Retro-fit my Slow cooker ribs?

October 1, 2017 6:01 AM

One of my most-loved recipes is also one of my easiest - throw beef ribs into the slow cooker over sliced vidalia onions, add barbecue sauce and a couple of glugs of white wine, and disappear for 8 hours or so. I'm hoping to make them for a get-together but won't have access to a slow cooker - is there a way to do this recipe on a stovetop which would involve the same minimum amount of effort, but still get that slow-cooked-for-hours-on-low taste? I will be able to be there for however many hours, but would prefer not to have to check, stir, or otherwise monkey with the cooking process until it's done.
posted by Mchelly to Food & Drink (16 answers total)

On a stove top over low heat you'll have to stir it often, otherwise it'll burn. If there's an oven available you can put it in a Dutch oven and treat it exactly as you do with a slow cooker.
posted by Karaage at 6:09 AM on October 1, 2017 [3 favorites]

Seconding putting them in the oven. At 325 degrees F you would have ribs cooked in about 2-2.5 hours. I would bring the sauce elements to a simmer with the meat on the stovetop first, then transfer to the oven.
posted by little mouth at 6:11 AM on October 1, 2017

This discussion of converting slow-cooker recipes into recipes for Dutch ovens may help--lots of suggestions in the comments, too.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:14 AM on October 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

I often make braised short ribs and just stick them in the oven for a couple of hours in a le creuset pot. Works beautifully.

Assuming you're talking about short ribs, you could probably borrow the cooking method from this recipe or something similar, but with your ingredients. I'd just make sure the liquid / sauce amount is proportionate. Skip the stove-top stuff if you want.
posted by bunderful at 6:22 AM on October 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'd use a covered dish in the oven, probably at 225 F if you want the extra slow braising.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:42 AM on October 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

If you're wedded to stovetop cooking, I'd add a little extra liquid (water, probably) and make sure that you put it on a flame tamer to reduce the chance of burning.
posted by mishafletch at 6:43 AM on October 1, 2017 [4 favorites]

Maybe gift the host or hostess the crockpot, with the idea that you're inaugurating it with your recipe.
posted by tilde at 6:45 AM on October 1, 2017 [5 favorites]

Crockpots are like $15 to $30, even cheaper at thrift stores. Check craigslist. See if you can borrow one.

Otherwise, yes, this kinda only works in an oven...

THERE ARE CHEAP SOUS VIDE IMMERSION CIRCULATORS OUT THERE AND YOU MIGHT INVEST IN ONE, PLUS DIVIDE THE RIBS AND MIXTURE INTO HEAVY DUTY ZIPLOCK BAGS (use the expensive ones with the "yellow and blue make green" ziplock.) Then, once they are thoroughly cooked, you reduce the liquid on the stove top, brush that over the ribs, then caramelize them in the oven before service.

This is the immersion circulator I prefer. It was $69 and works great. I would not get the Annova. I would invest in the Instant Pot Immersion Circulator today because they are a great company with excellent customer service and some sous vide circulators are not made well... Rinse your propeller blades with vinegar before air drying after use if you want it to work forever, that's my advice...

Seriously, just borrow or buy a cheap crock pot. Ross has them cheap, put out the call on FB, whatever. Unless you've been dying for a sous vide immersion circulator, in which case, have at it!
posted by jbenben at 7:43 AM on October 1, 2017 [2 favorites]

I guess what I'm saying is that if the oven is not available + you don't want to monkey with it until the end, Sous Vide immersion circulator is your answer. This especially works if you always wanted to buy one. Heh.
posted by jbenben at 7:53 AM on October 1, 2017

Oven, 225F, snugly covered. The advantage of a crockpot is that it uses less power, sits on the countertop, can be served from. The slow oven provides the same heat. If you have a Dutch oven, which is a heavy lidded pot, great, if not, make do. A heavy pot will avoid hot spots.
posted by theora55 at 8:16 AM on October 1, 2017

Is there any reason not to cook it in advance and warm it up?
posted by FencingGal at 8:26 AM on October 1, 2017 [3 favorites]

Agree with the suggestions of a Dutch oven or cooking it beforehand.

There's not really any way to do this on a stove top with absolutely no fiddling in between. You might try (i.e., practice beforehand) with a double boiler, but it sounds very fiddly, especially as you'd probably have to improvise the double boiler. I don't think the usual mixing bowl trick will work for such a large volume and such a long time.
posted by d. z. wang at 8:33 AM on October 1, 2017

nthing all the 'in the oven' suggestions, unless you're truly stuck with just a hotplate / burner. I do my pork ribs on a bed of celery in a roasting pan. The celery acts as a sort of raft to keep the ribs afloat above the braising liquid; same principle should work with your onions. Just cover the whole thing with aluminum foil (two sheets with a tight-rolled centre seam, ends tucked in tight under pan edge) and bake on the oven's lowest setting for ~3h depending on rib size. Sauce goes on at end with a quick broil to glaze them up.
posted by halation at 8:40 AM on October 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

Pressure cooker. I did ribs in my Instant Pot this summer, and they were the best I'd ever eaten - less than 1 hour to make. Generally the size of the pressure cooker is smaller, so you'd have to cut up the ribs, or be willing to wrap them around the inside (which would mean they wouldn't be exposed to the onion. Same kind of thing you'd run into with a smaller Dutch oven. You might also want to broil them for a minute or less at the end if you really want that crispy Maillard reaction. I did wraparound the inside technique and poured my BBQ sauce over it at the end - my wife still talks about them.
posted by SoundInhabitant at 12:05 PM on October 1, 2017

A Dutch oven in the oven is the usual substitute for a slow cooker. To get temperatures and timings look up recipes for braised short ribs (unless you're completely submerging your ribs in liquid; in that case you're making a stew).

You can do some crazy things with short ribs if you have an immersion circulator, though.

If you do use this opportunity to get an immersion circulator, the Wancle from jbenben's first link (currently a Lightning Deal for $90) has what looks like a clever trigger-operated clamp, but it doesn't open wide enough, or allow the cooker to go deep enough, to be useful in anything but a saucepan. For that matter the Instant Pot circulator from jbenben's second link seems to have a flimsy clamp that bends when you tighten it.

I would recommend the Anova from personal experience, and I've heard good things about the Joule from people I trust. The clamp on the Anova is well designed and allows you a wide range of depth, in addition to being able to fit in multiple cooking vessels and not just a pot. Note: there are a few reports of Anova clamps falling apart; the company will replace them for free if that happens to you (but it has not happened to me). The Anova does have an incredibly awkward timer feature so if you want to use the built-in timer without using an app on your phone, be prepared. I am completely unable to remember how that works when I'm actually trying to use mine, so I either look up the instructions or find my phone. I know a couple people with Joule circulators, and they love them. They heat water faster than the Anova, and if you are using a metal pot the magnet in the bottom renders a clamp irrelevant. (For my Anova I use a plastic container and a lid I cut to fit around the clamp).
posted by fedward at 10:26 AM on October 2, 2017

Since this is apparently the immersion circulator thread now, here's how you can put together an immersion circulator for $38 shipped:

• 110V 10A pre-wired temperature controller, $17
• aquarium air pump, $11
• 300W immersion heater, $10

Note, these simpler immersion heaters run full-power as soon as you plug them in, so you need to stay within the capacity of your temperature controller and your outlet/circuit. That's why I recommend a 300W heater instead of a 1000W heater, which would be uncomfortably close to tripping the breaker on a 10A circuit.

Pull a fruit drawer out of your refrigerator for the water bath, and float a plastic grocery bag over the top to reduce evaporation and cooling. In three days you'll have $2.50 short ribs tender enough to cut with a fork.
posted by d. z. wang at 7:23 PM on October 2, 2017