Its Braising Season Kids- Beef Short Ribs

As everyone knows, the cooler weather lands itself to big, rich flavors coupled with deep, complex wines.  For the first installment, I am offering you a simple and traditional braised beef short rib.  Now, there are multiple variations of braised or barbequed short ribs.  There is the Korean version with soy, sugar, sesame and green onions.  There is also just a ketchup based American-style barbequed short rib (see my post on bbq sauce).  This version is a red wine/tomato-base braising liquid that easily infuses into the beef.  This post will give you the basic steps to have a tender, juicy, flavorful short rib.

The first step in having a successful dish is choosing good ingredients.  Most stores sell short ribs for about $4/lb for standard choice grade meat.  Even though they are short ribs and are going to be cooking low and slow, I suggest that you find prime grade beef.  It should have great marbling, which means that there should be veins of fat running throughout the meat.  They should look something like this:

 

To begin the cooking process, you want to season the meat liberally with salt and fresh cracked pepper.  If you have not read my post on seasoning meat, check it out before you begin here.  You want to give short ribs AT LEAST 6 hours of seasoning time.  That includes a re-salting before you begin to brown.  So, the braising process begins with browning the meat on all sides.  Choose your most dense cooking vessel, preferably a enamel coated cast iron dutch oven.  Coat the bottom with vegetable oil and crank the heat.  Make SURE that the heat is intense- usually when the oil begins to smoke a bit. (Open the windows a little during the browning process, it will definitely get smoky.)  Place a few ribs in the bottom of the cooking vessel, but be sure not to crowd them or they will cool the metal and the sear will not be sufficient.  

Each side should take about 4-5 minutes.  They should look like this:

  

Now that you have your meat seared, you need to get your sauce going.  As crazy as it may seem, pour off the fat that rendered out of the ribs.  Put clean oil back in the pot and start cooking your mirepoix (onion, carrot, and celery diced to 1/2 inch cubes).  Use two carrots, one sweet spanish onion, and three ribs of celery.  Season your veg and brown it.  Some people suggest that you put your mirepoix into a food processor and make a paste to ease browning.  I did about half and half diced to paste.  I also add two cloves of garlic to the mix.  Let the veg brown, then scrape the brown up, and let brown again.  Once your veg is cooked, add in a cup to a cup and a half of tomato paste.  Combine that with the veg and let cook for 5-8 minutes.  Now, there will be a lot of brown, but don't worry, it will be fine.  Add three cups of a fairly bold red wine (a cabernet or an equivalent).  The wine must be good wine, something you would drink otherwise.  de-glaze the bottom of the pot with the wine, scraping up all of the lovely little bits.  I suggest using a whisk for this- it will also help homogenize the sauce.  Bring it to a simmer and reduce the sauce by half.  Add back in your meat.  You must make sure that the braising liquid covers the meat- you should add water to cover, about three cups.  Add into the pool two bay leaves and four sprigs of thyme.  It will look something like this:

Place your covered vessel into the over at 350 degrees and cook for three to four hours for juicy, fall off the bone ribs.  Most of the rib bones will not adhere to the meat, but it will still look delicious.  Remove the ribs, plate, and cover in the braising liquid.  You can reduce the liquid more, but the cooking time should have reduced the sauce adequately.  I prepared a simple garlic and parmesan smashed potato dish for the meat to rest on.  I was tempted to take the smashed potatoes and make a Jonny Cake out of it, but I did not have time.  I hope you try this recipe and please enjoy.

Secret Sauce

Well here it is. This is what thrust me into cooking in the first place. It is the first recipe that I ever created- my infamous red pasta sauce. While my grandmother and mother have/had very different recipes, I have derived the best of each of their own delectable concoctions to create this delicious, and economical sauce. So, here it is. PLEASE try it and let me know what you think.

The first step is choosing meat. Now there are a few different choices, and it will depend on your own personal likes and dislikes. I will give you three choices which all fit into the recipe the same way. First, you can do ground beef sirloin or lamb. Both will make a delicious Bolognese on a 30 minute or 3 hour cook. Option two is cubed beef. It is a nice option for a shorter cook-time with a quick sear up front. The third option is cubed pork loin (NOT tenderloin). This option is better for a longer, lower temperature cook. High boiling temps will dry the pork out too much, no matter what cut you choose.

So now you have your meat. Before you begin, choose your cooking vessel. I use an enamel coated cast iron braising pot. I like it because it cooks up the sides of the pot as well as from the bottom, thus awarding the option of a lower temp slow cook for good flavor melding. A stainless steel or non-stick stock pot will do just fine as well.

Ingredients:

Meat- one or two packs chosen from above, about 1 pound per pot of sauce

1- 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes

1- 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes

1- 28 ounce can of tomato sauce

1- 10 ounce can of tomato paste

one large sweet onion

5 garlic cloves

2 Tble spoons red chile flakes- as desired

1 Tble spoon dried basil

1 tsp oregano

10- white button mushrooms (can substitute canned mushrooms if you like- one 10 ounce can)

1/3 cup of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1) Put your cooking vessel on medium-high heat and oil bottom. Dice onion and garlic and fry lightly. Do not let the onions brown or soften. Add red chili flakes and herbs and let cook for two minutes. Add meat, season with salt and pepper and brown for five minutes.

2) Open all cans of tomatoes, adding paste first and fry for one minute. This will sweeten the paste. Add the other tomatoes in no particular order. Once all of the tomatoes are in the bath, bring to a LIGHT simmer. Add mushrooms anytime from now to 20 minutes before serving. When you see the bubbles of a boil beginning, stop.

3) There are two ways to go from here. If you have less than an hour to let the sauce cook (and you ought to be using ground meat or cubed beef, or none at all), you can leave the temperature at medium heat. If you have the great ability to slow cook your sauce, which is no more than three hours, you can turn the temperature down to medium-low and enjoy the intoxicating aroma.

4) That is it. It is simple. NEVER buy bottled sauce again. This will cost you about $10.00 for at least one week of dinner!!!

Other options:

If you like a veggie filled marinara sauce instead of meat, add green, yellow, and orange bell peppers, and maybe a little zucchini or eggplant if you like a ragu-ish sauce.

Otherwise, if you want a thicker sauce, you can add a larger tomato paste or drain the water off of the diced tomatoes.