I miss cooking too and I've only been a week and a half without a usable kitchen. (I've been having my meals in the downstairs apartment where my sister is, but it's not the same. I don't know where anything is and none of it is mine.)

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I have several different kinds of ribs from my meat share that I've been thinking of cooking in my slow-cooker, but I've never done such a thing before. Maybe you'll give me some pointers based on your experiments sometime?

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But of course!
The basic concept is to brown them in a pan, on a grill, or under the broiler to add some color. Deglaze the pan with something yummy, then throw the ribs and pan-juices in your slow-cooker with aromatics, top up the liquid with stock, beer, whatever to just barely cover everything. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

I'll be sure to let you know when I make another attempt.

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You mean I can't just toss 'em into the cooker with a can of tomatoes and hope for the best?

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sure you can!
this is just the route I'm taking...

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that sounds divine.

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wow, that sounds pretty delicious to me... i have a recipe for "short ribs braised in (dark) beer" that i love and would happily share. i don't have a slow cooker, but i've made it on the stovetop a few times with good results.

short ribs definitely win for texture. :)

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please do share!

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so in our family we've had random iron chef competitions over the past few years. mostly it's my girlfriend's brothers who compete with each other and the rest of us either sous or judge (or sometimes videotape the proceedings), but we're planning a tournament for the holidays this year in which everyone will participate, and i'm starting to try and come up with recipes. short ribs is som,ething i'd like to do, but obviously there's the time factor. do you think these could be accomplished with a pressure cooker to achieve the same divine texture, or is slow cooking the only way to go?

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the advice I actually received was to brown them, toss in a baking dish with veggies and bay leaves, and do a wet (covered with parchment) or dry (covered tightly with aluminum foil) braise at 275f for 4-5 hours or until the bone slides out easy. Still outside the range of iron-chef timing, but closer. You might be able to get it done in a pressure cooker, but I think you won't get the nice reduction of connective tissue -> gelatin that creates such a fall-apart texture without a long slow cooing process.

Give it a shot, see how it goes.

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thanks! you're probably right - the connective tissue is key and what will likely happen is that it will either turn gummy or stay tough, but i think i will try it out and see. nothing like experimentation, and i need to find more uses for the pressure cooker anyway...

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