- [Narrator] This episode is sponsored by The Botanist gin.
The Botanist is from the island of Islay
off the coast of Scotland.
It is distilled from a unique combination of 22 botanicals
that are all hand foraged locally and sustainably
on the island, so you could say it's Islay in a bottle.
The complex flavors in the gin
and the distinctive method in which it is distilled
make for a truly balanced and versatile spirit
which works well in almost any cocktail.
This week I'm feeling like a Negroni, but with a twist.
So I'm making a Negroni Bianco to sip on
while I show you the basics of braising.
Let's get down to Basics.
(fast-moving, cheerful music)
So to make braised short ribs
we're going to need some short ribs.
I've got a whole rack of short ribs here with three bones.
You want to figure about one bone per person.
You want to look for that nice bright red color
and a whole lot of marbling.
The more fat the better it's going to be able to stand up
to the braise.
Now, whole racks like this are something of a rarity.
More likely than not you're going to find them cut
like this into English-style short ribs,
which, just like pretty much any meat
destined for the Dutch oven,
we're going to start by seasoning generously
with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Make sure you season them on all six sides
and you can season the final side
by rubbing them into the table
to pick up any excess salt and pepper spilt
during the seasoning process.
Now that everybody's nice and seasoned
we're headed on over the stove top
where, Oh, nevermind, I forgot to show you that you need
to remove the excess layer of silver skin and fat
atop the rib.
Brazed pure fat is pretty gross
and no matter how long you cook it
the silver skin will never break down into something tender.
Now that those are all good to go,
we still need to prep our aromatic vegetables.
Simply peel about half a pound of carrots
and chop them in half.
Cut the head off a few stalks of celery
and likewise chop in half.
And we're going to cut in half, peel and slice
two large onions,
so basically a big old chunky mirepoix.
Okay, now we're ready to head over to the stove top
where we're going to heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil
over medium high flame until wisps of smoke emerge
from its surface, at which point
it is ready to receive our short ribs.
Make sure that you don't overcrowd them
and we're going to brown them on all sides in batches.
This is both going to give them a beautiful crust
and develop some beautiful fond
on the bottom of the pot.
To prevent the fund from burning
you want to try to place the ribs back down
exactly where they were.
Now if you're like me and you browned five short ribs
to begin with and then all you have left are two,
how are you going to brown them without burning the fond?
And the answer is onions.
If you have exposed fond during your final batch of searing
you can throw some onions in there to protect them
and prevent our lovely brown stuff
from turning into charcoal.
Once all the ribs are seared,
we're gonna add the rest of the onions to the pot
and saute them in the fat.
Once they're soft and lightly browned
we're gonna add our aromatic vegetables.
Then we're going to realize that not only is this pointless
but we forgot the tomato paste,
one of the essential parts of this recipe.
So we're going to dig out those vegetables
and dump about a half a can or three tablespoons
of tomato paste into the onions
and saute for an additional two to three minutes
until just starting to darken.
Then we're going to add our much more manageably-sized
aromatic vegetables,
saute for just a little bit to warm them up,
add five or so cloves of garlic
and here you could add two cups of a nice dry red wine,
like a Cabernet Sauvignon.
But I'm going with two cups of an amber ale,
nothing too hoppy or fruity.
Two cups of chicken stock, a little splash of soy sauce
and the surprise ingredient, a half a cup of prune juice.
That's right, it isn't just for keeping you regular
in your twilight years, it can also add a whole lot
of depth of flavor to our eventual sauce,
as will a few sprigs of fresh herbs,
parsley and thyme, wild thyme if you want to bring out
your inner botanist.
Once those are in, it's time to nestle in our short ribs.
Make sure they're just peekin' above the liquid
and try to face their least-brown side upward
because, even though tightly covered with lid,
whatever is not submerged under the liquid
is gonna pick up a lot of color in the oven,
a 275 degree Fahrenheit oven
where these guys are going to slowly bubble away
for four to five hours.
Check on 'em first after about three and a half hours
and give 'em a good stab with a pairing knife.
If they show no resistance to this poking, they are done.
Go ahead and give the sauce a taste.
It should taste pretty good, but it's got a long way to go.
First, we gotta fish out all the short ribs
trying to keep the bones attached
if desired for presentation.
But as you can see, this is so tender,
most of them are falling off.
Look, some meat even fell into my mouth.
Ow, hot, hot, hot, hot.
Up next up we are straining all the solids
out of the braising liquid.
Then from this point, you could let the liquid settle
and carefully skim the fat off the top
of the braising liquid, but,
if you're making this ahead of time
it's much easier to let this guy chill out in the fridge.
We're gonna start by rapidly cooling it off
by adding a couple of big old ice cubes,
giving him 15 or 20 minutes to cool off
and then wrapping tightly in plastic wrap
and parking in the fridge at least four hours
and up to overnight.
This is both going to deepen our sauce's flavor
and give us a conveniently solid layer of fat
floating atop it, which we can easily just pop right out
as though we were a giant peeling ice off of frozen lake.
Once we've got all your fat removed
it's time to boil the sauce down to a syrupy consistency.
So in something nice and shallow and wide,
like this high walled skillet
which is going to help maximize evaporation,
we are bringing this to a boil
and letting it reduce by as much as 80%.
This could take anywhere from one to two hours.
But your patients will be rewarded
with what is essentially a purified meat and beer extract.
Once it's thick enough to coat the back of a tiny spoon,
out of the fridge come our ribs
and into the bubbling cauldron of sauce they go,
both to reheat and to help all the flavors
become reacquainted.
Give them a little based with the sauce
and then we're gonna cover this up
so it doesn't reduce any further.
We're gonna let this go for about 20 minutes
or until heated through.
And then when ready to serve,
we're going to plate up a pillow of palm puree or polenta
and plop our picture-perfect pork on top.
I know it's not pork,
I just wanted to continue the alliteration.
Top with plenty o' sauce, garnish with fresh parsley,
and you're ready to serve.
As you can see the butter knife I'm using here
is used more for meat stabilization than cutting
because this is so damn tender.
It is complex and flavorful
and just about the meatiest meat that was ever meeted
by meatkind.
There's only one thing that I can imagine
that would improve this spectacular dish
and that is of course, a delicious cocktail.
I'm thinking a Negroni Bianco
with some thyme-infused vermouth.
I love the classic version of this cocktail,
but a Negroni Bianco is a great way
to try something different.
The Botanist contains several different aromatic botanicals
including wild thyme, so to draw out its flavor
I'm infusing my vermouth with the herb.
It's a great way to put a nice end of summer twist
on the Negroni, if you have the thyme.
Uuh, sorry.
To make our Negroni Bianco we are combining equal parts
Botanist gin, thyme-infused vermouth,
and a bitter bianco or clear Italian bitter.
We're stirring in a mixing glass with ice
until the glass becomes frosty and serving in a rocks glass
with a beautifully clear ice cube.
Double strain into the glass, garnish with a sprig of thyme
and there you have it, the perfect cocktail to enjoy
with and during the preparation of our beef.
Thank you again to The Botanist gin
for sponsoring today's episode.
As you've seen over the past few weeks,
I've paired Botanist cocktails with seasonal recipes,
like simple one-pot meals, lamb chops,
and braised short rib.
I try to cook with fresh and local ingredients
and being able to blend that with a unique combination
of botanicals in The Botanist has been really enjoyable.
I appreciate The Botanist for giving me the opportunity
to try some delicious cocktails while making these meals.
Try the flavors and essence of wild Islay yourself.
Order a bottle of The Botanist on Drizly,
the link is in the video description.
Cheers.
(groovy music)