Recipe Test: Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs

It's a rare sunny and frosty January day in Oregon today--my favorite kind of winter weather.  The air is cold and crisp and the mountains are stunning today.

So what's on the menu, you ask.

Yesterday, I promised to tell you about the recipe I tested yesterday, and I'm here to do it right now!  Short ribs may be my newest favorite cut of meat for cooking up in my Dutch oven.  I never paid much attention to them until I tried this recipe for Porter Braised Short Ribs back before Thanksgiving.  Those were so delicious that when I saw this recipe for a red wine braise in Bon Appetit, I knew I had to give them another try.  Oh my gosh!  The sauce/broth/stew/gravy (can't decide what to call it) that is produced when ribs meet red wine is to die for!  And since it's served over your own mashed potatoes, there's plenty to love here.  Bon Appetite describes the recipe thus:

These short ribs are unstoppably, almost obscenely good; they're impossible to screw up...

And to that I said, "Okay, Bon Appetit.  You're on!"  So here's how it's done:

Start with five pounds of beef short ribs.

Season them with salt and pepper, and then brown them on all sides in 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil.  You'll want to brown them in two batches to avoid overcrowding the pan.

While those are browning, you can chop up the holy trinity of 3 medium onions, 3 carrots, and 2 stalks of celery.  (My onions were large, and so I used just two.)

When your ribs are all browned, move them to a plate and set them aside.  Then, dump in your vegetables and brown them for about 5 minutes until they are soft.  I like to season them a little with salt and pepper too.

When those are softened, sprinkle in 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and 1 tablespoon of tomato paste.  I like this stuff that comes in a tube for such small amounts.

Now get ready for the good part.  This recipe calls for a whole bottle of red wine.  How can it not be good? I just buy whatever is cheapest and still drinkable.

When your vegetables, tomato paste, and flour are well combined, pour in the whole bottle.

Now you're going to bring it to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about 25 minutes until the wine has been reduced by half.

Once you've done that, you can put the ribs and any juices accumulated on the plate back into the pot and get ready to add some lovely herbs.  It just gets better and better, doesn't it?

You're going to add in ten sprigs of flat leaf parsley, 8 sprigs of fresh thyme, 4 sprigs of fresh oregano, 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, 2 fresh or dried bay leaves, a whole head of garlic (cut crosswise).  I actually messed up here and only added half of the garlic.  I used the other half in my garlic mashed potatoes.  Just toss those into the pot and then add four cups of beef stock.

This is the one I like to use.  To my palate, it tastes better than regular beef broth.

There you go...just pour it right in with the herbs.  Mmmmmmmmm.

Mix it up and then bring it to a boil.  

Put the lid on it and then move it to your 350°F. oven.  Now go do some sewing.  Or throw the ball for the cat.  Or take a shower.  Or whatever.

Somewhere between 2 to 2 1/2 hours later, go check it.  Breathe deep.  Mmmmmmmmmm.  Does this look delicious or what?

You'll know it is ready if the meat is falling off the bones.

Really.  They'll just fall right off.  Some of them might have already made their way to the bottom of the pot, so you'll want to fish those out.  

Here, the recipe got a little weird because it said to strain the broth.  Then it didn't really say what to do next.  Was I supposed to keep the vegetables?  Discard them?  I wasn't sure.  I ended up just fishing out the largest herb stems (because by now they were stripped of their leaves), and of course, the garlic head (which came out all in one piece).  After I'd removed all the bones from the ribs, I put all of the meat back into the broth.  When it's ready to serve up, it will look like this.

At some point, you will have made up a batch of mashed potatoes.  In fact, this would be a good use for leftover mashed potatoes.  But you could serve this dish over rice, or noodles, or even slices of crusty bread.

I'm telling you, it was absolutely delicious.  Now I'm on the hunt for my next short rib recipe.  I have always preferred to use a chuck roast in my Dutch oven, but I'm telling you, these ribs are so delicious that I'm starting to think they're the better choice.  So.....want the recipe?  You can find it right here.

Okay now.  I'm getting hungry!

Updated to say that I'm linking this post to the Sew Darn Crafty linky party: