folder.

Made as directed, but ate the next day. The flavours were very intense and delicious! I reduced the sauce down quite a bit so the overall dish was quite rich and flavourful.

I'm unable to access the curry powder recipe. Is it no longer available, or is there some trick to it?

The recipe is still on the site but the link was not working on this particular recipe, it has now been fixed. Cheers!

Are you supposed to say yumm? These were really good. They disappeared very quickly.
Thank you!

Sorry to say, but this recipe did not work for my family. The only item I could not get was the tamarind paste. The ribs came out perfect but the sauce was too strongly flavored so the ribs came in as a secondary item of the dish. Regardless of the outcome I’ve learnt what spices will work for my taste for the future cooking. I have had some issues with cardamom pods in the past, but stayed true to the instructions and used them as per recipe. Maybe if I used (I did not) coconut milk it would’ve mellowed the flavor somewhat? So I will keep trying other recipes from Rouxbe. So far this is the first recipe I did not like from Rouxbe. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to learn and improve my cooking skills.

So far, the only palm sugar I have been able to find locally is in powdered (or granular) form. Would this be an acceptable substitute? Would the quantity need to be adjusted?

As long as the ingredients listed says 100% palm sugar then it should be fine. Use a 1:1 ratio. Cheers!

Hello! I repeated this receipe twice and both times the result was terrific! I just wondered if the ribs shouldn't be rubbed with theb curry powder after searing, because I couldn't avoid burning the powder during the searing step. No problem at all with the resulting dish, but wouldn't it be even better withou the burnt powder? Thanks in advance.

The rub is added to the ribs beforehand so that it can start to penetrate and flavor the meat. If left to sit for a couple of hours (as per the recipe) the spices are generally absorbed by the moisture in the meat.

When searing, if the heat is monitored, then the spices should be okay. Perhaps you might just need to turn the heat down or a bit, or perhaps use a bit more oil during cooking? Also, be sure to clean the pot in between batches if need be. Hope this helps. Cheers!

Dawn, will follow your advice next time.

I've been using the enameld cast iron pot at the searing step. As it takes longer to sear than a stainless steel, maybe it's leaving enough time to burn the curry powder.

Your school is so perfect! I've been improving a lot every week!

Thank you!

I am trying to find a substitute for the beer. I am not a fan of beer flavor. It is a major component of the final flavor? What are my options.

Thanks

Johnny

You can use a dry white wine (as stated above) or you can simply increase the amount of stock.You may also want to check out the lessons in the Moist-Heat Section (Combination Cooking Fundamentals, Braising etc.) of the Cooking School as we go into quite a bit more detail on this. Cheers!

If short ribs aren't available, what other cuts would be a good substitute?

Great question Chester. Many other tough cuts of meats can be used instead. For much more detail and suggestions on this, you may want to review the lesson on "Combination Cooking Fundamentals" and even the lesson on "Braising | Combination Cooking" as we go into quite a bit of detail about all of this. Cheers!

I'm really looking forward to making this, however I have three quick questions:
1) is there a replacement for palm sugar if I can't find any?
2) is there a replacement for sambal if I can't find any?
3) I assume leftovers are freezable, right?

Thanks!
mk

Here is a great food reference site for food substitutions to bookmark for future reference. Yes, leftovers can be frozen, no problem. Cheers!

Hi,
Sorry for the extra question! I was wondering if the recipe would suffer by using boneless short ribs instead of bone-in. And, if so, why?
Thanks again! It's all quite an exciting (and delicious) education for me!
mk

You can use either but the bone-in will provide more flavor to the dish during the long, slow cooking time. Bones also add some gelatin to the overall liquid and will give it a richer mouth feel. Cheers!

I'm not really sure why, but in my area, I've had an increasingly difficult time acquiring English cut short ribs. I've tried this recipe twice: once with flanken style, and last weekend with the English cut. I liked the English cut much better. It seemed like when I used the flanken cut, the dish seemed overspiced, the meat seemed to cook too quickly (?), the meat seemed to have less texture, and I would find the occasional bone shard with the flanken cut -- which was really annoying and prompted a trip to 2 different stores in my area to get the English cut in the quantity that I would need to do this recipe last weekend.

I should say that I really like this recipe. The flavors are fantastic, and paired with the coconut rice, this dish is really a special treat. I just don't make it as often as I would like because I have such a problem sourcing bone-in English cut short ribs. (It seems to require a special order.) Is it possible that I am just cooking the flanken cut ribs too long, resulting in miniature bone shards?

We are so glad that you like the recipe! I might suggest asking your butcher to special order the English cut for you. In most cases, they are usually happy to do this to gain your loyalty and keep you as a customer.

The flanken style cut is more susceptible to the bone shards that you refer to, as it involves cross-cutting the ribs in short increments, thus exposing the bone and creating the opportunity for splintering. If you inspect each piece of meat before cooking, you may be able to find the larger shards and remove them before cooking. I hope this helps...Enjoy!

Thank you Ken, that's a great suggestion as it is impossible to find the shards in the meat and sauce after cooking is complete. I will try this next time -- if I happen to spontaneously purchase the flanken ribs again.

In the meanwhile, though, I will try to plan ahead by special ordering the English cut the next time I decide to use this recipe for entertaining purposes.

I followed the recipe except for the Cane Sugar (used Brown Sugar of equal amounts) and I used the recipe for making the curry. I learned a lot, and the meal came out just fantastic! Now my question: I would like to use a large cut of meat rather than the ribs just to serve friends over for dinner. Any suggestions on the cut? Stew Meat? Eye of Round cut 1.2 inch thick or cubed? Just not that much meat on the short ribs!

Hi Jim- I would select a meat suitable for combination cooking methods. In this case, for braising, chose a cut with plenty of connective tissue and some fat, like chuck or top round.

Eye of round is typically too lean and you run the risk it it getting too dry when braised. I'm curious about where the short ribs came from, as these can be very meaty indeed. Enjoy!

Thanks Ken for your suggestion on type of meat to use. The ribs I got were from Seabra Market, which is a small chain in the Northeast, USA. With your question, I will be checking short ribs in other stores to compare. They were labeled Short Ribs, looked about the right size only a "little" smaller and I know my meat fairly well, so did not pick up the wrong thing. I bought 8 short ribs to feed 3 people, and I could have easily eaten 4+ as they were so tasty. Just a lot of fuss for so little meat. Fat content was acceptable, not excessive.