- 5 pounds meaty short ribs on the bone, 2-3 inches thick (English Short Ribs, Short Ribs Rack, Spare Ribs or Mock Boneless Short Ribs — see note)
- Salt
- Neutral tasting oil, such as canola or grapeseed
- 3 tablespoons cup low sodium Tamari or soy sauce
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup mirin (rice wine)
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
- 4 garlic cloves, finely grated or pounded with a pinch of salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- About 1 cup miso broth (see note)
- 1⁄4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems
- 4 scallions, green and white parts slivered
Marinate the ribs a day ahead
Prep the ribs the day before you want to cook. Whisk together the soy sauce, brown sugar, mirin, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, and cayenne. Place the meat in a resealable plastic bag and pour in the marinade. Seal the bag and squish the marinade around so all the meat is evenly coated. Refrigerate overnight.
Sear the ribs on the stovetop
A few hours before you want to cook the ribs, pull them out of the fridge to come up to room temperature. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 400°F.
Set a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat to preheat. When pan is hot, drop the temperature to medium-low, add just enough oil to coat the bottom. Working in batches so as not to crowd pan, brown a few short ribs at a time on all three meaty sides, adding more oil if necessary before each batch. Reduce heat as necessary to achieve browning gradually; it may take 4 to 5 minutes per side for well-browned ribs.
Braise in the oven
Transfer the ribs, bone-side down, to a large Dutch oven or a large, deep ceramic or pyrex roasting dish, then pour the marinade over the meat. It’s fine if the ribs are snug, but they should all fit in a single layer.
If you like, add a little of the miso broth to the pan you used to saute the rib to deglaze; scrape up the browned bits from the pan and add, with the liquid, to the pot with the ribs. Add enough broth to go about ¾-inch up the sides of the ribs, then cover with lid. If your lid is not tightly fitting, seal it with aluminum foil; if you don’t have a lid, cover the meat with parchment paper, then with aluminum foil and seal tightly. Slide into the oven and cook until the liquid simmers, about 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 325°F and cook until meat is very tender and falling off the bone, 2 to 4 hours more. (See note)
To finish and serve
Uncover pot or dish and crank oven to 450°F. Brush ribs with the braising juices and cook for about until shiny and brown, about 8 to 12 minutes.
Serve warm, garnished with cilantro and slivered scallions.
Cover and refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days.
Notes:
- Miso broth: This recipe calls for dashi, a broth made with kombu (seaweed) and fish flakes. To adjust for kosher cooking which does not combine meat and fish in the same dish, we made a broth with kombu and miso. Here’s how: Simmer 1 4″ piece kombu in 3 cups water for 8 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in 2 teaspoons red miso. Strain liquid to remove the kombu. Note that this broth is somewhat salty — if you are sensitive to salt, consider omitting the miso and just using the kombu water, or just plain water or chicken stock.
- On the braising liquid: Check periodically to make sure your braising liquid hasn’t totally evaporated. When we made this, it cooked nearly away, which meant that the ribs had sort of self-seared themselves so we skipped the last step.
- If making with Mock Boneless Short Ribs, meat will cook more quickly; check after 2 hrs for tenderness and check every 30 minutes after that until meat feels soft and pliable to the touch.
