I am the only person I know that makes these—Chili Short Ribs.  Maybe they are an aberration on the whole chili food group but I find them delicious.  A braised short rib is always nice and the rich sauce that you get from a chili-based sauce is a nice accompaniment to the beef so I wonder why I am the only person I know that makes these.

I was in Lotte Supermarket in by Jijok Station, Noeundong, in Daejeon, Korea.  I don’t usually shop at Lotte Mart, but I was in the area and needed to pick up a few things for my Christmas party the next day.  I wanted some pork stewing bones to break down for burrito/chimichanga filling, plus some cream cheese and other party stuff.  I usually shop at Homeplus, the local Tesco affiliate because it’s a hop skip from my house, so I almost never go to Lotte Mart, a supermarket famous for carrying hardly anything special in the imported section.

While I was poking around I noticed that they had a sale on short ribs and another cut of beef. 9800 a kilo for fresh Korean beef.  I love the taste of Korean beef—richly marbled, nice texture; I can say that I never met a Hanwoo cow that I didn’t like. Given that the Hanwoo cow is fed hay and nutrient-enhanced rice straw for the fattening period and not corn, the beef from this cow has a terrific flavor.  It lacks the tenderness of an Angus or a Holstein, but when you are braising short ribs that really doesn’t matter. Studies have been done that tracked the Korean consumer’s willingness to pay and it found that the average consumer is willing to pay approximately $14/lb. more for domestic Korean beef.

There was no line, or at least I got in line and it was only three deep.  For people who don’t know about Korean supermarket culture, when there is a sale with a significant price cut, the queue is humongous.  When bulgogi beef goes on sale, shoppers line up out the wazoo.  I couldn’t understand why there was no line here.  I bought two kilos of the lovely, nicely marbled meat.

At any rate, I need to get them in a pot to go along with my other Christmas food.  No turkey this year, back to a large hunk of brisket, Australian brisket, frozen, and purchased at Costco.

I made the short ribs like this: brown the short ribs on a roasting rack in an oven at angry-girl heat, then onions in a hot pan with olive oil, followed by garlic, sauté until transparent. Add ancho chili powder, paprika, oregano, cayenne pepper, and tomato puree, stir and let flavors marry.  Salt and pepper plus a bit of sugar to take the edge off of the acid.  Place the short ribs in the sauce and then transfer to a crock pot.  Set on low and leave for hours.

Braised Chili Short Ribs—DONE.