TWENTY-TWO : BRAISED SHORT RIBS

JULY 9 2011

"Oh man, so so good". What can I say? The Braised Short Ribs are fabulous. Most of the action happened Thursday when I roasted the short ribs, sauteed the flavor-enhancing veggies, then braised the whole lot in wine for 2.5 hours.

roasted ribs, ready for a winey bath

Once the meat was falling off the bones, it was pulled out of the braising liquid and set aside.
Then I strained the liquid, pressing all the delicious out of the braised veggies, and put the liquid in the fridge. It needed to chill completely so I could remove any solidified fat from the top and the Frankies gave me up to two days to do this and move on the the next step. I took full advantage of this time extension.

meat : bones : sauce : pressed veggies to discard

So, today was the day to eat! Since I had, as directed, pressed then discarded all the veggies that originally were braised with the short ribs, I had to start by roasting up a new selection to serve with them. The Frankies suggested a mix of carrots, turnips and pearl onions, but did leave it up to me so I decided to roast carrots with my homegrown white radishes and baby globe zucchini. While these roasted, I skimmed the fat off the braising liquid and brought it to a simmer. Mmm... smells divine.

Lightly roasted veggies went into the simmering stock for 10 minutes then I added the cooked short ribs just to warm through. Serving instructions were to put some short rib into a shallow bowl, add a selection of veggies and spoonful of braising liquid. My bowls aren't exactly shallow, but... whatever, it's dinner time!

We head to the deck, open a nice bottle of GC Cuvee (worth all the peddling to get it!) and dig in. Damn, son! It's a little bit mind-blowing. Perfectly braised beef (tender but still with a bit of chew) and nicely roasted veggies swimming in an rich, flavor-busting au jus. They merge perfectly but still somehow seem to keep their own identities in the bowl.

While working through the many steps, I wasn't sure it was worth the effort. But I can see now that keeping all the elements separated until the last minute allowed them to retain their form and not just become a soupy mess. It's another revelation!

We also decided that crusty bread with a smear of butter dipped into the last little bit of braising liquid pooled in the bottom of our not-so-shallow bowls was insanely good.

I would make two major changes to this recipe:

First : why roast the short ribs on a baking sheet, then saute the veggies in a pan then transfer both things to a separate dutch oven to roast for the 2.5 hours. In every transfer, you lose some of the lovely fond that sticks to the pan. Also, way more things to wash, ugh. I would probably roast the ribs in the dutch oven. Then put them aside, pour off the extra fat and saute the veggies, also in the dutch oven. Then nestle the ribs back in, add the braising liquid and roast until tender. Only one dish to wash!

Second : While I can see that shallow bowls are a lovely serving dish for the saucy ribs. We decided that it would be sooooo much better served in, for want of a better term, a mashed potato bowl. Dollop of mashed potato on the plate with a dent in the middle. Scoop the lovely meat, veggies and sauce into the dent. Then devour! The mashed potatoes would soak up all those lovely juices into a yummy gravy. Oh man! That is definitely how we are doing it next time. I can see a scoop of soft polenta or even a bread bowl also kicking ass as a receptacle for the saucyness.

You should totally make this. It is so good! I will give you all the details if you want :)