Good morning everyone!

Have I got something incredible for you today. Holy fucking shit, lemme tell ya!

In all honesty, this wasn’t even on my radar to turn into a Sunday Gravy post. Really! Last weekend, Memorial Day weekend, I had what will be next week’s Sunday Gravy all planned out and ready to fucking roll. I mentioned last week that I originally wanted to grill on Sunday and Monday of last weekend but shitty weather prevailed on Sunday, which caused me to drop back 10 and punt.

Basically this meant that I had an entire day to cook whatever the fuck my warped little mind wanted to cook but the weather was rainy and cold which meant I had to cook something in the oven. Preferably something that cooked for a long time bringing a bit of warmth to the home and hearth.

That picture up there will tell you where my mind went.

Mother of God do I love short ribs. It’s hard to say what, if anything, I like better when they are prepared correctly.

I will posit this to you; there is no other meal you can make that requires the minimal amount of prep that this one does and delivers the absolute flavor bomb that this baby delivers.

The great thing about this recipe is, well every-fucking-thing which is why I felt compelled to give it it’s own Sunday Gravy post.

Don’t you love those days when you cook whatever you fucking want? Then decide it’s going to be one of your all time favorite meals? Don’t you love that shit? Hell, I do. Puts a little jaunty bounce in the step. Just going to the store knowing you are cooking one of your favorite things is a fucking blast. You can hand select each piece. “Yeah, give me them thick fat short ribs. Those, right there.”

That’s what I’m talking about.

Maybe grab a real nice bottle of wine both to cook with and to serve along with the meal.

Get to use some of your own fresh herbs.

We really should be cooking more for ourselves. I had mentioned a couple of weeks ago in the comment section that I have been preparing every meal I consume for the better part of a month now. This is what I do instead of fast food or delivery. Make that shit myself.

To you long time readers this upcoming recipe may seem oddly familiar.

Way back in season 1 we made this one with only a minor variation.

Quoting directly from the recipe in that post, “5 cloves of garlic, smashed”.

How is that different from today’s recipe?

THAT’s how! Yes, I used every fucking bit of that garlic.

A final note before we get to a very, very easy recipe: this recipe came from the New York Times Cooking section. Hopefully you will notice how very similar my first recipe is to this one. The obvious difference being the amount of garlic. Their’s also called for going lower and slower on the cooking time.

Yes, I am so fucking cooking deranged that whenever I cook ANYTHING even if I’ve cooked it multiple times I read other recipes for variations. I’m always looking for an edge or something new on the off chance it can improve the final dish. The thing that really stood out from the Times page was the sheer, audacious, in your fucking face amount of garlic they used. I saw that garlic and said “Well shit, son, we’ve GOT to try that!”

We did and here it is.

Short ribs slow braised in red wine and garlic.

3-4 pounds of some thick ass short ribs, bone in please

2 tablespoons of cooking oil

2 whole heads of garlic sliced across the center – see photo above

1 medium onion chopped

2 carrots chopped – no need to peel here

4 stalks of celery chopped

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

2 cups of good red wine – again I used a Malbec for this

2 cups of beef stock – store bought will work

1 teaspoon of dried thyme

1 or 2 bunches of fresh rosemary

About half a pound of sliced mushrooms

Get those ribs up to room temperature and let’s give them a good amount of salt and pepper. All sides please. If these are some thick ass ribs like mine were, it’s important to remember that there will be 6 sides to each rib.

Take out your large Dutch oven and get it on the stove top over medium high heat. Fuck it, while we’re at it preheat the oven to 275 degrees.

Add the oil to the hot pan and working in batches, sear the short ribs on all sides until a lovely shade of brown. Six to eight minutes worth.

Here’s what we’re looking for.

Transfer the seared ribs to a plate while you finish browning the rest.

Here’s the fun part. Take all of that garlic and place it cut side down into the skillet for about a minute.

We are actually going to deglaze the pan with the garlic! That’s fucking cool as Hell!

Next? Get that mirepoix in the pot. That’s the onion, celery and carrot.

We’re going to cook the veggies for about 6-7 minutes to help them get a little tender.

Now we are going to take the 2 tablespoons of tomato paste and add it to the veggie mix. Cook for 2-3 minutes to fully coat everything and to begin to carmelize the tomato sauce.

It’s getting sexy up in here!

At this point it’s time to add in the 2 cups of wine, the beef stock, thyme and rosemary.

How fresh was that rosemary you ask?

That goddamn fresh. New herbs for the season. From left to right rosemary, chives and basil. Oh boy!

Now we want to get those browned short ribs into the pot. Make sure they are fully submerged in the liquid. If they aren’t completely covered make sure the side that has the bone is face up and the meaty parts are covered.

Like so.

Place the lid snugly on top of the pot. Then these will go in the 275 degree oven for 4 hours.

Four fucking hours!

What you decide to do with those four hours is entirely up to you. Go to the gym! Take a nap! Drink! Drink, take a nap, wake up and drink some more! Play some guitar. Play some XBOX, play some Wang Chung – maybe don’t play Wang Chung. Watch a game or two, if it’s baseball you may even be able to watch the whole thing in four hours. “May” be able to. Do some yoga. Start that needlepoint pattern you’ve been meaning to get to. Clean the house, garage and refrigerator. Read a book.

You know what? Let’s just stick with the “drink – nap” thing.

Fair warning here! You will begin to smell a highly intoxicating and insanely delicious smell at about the 40 minute point. Yes, you will be required to inhale that aroma for the next 3 plus hours.

You’re welcome.

Your neighbors may stop by to inquire “Jesus Fuck! What are you cooking in there? It smells amazing!”

Then depending on how hot said neighbor is you may get to invite them over for dinner, you sly dog you!

Anyway when the ribs have been cooking for three hours, it’s time to add in the mushrooms. If we cooked them this entire time you would have lost the physical evidence proving that there are indeed mushrooms in this dish. Cover the pot again and finish the last hour of cooking.

Once you’ve survived the four hour ordeal you may remove the Dutch oven from the stove and carefully remove the lid.

As Anthony Bourdain once said “Like peeling the panties off of a super model.”

Sweet Jesus, you’ve been living life right, my friend. Smell that! Dear God just smell that.

One of the many amazing things with this recipe is it’s versatility. Serve this over your starch of choice. Rice today. Noodles are incredible and mashed potatoes would be goddamn glorious. I made a quick batch of garlic bread as an accompaniment. No I did not bake the bread myself this time. That’s for the following day.

Give yourself a good scoop of the rice and just pile some of those tender, delicious, chunks of meaty goodness right on the fucking top. Get a piece or two of garlic bread. Pour yourself a glass of what’s left of the wine. Get a fork and…

Just a heads-up, there will not be a lot of discussion during the consumption of this meal. There will be grunts, and guttural noises and softly whispered sentiments like “Holy shit!” and “Motherfucker this is incredible.” That’s it though.

I mean.

The banner image for this post was the very first time ever that I stopped mid-meal and took the photo that ended up as the banner image.

Here it is with notations.

What made this dish so insanely delightful had to be the amount of garlic. See notation. After the long slow cooking process the garlic essentially turned into roasted garlic. You could squeeze each clove of garlic out of it’s sleeve to do with what you please. I squished up about 6 cloves of the garlic and mixed right with that insanely tender and succulent meat. Also note the condition of the bone in that photo. That fucker just slid right off the meat.

I want to marry this meal so I can make sweet, sweet love to it whenever I want. Holy SHIT this was ridiculous.

Which is why you see it here today.

I know we have quite of few of our regular readers who do actually cook some of these meals at home. To each and every one of you I just want to say “Please, please for the love of God, please make this dish as outlined.”

If there’s a more delicious ANYTHING out there I’m coming up short at the moment.

Short RIBS that is!

Sorry.

As always I appreciate you good folks and I really would like to repay that love right back to you by giving you this recipe. Make this, share this, devour this.

Repeat.

We’ll see you all next week when I get to show you what I originally intended to write about this week.

You know this had to be amazing if it actually preempted a recipe.

Thanks for reading folks.

PEACE!