Oven Barbecue Beef Short Ribs

Hello!! I am so excited to share this recipe with you!

Beef Short Ribs are the best, so much meat on them that you only need 2 ribs per person and not a whole rack of ribs like you do when making pork ribs.

As an added bonus we will be cooking beans at the same time, a perfect side compliment to your Barbecue Beef Short ribs.

Now 2 things to tell you about myself/Greece, I don't have a grill at home, so that is why these are done in the oven plus you want to SLOW cook these ribs, for the best flavor! (we have a grill at the Greek Taverna that we own, so it would be silly to have one at our house, especially since the Taverna is just a hop and skip away)

And second, they don't even eat beef ribs in Greece, crazy right, being an American I love Barbecue ribs, so when we want to make them we have to let the butcher know in advance so he won't cut off the meat from the bones, because that is what they do here, they trim all the rib bone meat off and add it to the pile for making hamburger meat (or minced meat as it is called in Greece)

You DON'T need a grill or smoker, yippee!

Clay pot/Dutch Oven or even just Aluminum foil

Beef Short Ribs (2 ribs per person)

2 Onions

White medium navy beans (dried)

Brown Sugar

Salt

Paprika

Black Pepper

Oregano

Granulated Garlic

Bacon (optional)

70 grams Tomato paste

Mustard

I like to wash my meat after receiving it from the butcher, to be sure there aren't any small loose bones on the meat, I dry it with a kitchen towel and then place it on a rimmed plate at the bottom of the fridge.

Prepare your beans as well (the picture above is after they have soaked)

Take 1/2 cup of dried medium sized white beans and soak in 2 cups of water overnight

This step is optional, a lot of the fat will melt off, but my son has an aversion to fatty foods so I trim the big chunks off, in the first picture you can see that fat running in the middle, I just peel the meat back and trim most of that away, see second picture. Flip your meat over and on the bone side, score some slices with your knife along the bone and across the bone, this will allow for the meat to more easily fall off of the bone.

Mix Together:

3 Tbs. Brown Sugar

1 Tbs. Salt

1 Tbs. Paprika

2 tsp. Black Pepper

2 tsp. Dried Oregano

1/2 tsp. Granulated Garlic

Rub the mixture all over the ribs, meat side, bone side, in between where we cleaned out some of the fat.

Take 1 onion and cut into 4 pieces (see 2nd photo) Place on the bottom of your pan/foil

Place Meat on top (I show the meat side up, I don't know why, but you want the bones on top) and the meat touching the onions.

Place lid on top or wrap foil around and crimp the top, so all the juices stay inside.

Put them in the oven

250F oven for 3 - 4 hours

Now that your Ribs are in the Oven, lets start cooking the beans, or skip this step if you don't want beans.

Rinse off the soaking water and place the beans in a medium saucepan, they should have almost tripled in size from the dried state.

Cover completely with water, double the amount of beans (1 cup beans 2 cups water, or 2 cups beans 4 cups water, simple, or just eye ball it)

When I trimmed the ribs, there were a few small beef pieces that I cut off, I placed those in the bean water

If any scum comes to the top, skim off with a skimmer and throw away.

Cook over low simmering heat for 2 hours, keep a watch over the water and be sure it doesn't go lower than the beans other wise they will dry out, keep them covered with water, until they start to get tender, then you can allow the water to evaporate more.

To salt or not salt, I won't go into a debate with you on this, I personally have always salted my beans, in fact I put a Tablespoon of salt in when I soaked them as well and then added another teaspoon of salt when I put them in the pot to cook.

After 2 1/2 hours of cooking your ribs, take them out and check on them,

I like to remove the ribs from the pan and place on a plate. Remove the juices and the onion on the bottom pouring them into a bowl. Flip the meat so the bone is now on the bottom of the pan, then place them back in the oven for another hour or more of cooking.

If you want bacon for your beans cook them in a skillet until golden brown, set aside

In same skillet, place a diced medium onion and allow the onions to cook down until translucent.

Next take the juices that you saved from the ribs and pour through a sieve into the skillet with the onions, push the cooked rib onions really well to get all of their flavor into the juices, but do not add those cooked onions, discard them after you get all the juice out :)

Add a squirt of Mustard

and 70 grams or a small pack of Tomato paste.

Stir and cook down over medium heat, until nice and thick, add water if needed ( I added a ladle of bean water when I added the tomato paste)

Give your barbecue sauce a taste, does it need more brown sugar? Salt? Pepper? Season to your taste, mine tasted delicious and didn't need any extra flavoring.

Half an hour before you take your ribs out, pour HALF of this Barbecue sauce on the ribs and take the cover off, or leave the aluminum foil open.

Pour the other half of the barbecue sauce into the beans, the beans should have soaked up the majority of the water now and be tender, you want about 1/2 cup of water in with the beans, if they are still swimming in water remove the majority of the water, you can save some of it in case you need to add it back in.

Cut up the bacon and add to the beans (optional step if you cooked any bacon)

Simmer the beans on low, giving them a stir every once in a while to be sure they do not burn on the bottom, this is when the extra saved water comes in handy, turn off after 20 minutes.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, it really is simple and so tasty!

If you do, let me know down below :)