Short Ribs Braised in Porter Ale with Maple-Rosemary Glaze

In a word ... Wow ... oh my ... YUMMM.

Ok, that's four words. But this is a great flavor profile and a great dish. And I can say this even though I had some pretty lousy quality short ribs purchased from Whole Foods. If you make these, it is worth a trip to a good butcher who can give you the very best, meatiest short ribs available. That's what I am doing next time. The recipe deserves the best ingredients.

I used Guiness Stout and chicken stock for the braising liquid and it was just great over the meat and mashed potatoes I served this with. But what puts this over the top is the final step -- brushing the ribs with a maple-rosemary-horeradish glaze and putting under the broiler for 3-4 minutes.

And again, a big high five to Molly Stevens for the clarity and precision of her recipes. A novice can succeed with her recipes and an experienced cook may find that Molly Stevens can teach an old dog new tricks.

Side Salad -- mesclun, sectioned tangelo, shaved fennel, chopped Marcona almonds with a sherry vinegar/tangelo juice/honey/mustard/grapeseed oil vinaigrette.

This one of my go-to recipes for entertaining a small group of 4-6. I have made this many times and it always turns out. I follow the recipe exactly. The author is truly a cooking teacher and the 5-6 things I have cooked from the book have all turn out well.

Last time I served this meat over small scoops of three purees-roasted garlic mashed potatoes, nutmeg scentd mash of parsips, and sweet potatoes with a hint of cinnamon. My veggies were roasted brussel sprouts and Vichy carrots. I always make sure my appetizer and dessert are very light because it is a rich heavy winter meal, which will be better as a whole when balanced. For instance this time I served a small plate of mixed micro greens lightly tossed with lemon & EVOO, s&p, and toped with 2 large lemon garlic prawns as an appetizer, and a featherlight french crepe stuffed with lightly caramelized apples and lightly drizzled with a calvados caramel, a small dollop of unsweetened cream dusted with edible gold flakes. What a great meal-and most of it prepared ahead-so you can enjoy your company.

The guests asked for the recipe as they always do with this recipe. It is well worth the effort for special occasions.

I can only agree with everything the two previous reviewers posted. And cadfaels menu suggestion sounds really good! There was just one issue we had: she didn't write anything about how the ribs were cut. In the section about buying short ribs she presents the two different kinds of short ribs available, both of which are bought in one large piece. Later on in the recipe she gives hints that the ribs have been cut into pieces as she mentions that the rib pieces should be arranged into a single layer, etc. Can anyone enlighten me about what she means?