Day 289.
My mom brought over a few Cooking Light magazines this weekend, and this one recipe caught my eye right away. I learned that "Red cooking refers to a Chinese technique of braising meat in a soy sauce and sherry mixture. The 'red' comes from the color soy sauce acquires after long cooking."
I know how to cook things for a long time.
I did change the recipe a bit---I added more honey. After the meat cooked for a while, the sauce tasted bland, so I quadrupled the honey. This probably means it can no longer be featured in Cooking Light, but now it tastes better.
The Ingredients.
adapted from Jan/Feb 2008 issue Cooking Light, page 130.
--2 lbs boneless beef short ribs (I used 1 lb short ribs, 1 lb stew meat)
--2 tsp ground ginger
--4 cloves smashed and chopped garlic
--1/2 cup cooking sherry
--3/4 cup gluten free beef broth
--6 T soy sauce (La Choy and Tamari Wheat-Free are GF)
--1/4 cup honey
--1/4 to 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (I used 1/4, and the kids ate it)
--1 (8oz) can sliced bamboo shoots, drained
--1 (8oz) can water chestnuts, sliced or whole, your choice
--1 cinnamon stick
--2 cups sliced mushrooms (I forgot these. I bought them, but then forgot them in the crisper drawer)
The Directions.
I used a 6 quart crockpot. Any size 4 quarts and up will work.
Rinse off your meat and add to the crockpot. Open the cans of bamboo and water chestnuts and drain. Add dried ginger powder. Add mushrooms (boy I wish I hadn't forgotten those guys), and the cinnamon stick. Smash the garlic, chop and add. Do a happy dance that this is the only chopping, and make a mental note to have some of that already-chopped stuff on hand in the future.
Add your wet ingredients.
Stir to distribute.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or until meat has reached desired tenderness.
The Verdict.
We all ate this! Hooray! I am glad that I only added a bit of the red pepper flakes, because there was not one whine of "this is too spicy"----I, actually, would have preferred some more heat, but I'm so glad to know that the kids had some protein this week. Other than peanut butter.
Adam had two servings. I made a big pot of brown rice to soak up the juice. Tasty, without being too sweet.
In a line-up, the Korean ribs would win----the kids really liked those, too.
I will make this again. I really liked the water chestnuts.
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