{"id":236,"date":"2010-03-06T15:30:34","date_gmt":"2010-03-06T21:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/?p=236"},"modified":"2010-03-06T15:43:20","modified_gmt":"2010-03-06T21:43:20","slug":"amazing-braised-short-ribs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/general\/amazing-braised-short-ribs\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazing Braised Short Ribs"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com<\/h4>\n
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Braised short ribs<\/p><\/div>\n

You may never have cooked short ribs before but let me tell you right now that they taste amazing if you cook them properly.\u00a0 I realize that most things do taste great, if cooked properly, but short ribs are a nice surprise given their low quality on the meat food chain.\u00a0 For this story I made some short rib sandwiches for a Super Bowl Party and they were a huge hit with the crowd.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have a single one left.<\/p>\n

Slow Cooking \u2013 Why It Works<\/h3>\n

The only real way to cook a tough piece of meat into something you would want to eat is to break down the connective tissue and \u00a0collagen<\/a> in the meat.\u00a0 This is accomplished through long cooking times or high pressure cooking.\u00a0 You also have the added difficulty of keeping the meat moist during the long cooking required.\u00a0 Keeping the proper mix of moisture during the time required is the hard part of the process but is not insurmountable.\u00a0 If you have read any of my BBQ posts you already know something about this process as slow-cooked BBQ is all about taking tough pieces of meat and turning them into something tasty.<\/p>\n

FirstStep \u2013 Preparing The Meat<\/h3>\n

The first step to braising anything be it short ribs, a roast, or even chile verde, is to sear (also called\u00a0browning) the meat.\u00a0 Contrary to popular belief this does not \u201cseal\u201d in the juices.\u00a0 Juice flows out of seared meat just as easily as it does from raw meat.\u00a0 What searing does though is to brown the outside of the meat and creates a very flavorful taste.\u00a0 It is what accounts for the \u201croasted\u201d taste associated with braised foods.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t sear the meat, you won\u2019t experience the full benefits of slow cooking.\u00a0 This is one reason that causes slow-cooked items to taste bland.\u00a0 It\u2019s due to too little seasoning as well as not searing or browning the protein (meat) first.\u00a0 Not searing can also cause your dish to turn out mushy and have a bad texture.\u00a0 The browning not only creates a nice flavor but also gives the meat a nice texture.<\/p>\n

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Short ribs seasoned<\/p><\/div>\n

You may be asking about how the meat should be cut?\u00a0 That\u2019s a good question and really depends on what you are braising.\u00a0 Since this article is about short ribs I\u2019ll focus on them.\u00a0 For short ribs, each rib should be about 3-4 inches long.\u00a0 The butcher should cut them for you at this length though so in reality all you have to do is to buy the meat and salt and pepper it.\u00a0 Ah, another step, salt and peppering!\u00a0 That\u2019s right, you must season all sides of the meat before searing it or the seasoning will not stick to the meat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

First off the meat should be close to room temperature.\u00a0 You don\u2019t want to pull it straight out of the refrigerator and then sear it as the meat will take too long to sear.\u00a0 Pull it out of the refrigerator, season it with salt and pepper, and then cover it for 30 minutes to an hour while it comes up to room temperature.\u00a0 A good thing to do before seasoning the meat is to dry it as much as possible with a kitchen towel before you season it.\u00a0 Dry meat is much easier to sear than wet meat since there is no water to cook off first.\u00a0 When the meat is wet, the wet portions must be cooked off before the meat starts to sear.<\/p>\n

Second Step \u2013 Searing The Meat<\/h3>\n

Searing is somewhat easy.\u00a0 First, put some olive oil and butter into a dutch oven and turn the heat on high.\u00a0 You should have enough oil and butter to just cover the bottom of the pan but not so much that the meat is submerged in it.\u00a0 You also can use bacon grease for this step if you want a little extra flavor.\u00a0 Many times I will first render some pancetta or sliced bacon in the dutch oven, remove it with a slotted spoon, and add oil and butter to the dish to sear the meat.<\/p>\n

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Short ribs seared<\/p><\/div>\n

Once the oil and butter (or oil and butter and bacon fat) is sizzling hot, add the seasoned and\u00a0not-so-cold\u00a0meat to the dish.\u00a0 You should not flip it constantly as\u00a0that will mess up the searing process.\u00a0 In fact, the meat will stay in the pan much longer than you think it should.\u00a0 Basically\u00a0you want to almost burn the meat but not quite.\u00a0 This requires some experimentation as there are many factors involved such as the cut of meat, the type of meat, the cut size, the size of the pan, how much oil you used,\u00a0etc.\u00a0 I use the sniff test and when the meat smells like it is about to burn, I flip it over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You only have to flip it once as you only need to sear two sides.\u00a0 When you flip it over the seared side should be a dark brown color but not black.\u00a0 Let the other side cook and remove the meat from the pan when the second side smells done.\u00a0 In this scenario I removed the meat to a cookie sheet to let it rest.\u00a0 The entire process used 5 pounds of short ribs which meant I seared it in two batches.\u00a0 You don\u2019t want to crowd the dutch oven too tightly as it can cause searing problems by cooling the pan too much.\u00a0 Strive for about half an inch around each piece of meat if you can.<\/p>\n

Third Step \u2013 The Base<\/h3>\n
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Short rib braising sauce<\/p><\/div>\n

With the meat pulled from the dutch oven I was ready to start the base of the braising sauce.\u00a0 Alsmost all braising starts with a\u00a0Mirepoix and this dish is no different.\u00a0 It\u2019s simple really as you take very finely diced carrot, celery, and onion and cook it in oil and butter.\u00a0 The trick here is to not clean the pot after braising the meat.\u00a0 You want to leave it as is and not clean it at all.\u00a0 The brown bits left on the bottom of the dutch oven are full of flavor and should not be removed.\u00a0 I did this for my Ragu article and you may read about me doing it for many other dishes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I also like to add some sliced fresh garlic in when making the Mirepoix along with some crushed red pepper.\u00a0 It gives the dish a little kick and adds another dimension of flavor.\u00a0 Once the carrot, celery, and onion were softened I added the wine, broth, sherry, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme to the pot.\u00a0 I brought the mixture to a boil and made sure to scrape the bottom of the dutch oven until there was no resistence from the seared meat.<\/p>\n

Fourth Step \u2013 Return The Meat to The Pot<\/h3>\n
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Short ribs with braising liquid<\/p><\/div>\n

Now comes the easy part where you put the meat you seared back into the pot.\u00a0 If you used any bacon to make the searing oil you should put it back into the dish at this point as well.\u00a0 The meat should barely break the surface of the braising liquid but not be completely submerged.\u00a0 It\u2019s ok if some of it\u2019s submerged but it should not be completely under the liquid if you can avoid it.\u00a0 This is another important step as meat that is completely submerged can have a mushy texture and ruin the effect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once the mixture is boiling again it\u2019s then time to turn the temperature down to a very low simmer.\u00a0 I use the lowest setting on my stove.\u00a0 Cover the dish and check on it every 30 minutes to make sure nothing is sticking or burning.\u00a0 The easiest thing to do is to move the short ribs around in the pot every 30 minutes and scrape the bottom of the dish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fifth Step \u2013 Remove From Heat and Cool<\/h3>\n

After about 2 hours the short ribs should be done.\u00a0 At this point turn off the heat and set the dish off to the side for the meat to cool with the lid removed or partially on.\u00a0 The cooling process can take an hour or so and really depends on the ambient temperature of your house.<\/p>\n

Sixth Step \u2013 Prepare the Short Ribs<\/h3>\n
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Short ribs braised<\/p><\/div>\n

With the meat cooled you remove\u00a0just the meat\u00a0from the pot and put the ribs on a work surface such as a large cutting board.\u00a0 Short ribs have a lot of fat and other undesirable elements to them that you must pull away before serving.\u00a0 I used my nature provided tools called hands (washed of course) and pulled the meat away from the bones.\u00a0 There is a sheath around each bone that is inedible as well and must be removed.\u00a0 With short ribs there is quite a bit of throw away material but by starting with 5 pounds of ribs you will have enough meat to make at least 8 sandwiches with lots of meat on each one.\u00a0 Carefully remove all of the meat and put it aside in a nice bowl for use in making the sandwiches.<\/p>\n

With the meat pulled away, you then return it to the dutch oven where the braising liquid was.\u00a0 By this time you probably don\u2019t have much liquid left in the pan but you do have tons of flavor in there.\u00a0 Mix the meat together with the braising liquid and you will be left with a pot of very tasty braised beef.\u00a0 At this point you can make sandwiches, chili, or a variety of dishes.<\/p>\n

Seventh Step \u2013 Making the Sandwiches<\/h3>\n

I used the recipe from Bon Appetit<\/a> magazine\u2019s February 2010 issue\u00a0to make the sandwiches which were pretty simple to put together.\u00a0 I bought a loaf of fresh sourdough bread from The Fresh Market and cut it into 16 slices.\u00a0 I then buttered one side of each slice with Parma Butter (my favorite butter of all time.)\u00a0 I put 8 slices on a cutting board and topped each slice with 1\/8th of the meat mixture from the dutch oven.\u00a0 I then topped each mound of meat with freshly shredded Monterey Jack cheese (thank you Jennie for shredding the cheese!).\u00a0 Each mound was then covered with some carmelized onions I had made and finally topped\u00a0with fresh arugula.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I put a slice of bread on top of the 8 mounds to complete the sandwiches and then used my trusty griddle to cook the sandwiches until they were golden brown.\u00a0 I flipped the sandwiches once, and removed them from the griddle when done.\u00a0 Each was cut into four slices and served straight from the cutting board to the party guests.\u00a0 It took me about 5 minutes to get everyone\u2019s attention to try the sandwiches but word spread quickly and they were gone before I even had time to check on them.\u00a0 In fact I had people coming up and asking if I had more stashed away somewhere.\u00a0 I may have had a personal one slightly hidden away but that was for me.\u00a0 I learned a long time ago that I typically don\u2019t get to eat my own food if I don\u2019t stash a plate away during parties.\u00a0 Luckily my wife does a great job of making me a personal plate that I get around to eating a few hours after the party starts.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be making braised short ribs again as they tasted absolutely wonderful and at $5.99 a pound they aren\u2019t terribly expensive.\u00a0 Give them a try!<\/p>\n

The Recipe I used for this article came from Bon Appetit\u2019s February 2010 Issue:<\/h4>\n

5 pounds short ribs
\n1\/4 cut butter
\n3 celery stalks
\n2 peeled carrots
\n1 medium onion
\n1 1\/4 cups dry red wine
\n1\/2 cup beef broth
\n1\/3 cup sherry
\n2 peeled garlic cloves
\n2 bay leaves
\n1 thyme sprig (fresh)<\/p>\n

The short rib sandwich is attributed to a restaurant called Joan\u2019s on Third<\/a><\/strong> in Los Angeles.\u00a0 Stop by and order one of these delectable items if you are in town there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Todd Barron @ FoodieCuisine.com You may never have cooked short ribs before but let me tell you right now that they taste amazing if you cook them properly.\u00a0 I realize that most things do taste great, if cooked properly, but short ribs are a nice surprise given their low quality on the meat food […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[57,58,43,56],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-braise","tag-braising","tag-ribs","tag-short"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiecuisine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}