Revisiting Red Wine Briased Short Ribs

About a year ago, I posted about red wine braised short ribs that I made.  I made some again, but adjusted my recipe this time to reflect things I’ve learned over the past year, etc.  Here is what I came up with.

First, I used beef short ribs, off the bone.  And contrary to what some chefs and culinary people have told me, I refuse to use a cheap, bad bottle of red wine to braise my foods.  I don’t use a $50 bottle (or even more), but a well priced bottle of a good vintage I like.  Two Buck Chuck is just bad (sorry, but I think it’s awful – if you like it, more power to you).  I don’t think shelling out $7-$15 for a good wine to use in cooking is really all that bad.  And there are plenty of wines that fall into that range that are excellent.

So, for the ingredient list:

2 lbs. beef short ribs (off the bone)

1 onion
4-5 stalks of celery
5-6 carrots
4 cloves of garlic
1 bottle of red wine (I used a cabernet, but a syrah or any full-bodied wine works well)
4 cups beef stock (or broth if you can’t find stock)
Fresh Rosemary

See, not much to the ingredients.  The key here is cooking low and slow.  I used a crock pot to cook all day, but if you do it in the oven, do it at maybe 250 degree F for about 4-5 hours, maybe a little longer.

First, chopped up the veggies and put them aside so you have them ready.  I did it the night before.  Chop to whatever size you prefer, I diced mine.  For the garlic, I wait until I am cooking and use a garlic press, but you can mince it too. 

Heat a skillet to get it really hot, then toss is a tablespoon or two of butter, and enough olive oil to coat the pan well.  Pat dry the ribs and then season with salt & pepper.  Using tongs (so you don’t get splatter burns), lay them in the skillet and let each side brown for several minutes.  If you need to add more oil, feel free (usually the fat from the ribs melts and adds to the oil).  Make sure you brown all sides as best you can, then take out the pan and set aside. 

Add a little more oil now if you need to, then toss in the onions, carrots, celery and garlic.  Sweat the veggies until they start to soften. 

In the bottom of your crock pot, toss a spring or two of rosemary in, then cover with some of the soft veggies.  Place the browned ribs on top of that, then pour the rest of the veggies over them.  Put the skillet back on the heat and pour in about a half cup to a cup of the wine to deglaze the pan.  Bring it to a simmer, then pour over the ribs in the crock pot.  Pour the remaining wine and the beef stock in.  You can add another sprig of rosemary if you like. 

Cover and turn on your crock pot to low and leave it to cook all day. 

You will have a lot of liquid in the crock pot compared to beef, but believe me, you want that.  When you’re ready to eat, turn off the crock pot.  Laddle out some of the liquid (a cup or two if you are making one to two servings) into a sauce pot (I pour it through a strainer to get the chucks of veggies out).  On medium heat, reduce by about have to thicken and intensify the flavors.

Plate up your ribs and pour the reduced sauce over. 

Believe me, the ribs and sauce are amazing, and relatively simple to make.  I have meals for several days now!  Enjoy!