Braised Beef Short Rib Tacos

What I love about this grass-fed beef short rib taco recipe can be prepared a few ways.  Each way is low and slow, but one lets you set it an forget it for most of the cooking process.

Serves 3-4 (makes about 8 street tacos)

Ingredients

• 2lbs of grass-fed beef short ribs
• 1 large onion diced
• 2 Tbsp Oil (grape seed, lard or olive oil)
• 1 large pepper (poblano or bell) diced
• 2 cloves garlic diced
• 16oz beef broth
• 8 Small Corn Tortillas
• Lime (cut into wedges)
• Cilantro (chopped for garnish)
• Queso Fresco or Cojito Cheese (crumbled for garnish)
• Rub
• 1 Tbsp Salt
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp Pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne powder

Directions for braising over Stove Top

• After thawing (see thawing instructions) pat short ribs dry with paper towel or clean rag.
• Mix "Rub" ingredients in small dish.   Sprinkle over all sides of the short rib on a plate and pat rub into meat.  Save extra seasoning from plate and dish.
• Heat large cast iron or stainless steel pan with high walls until oil is hot, near smoking point.   Sear the short ribs on all sides for ~1min per side to brown and create light crust.  (Note:  you don't want to crowd the meat, but you don't want too big of a pan otherwise liquid won't properly cover meat.)

• Set meat aside after seared on all sides (remember you searing the meat to quickly brown the meat not cook the meat through, so don't overdue this step).
• Turn down heat to medium and saute onions, garlic and peppers in oil left over from searing beef and cook until soft about 8 minutes.  (Note:  Add a little more oil if needed, so they don't stick to pan and burn)
• Pour beef broth into pan with sauteed onion, garlic and pepper and scrape bottom of pan with spatula.
• Bring to gentle boil and add the short ribs back into the pan meat side down.   Add remaining "rub" into pan.
• Cover and let simmer at a low boil for ~ 4 hours.   Check every 15-30 minutes to make sure liquid isn't getting too low and to stir ingredients around.  (Add more broth, water or beer to keep meat covered roughly half way up if needed)
• About half way through the meat should start coming off the bone.  You can assist by pulling meat off bone with kitchen tongs.  For thicker pieces of short rib meat you can cut into smaller pieces to speed up cooking process.

• Keep simmering until meat becomes tender and you can pull apart with a fork.  The broth should continue to thicken towards the end of the cooking process, so you need to make sure you aren't burning by scraping bottom of pan every couple of minutes.

• Remove meat from pan and pull with forks or cut up with a knife.  
• Serve braised short ribs on corn tortillas with cilantro, cheese and fresh squeezed lime.

Directions for cooking in slow cooker

• After thawing (see thawing instructions) pat short ribs dry with paper towel or clean rag.
• Mix "Rub" ingredients in small dish.   Sprinkle over all sides of the short rib on a plate and pat rub into meat.  Save extra seasoning from plate and dish.
• Heat large cast iron or stainless steel pan until oil is hot, near smoking point.   Sear the short ribs on all sides for ~1min per side to brown and create light crust. 
• Turn down heat to medium and saute onions, garlic and peppers in oil left over from searing beef and cook until soft about 8 minutes.  (Note:  Add a little more oil if needed, so they don't stick to pan and burn)
• Pour beef broth into pan with sauteed onion, garlic and pepper and scrape bottom of pan with spatula.
• Pour broth and sauteed vegetables into slow cooker set to "high" heat. 
• Add braised short ribs and any remaining "rub" to slow cooker.
• Cook on "high" for 5-6 hours until tender and meat has fallen off bones. 
• Remove bones, any large pieces of fat and any connective tissue from crock pot
• Shred meat with fork in remaining broth. 
• Drain meat with tongs and serve on corn tortillas with cilantro, cheese and fresh squeezed lime.