Ginger Glazed Beef Short Ribs or Shanks

Short ribs are all the rage now, but I find that using beef shanks results in a lot less greasy fat with the same amount of flavor and shanks are usually a very cheap cut of meat. Any stew meat should work in this recipe. While I did not end up with a glaze, I did end up with a very flavorful sauce (lick the bowl clean!) and tender meat (fall off the bone) with gingerized vegetables (yes I am inventing words now). The vegetable soaked up a lot of the ginger flavor and were a real treat. Enjoy my adaptation.

Ingredients:
2 cups dry red wine
4-5 pounds bone-in beef short ribs, cut into individual ribs
1 tsp salt
1 head garlic (I used roasted garlic)
5 large fresh shiitake mushrooms (I skipped this)
1 large onions, peeled and quartered
1 cup baby carrots
2 inches fresh ginger, grated
8 allspice berries, freshly ground
2 tsp cinnamon
12 sprigs fresh thyme or other herbs on hand
3 cups low-sodium chicken stock
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Instructions:
Put all ingredients in a crockpot and let cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. The original recipe called for beef short ribs, but I find these too fatty and the grease needs to be skimmed off. Using beef shank, there is a lot less fat and just as much flavor. When completely cooked, pull meat out and strain the liquids. My vegetables were still crisp (not mush like most long cooked stews) so I retained those and served them with dinner.
Take the liquid and reduce significantly in a pot till sauce thickens. Add cornstarch or flour if you want to make a gravy but I enjoyed it as a nice sauce with some crusty bread to mop it up.

I reduced my liquids down to about 2 cups of liquid and it could have reduced more. Since I used too much vinegar the first time, I added a ¼ cup of brown sugar to cut the acidity. This liquid was supposed to make a glaze for the meat (if braised) and I thought adding the sugar would help make it into a glaze. But after reducing the liquid and braising the meat in the oven for a while it did more to dry the top layer of meat than to create a glaze. So, I will skip this step in the future and just serve the reduced liquid over the crockpot cooked meat.

Serves 5-6.

Nutritional Information:
Estimated using Recipe Calculator

Amount Per Serving
Calories 589.6
Total Fat 15.1 g
Saturated Fat 5.5 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 6.4 g
Cholesterol 218.0 mg
Sodium 697.2 mg
Potassium 1,895.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate 8.6 g
Dietary Fiber 1.2 g
Sugars 2.0 g
Protein 87.7 g

Recipe Modified From:
Kitchen Konfidence