Now that my kitchen is no longer a summertime inferno, I can crank up the burners and turn on the stove to my heart's content. And the first slow-cooked thing I'm aching to make? Braised beef short ribs. These fall-off-the-bone morsels are like mini pot roasts that soak up the flavors of whatever they're slowly cooked in. For this recipe, I leaned on some classic Mexican flavors like cumin and chipotles in adobo to add rich, smoky flavor that translates to the most tender beef tacos and a rich sauce that's worthy of slurping straight from the pan.

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Ingredients

3 lbs bone-in short ribs 
1 Tbsp olive oil 
1 yellow onion, diced
1 bulb garlic 
1 Tbsp tomato paste
3 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
Chipotles in adobo 
One 14.5 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes 
32 oz beef broth

To serve: 
Corn tortillas 
Pickled red onions
Pepitas
Cotija
Limes, cut into wedges

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Generously salt the short ribs, making sure to season every side. 

Heat olive oil on medium high in a large, heavy-bottomed pan like a Dutch oven. Sear the short ribs on both big sides until deeply browned, about five minutes per side. Remove the short ribs from the pan. 

Add the onion and stir to coat in oil. Cook until starting to brown, about 5 minutes. 

Add the tomato paste and cook until the paste is well incorporated and has changed from bright red to a darker brick color. 

Slice the bulb of garlic in half and add to the pan, along with the cumin and chili powder. Stir well and let the spices toast for about a minute. 

Add the can of fire-roasted tomatoes and places the short ribs back in the Dutch oven, nestling them in bone-side up. 

Top with beef broth and chipotles in adobo—I add 2 for noticeable-but-mild spice, but you can add more if you like. The short ribs should be almost completely submerged in the liquid. 

Bring the broth to a simmer, then cover and cook in the oven for 3 hours. At this point, the meat should be falling off the bone.

Remove the short ribs from the sauce, and let them cool a bit. Pluck the bones from the meat and shred into nice, big chunks.

Once the sauce has cooled a bit, fish out the garlic husks, picking out the roasted cloves to leave in the pan. Using an immersion blender, puree the braising liquid into a nice sauce (this can also be done in a blender, but make sure the liquid isn't too hot!). Taste and add salt if needed. Add a few large spoonfuls of the sauce back to the shredded short ribs and toss to coat.

Warm corn tortillas over a hot, dry pan, then top with shredded short ribs, crumbled tortilla, pepitas and pickled onions. Serve with lime wedges and extra sauce on the side to spoon over the tacos like salsa.