Slow Cooker Cream & Ale Short Ribs

Slow Cooker Cream & Ale Short Ribs

These tender juicy beef short ribs and savory creamy ale sauce cooks easily in your slow cooker.

This is a perfect mid-winter dinner!

I love cooking with beers and ales especially with beef. The flavor compliments it so nicely and there’s something so “English Pub” about it.

Since I always seem to be able to get short ribs reduced on the final day of sale at a local grocery store, I have quite a lot of them in my freezer.

Soul and body-warming meal

It’s been horribly cold the past couple of days (can you say nighttime temps below zero and daytime temps in the single digits?) here in upstate New York and I wanted to make a dinner that not only warmed my soul but my body as well!

I had a few bottles of ale kicking around from a promotional post I did for the holidays and what better way to put one of those bottles to use! If you don’t have ale, plain old beer–and it doesn’t have to be a snob beer–it can be the cheapest one you can find, will do in place of the ale. I merely used what I had.

I used my newest slow cooker, the casserole crock, to make these. I noticed that I had to cook them longer than I usually cook short ribs in a conventional slow cooker. It probably has to do with the fact that this is a much shallower cooking area than a conventional 5-6 quart model, so if you use the casserole crock, plan on at least 10 hours on low if you want it to fall off the bone.  If not, then 8 hours will probably do you nicely.

I added a can of whole white potatoes to mine in the last hour of cooking.  With ultra-long cooking times, I prefer to use canned so they don’t overcook and get mushy. But adding veggies or potatoes isn’t necessary here.  These would be nice served with mashed potatoes or even nice thick steak fries.

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Slow Cooker Cream & Ale Short Ribs

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time8 hrs

Total Time8 hrs 15 mins

Servings: 4

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 4-6 lbs meaty beef short ribs
• 1 pkg au jus gravy mix
• 2 tbs brown sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 12- oz bottle of ale or beer
• 1 small onion sliced
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 tbs oil for browning
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Instructions

• Mix au jus gravy mix, flour, thyme and brown sugar in a small bowl, making sure to get any lumps out of the brown sugar. Place into a 4-6 quart slow cooker. FYI–I used a 3.5 quart casserole crock to make this. Add the ale and stir well to combine.
• Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil and brown short ribs on all sides. Remove to a plate.
• In the same pan, saute the sliced onion and garlic, stirring constantly, for about 3-5 minutes–don’t let it burn.
• Deglaze the pan with the 1/2 cup water; mix the onions and water into the au jus mixture in the slow cooker.
• Place the short ribs in the slow cooker, cover and cook on HI 4-6 hours or LOW 8-10 hours (times are approximate). If using the casserole crock, please read the above post–it will probably take longer in one of those.
• Remove the ribs to a serving plate. Stir in the heavy cream, combining well. Pour gravy over short ribs.
• Serves about 4 people (I had 8 short ribs and allowed 2 meaty ribs per person).

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Slow Cooker Cream & Ale Short Ribs

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