Oven Roasted Short Ribs

What I like about short ribs is the the homey pot roast-esque flavor, the fibrous but fork tenderness and the ample fat rendered by substantial cooking. These ones were rubbed the night before roasting and cooked in two stages in the oven. The rub was composed primarily of chile powder and pimentón a.k.a. spanish paprika, which made my hands smell like bbq potato chips after I massaged the spice and oil paste into the meat. Then I rubbed it all over my face. Pimentón is nothing like standard paprika, which is almost tasteless. I used a "dulce" strength for this dish, which imbued the meat with a little kick without making anyone sweat.

I served these ribs with a simple contorno of sauteed mushrooms and onions, and we drank a dark ruby, tannic Sagrantino di Montefalco from Colpetrone. Fatty, simply roasted meat often conjures up thoughts of Umbria, so it gave me an excuse to whip out this 2004 bottle we'd been saving for just such a meal. Perhaps it could have aged a little longer, but it still did the trick.

Feeds 6 Hungry People

Ingredients:

About 10 lbs. of beef short ribs (sounds like a lot, but remember those bones's)

3 tablespoons chile powder

1 1/2 tablespoons pimentón

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh garlic, minced

1 1/2 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon black pepper

Pinch or 2 of sugar

about 1/4 cup olive oil

Optional: 15 year or more aged balsamic to drizzle on the ribs when serving

Equipment:

2 rimmed baking sheets or pans at least an inch deep, or 4 if you don't want to clean

wire racks to suspend ribs over baking sheets

Tin Foil

Combine the various powders, the salt, pepper and garlic in a small bowl and add the oil to form a paste. Rub this into each rib and transfer them to resealable plastic bags, then put them in the fridge overnight.

Preheat the oven to 325º F, or 300º F if using convection. Place the ribs on wire racks suspended over the baking sheets, and pour enough water in the pans to cover the bottom. Place the pans in the oven and cook for 1 hour 30 minutes, at which point a lot of fat should be rendered out and the ribs well browned.

Remove from the oven and put directly on 2 new (or the first ones cleaned) baking sheets. Cover with foil and cook another 2 hours. Let cool for 10-20 minutes, serve. You can remove the meat from the bones if you'd prefer, but for my purposes the bones stayed on.

Drizzle the aged balsamic on the ribs if you like, but we didn't feel the need.