Yesterday, I posted about one of my new fave barbecue blends – a Tamari and Pear combo with roasted garlic and sriracha barbecue sauce.
Today, we’re gonna take that sauce, add flanken cut beef short ribs, toss it all in the Multi Pot, and make a pretty terrific dinner.
I stock up on flanken cut ribs when they go on sale at Whole Foods, but the butchers at at least one of my local markets are more than happy to slice some for me, so go ahead
and ask your butcher if you cannot find them in the meat case!
Note: I cut these short ribs in half so that they fit more easily in my multi pot.
INGREDIENTS
•Flanken cut short ribs*
•1 tbsp olive or avocado oil
•Barbecue Sauce
*This was a dinner for the two of us, so I used four flanken ribs. For more folk, feel free to use more ribs, but you may want to double up on the Barbecue Sauce.
Set your Multi Pot to “Saute,” add the oil and, when hot, add just enough of the ribs to fit in a single layer in the bottom of the pot.
Cook the ribs for about two minutes, just the bottom side is browned, then turn them over and cook for another two minutes to brown the other side.
Remove the ribs to a paper towel lined platter to drain, then continue browning the remaining ribs in stages until all are nicely browned and drained.
Turn the pot off and let it cool for a bit.
Now is a good time to make your Pear Barbecue Sauce, but, feel free to use your 
own preferred barbecue sauce – mebbe two cups or so should do it.
Wipe out the interior of your cooled Multi Pot container to remove any remaining fat from browning the ribs, then add the barbecue sauce to the pot.
Arrange the browned ribs on top of the sauce, then close and lock the lid.
Set your pot to “Pressure Cook” and then set the timer for 25 minutes under “High” pressure.
Once the cycle has finished, carefully release the pressure – I find placing a clean kitchen towel loosely over the valve helps to disperse the steam in a less “forceful” way.
Your ribs are now tender and done, but, there is one more step to take for maximum enjoyment…
Remove the ribs from the pot, cover loosely, and keep warm, leaving the sauce in the pot.
Set your pot back to “Saute” and cook the sauce a bit more, stirring often, until thickened and reduced.
Serve the ribs with your preferred side dish of choice – I happen to like yellow rice with Blanched Asparagus, parsley, and, if I have them on hand, chopped scallions.
Note: neither my husband nor myself really care for “braised” meats – the fat they end up cooking in seems to annoy or digestive systems (we have experienced this with home cooked and very nicely prepared restaurant meals), so, I think that one key to how much we enjoy this recipe is the first step of browning the ribs, then draining them and wiping the excess fat out of the cooled pot before starting the pressure cooking stage. We still get the lovely, flavorful and tender beef this process delivers, but without the additional, cloying (to us, anyway) fatty undertones.
The browning stage also removes the need for a final (optional) step from the original recipe that called for ‘charring’ the ribs under the broiler before serving – which would add additional pans and clean up which I, personally, do not feel the need for, but, you do what you want.