Why Braised Short Ribs are a perfect make ahead meal.

so outside of their absolutely mouthwateringly delicious and probably one of the best dishes on the planets there are three things that make braised short ribs special one they are almost foolproof and very easy to make two they are best made ahead of time for a quick but fancy weeknight meal or dinner party and three they teach you the fundamentals of braising so brace shorters may seem like this kind of luxurious and fancy restaurant dish but it's actually quite easy to achieve that succulent meat at home there's just one thing that you need to understand so let's break it down so as noted in the professional chef the general process to braise almost anything is simple one sear the meat and set it aside two brown and sweat and aromatic base three add the brazing liquid with the meat four bring that liquid to a simmer then cover and let braise in the oven until the collagen has turned to gelatin finally reduce the sauce and plate the meat with the sauce and garnish as needed so those first four steps are about 40 minutes of streamlined active work and then 5 is about 4 hours for you to do whatever the hell you want steps 6 and 7 takes about 30 minutes and can be done days later and as michael rumen notes in his book you can make braces days ahead of time and the flavors only get better so those last two steps become the home cooks weeknight meal so first let's do the braising then i'll show you my roughly 30 minute weeknight assembly for one of the all-time great dishes to start get out the short ribs and add a nice sprinkle of salt all over the sides now i'm using bone in english cut short ribs but boneless are great too and also i highly recommend asking for specific ribs that have a good bit of meat on them since it can vary on where they cut them from the cow now optionally i'm going to let these dry brine overnight in the fridge so that salt diffuses to internally season the meat on the day of brazing set the oven to 275 degrees fahrenheit then we're going to prep a standard mirepoix which is just two parts of diced onion to one part diced carrot and one part diced celery and that's literally all the knife work that is needed for this dish now set a dutch oven or your preferred braising vessel over medium high heat and add 30 grams of oil so it covers the bottom of the pan now if needed you can lightly dry the exterior of the salted ribs but just place them down in the hot oil and sear on all sides until they turn a deep brown which is going to help develop those complex and meaty flavors of the meow reaction now once they brown just set them aside and we're going to turn that heat down to medium [Music] so back in the pot you're going to add in the mirepoix along with a big pinch of salt and let everything cook while stirring occasionally for about eight minutes once that's cooked down and starting to brown you're gonna add in 30 grams of tomato paste and cook for just about 60 or so seconds until it turns a dark red now it is time for the bracing liquid so this could be water stock or today i'm using red wine with an interesting flavor profile courtesy of the folks at brightsellers who sponsored today's video brightsellers is a monthly wine subscription that helps you discover wine you'll love and it helped me decide which red wine to use for brazing today so after you take the quiz or rate prior matches each wine that you get in the box has an education card to help you understand the flavor pairings and the profile from light bodied whites to full bodied reds so from my matches the falcon fable bourbon barrel red wine was my choice for the bray short ribs the full body profile of the wine will give the dish an enhanced richness in the mouth feel of the sauce and it should have some nice added complexity to the smoky notes of the wine itself so brightsellers is offering my followers 50 off their first six bottle box plus a bonus bottle so this ends up being seven bottles of wine for 53 plus tax which is pretty insane if you ask me so follow the link to support the channel take the wine quiz and get yourself some wines to sip on with friends or cook with speaking of let's get these things braising thanks again bright sellers so when ready pour in about 500 milliliters of the red wine of your choice to glaze the pan and just stir it around to release that fond next add the brown short ribs back to the pot and you're gonna fill this with either beef stock or water until the liquid comes about three-fourths of the way up the ribs and then you're just gonna toss in two bay leaves once that liquid has started to come to a simmer add the lid over the top and keep it slightly ajar and then just toss this into the 275 degree oven for about four hours now the key while braising anything is for the collagen to turn to gelatin and this is what gives us that succulent tender mouth feel that just falls apart and collagen starts to melt at 160 degrees fahrenheit all the way up to 205 degrees fahrenheit but the key is it has to spend enough time at these temperatures for it to fully transform and get fork tender so as we can see here i pulled this short rib out early about two hours in and while it's above 195 degrees fahrenheit it's nowhere near fork tender and it's not flaking apart because it needs more time in that braising liquid so after about four hours in total pull the pot out of the oven and it should be fork tender the test i like to do is to take two forks and just see if it gently pulls apart and if it does that means the collagen has broken down and that's exactly what we want now this liquid is still really hot so i just let this sit out on the counter until the temp lowers to roughly 150 degrees fahrenheit once the ribs are cool enough to handle i'm just going to add them to a large tupperware or freezer bag for refrigeration and now you can remove the bone and some cartilage from the short rib if you want to clean them up a bit but in general i do think they look a bit more impressive with the bone on the plate also some of them may be falling apart with the fat just depending on where they were cut from so in these cases it definitely does make sense to clean them up before plating now for the cooking liquid just pour it through a strainer and reserve those vegetables in a deli container and then do the same with that leftover liquid i also like to add some ice cubes and then pour it in so it cools the top layer of fat which will congeal on the top and make it really easy to take out now all three of these ingredients will store in the fridge for up to four or five days so you could save them all for a dinner party with friends or make a simple 30 minute weeknight dinner for two and this is how i would assemble so on a weeknight set a pan over medium-low heat and pour in all the cooking liquid bring this to a simmer and just stir it occasionally until it reduces way down into a thickened sauce and i like to reduce the whole container then i can just save the rest for subsequent meals and this is going to take some time but it's really going to concentrate the flavors from the wine and the stock and all that cooking beef liquid in there after about 20 or so minutes the sauce should have reduced enough so it leaves a trail in the pan and once you have reached this stage you're gonna add the short ribs that you are planning to eat and slather them up then just turn the heat down to low and set a lid over the top and let those heat up for about 15 minutes now while the ribs heat up let's make our base so egg noodles toasted sourdough or mashed potatoes are great but one of the easiest and best bases in my opinion is creamy parmesan polenta so start by adding 400 grams of water to a pot along with 5 grams of salt and then once that boils just whisk in 100 grams of polenta or aka corn grits and you're going to cook that for two minutes while whisking and then just remove from the heat and let it set for 10 minutes to thicken and cook with the lid on now while that thickens you're gonna measure out 40 grams of milk grate 30 grams of parmesan reggiano and grab one tablespoon of butter we'll also prep a quick gremolata which is just chopping two parts of parsley one part minced garlic and one part of lemon zest and mixing that all together and this is going to be an amazing fresh topping on the short rib to help balance out the heaviness of the dish so after 10 minutes the polenta should have thickened up so pour it into a bowl and you're gonna add the milk the cheese and the butter and mix everything until it is combined and taste it and adjust salt to taste i like adding about 15 cranks of black pepper to mine and you can adjust the consistency making it thicker or thinner just by using the amount of milk you want back of the ribs we should have a nicely glazed sauce over them and they should be warmed through and back to their falling apart state so let's assemble a plate so set your serving vessel down and add a nice smattering of the parmesan polenta then follow that with a little bit of those reserved vegetables and a touch of the gremolata then plate up your prettiest short rib a little more sauce to glaze over the top and some more gremolata again a nice garnish and there we have our mouth-watering red wine beef shreds a perfect bite is made with the polenta the rib the gremolata let's taste test all right everybody it's raining outside so like this is absolutely warming my heart right now to be able to eat this let's dive in okay all right everyone i mean it's there's something about this it's just like it's almost a spiritual experience that's how good this dish is one of life's truly great pleasures so hopefully you guys have enjoyed and like i said tons of stuff you can learn from making braised short ribs you know we've got the reduced sauce we've got the collagen the gelatin transformation we have polenta which is another great little side and then that gremolata which is a nice freshness and helps balance everything so perfectly so i really hope you guys try this dish seriously everyone needs to know how to make braised short ribs so that's going to wrap it up for me thanks again to bright sellers for sponsoring the video you guys can check it out below if you guys want to get some bottles of wine that's going to wrap it up for me in this one catch in the next one peace y'all

Channel: Ethan Chlebowski

Views: 1,814,725

Keywords: Ethan Chlebowski, braised short ribs, beef short ribs, beef short ribs recipe, braised short ribs recipe, how to make short ribs, braised beef short ribs, beef ribs, how to cook short ribs, how to cook beef short ribs, best short ribs recipe, short ribs recipe oven, short ribs beef recipe, braised short ribs red wine, red wine short ribs, bright cellars, wine braised beef, wine braised short ribs, food with wine recipes, red wine sauce, red wine, red wine braised beef

Id: pEQUtFB8MEw

Length: 9min 48sec (588 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 14 2021