- Today, I'm gonna show you how to do
a classically braised short rib with a really
interesting cutting technique that you can do at home.
(upbeat country music)
What we're looking at here
is a full bone-in chuck short rib.
Well, all I did was cut some of the meat off,
butterfly it over, and tie it.
So, all you'll need to accomplish this
is a nice knife and some butcher's twine.
Here, I've bought a full piece of full slab, if you will,
of chuck bone-in short ribs.
This is something that you'll easily find
at the grocery store, and all you have to do
is just speak to your butcher and ask them
to give you the complete piece uncut.
A lot of times at the store, they cut these ribs in half,
and then sell 'em that way, so you want the full slab
of chuck short ribs to make this plate presentation happen.
Chuck short ribs are a four bone piece of short rib
that comes from the chuck end.
We're gonna get into the details of this cutting.
First thing I wanna do is split between the bones.
So, you just find the bone, find the tender
or tissue between, cut that right off.
So, now that you have this piece to work with,
if you wanna trim some of this excess fat, that'll work
because you're gonna be butterflying this piece of meat.
So, I got that off of there, and now what I'll do is,
I'll just find where this bone is
and ride the bone as tight as I can with this knife.
Stay close to the bone, feel the knife kinda scrape
against the bone, go about halfway down.
Once you get halfway down, peel that meat back
and start to fold it over.
Once you get it started there, then you make
a small incision about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way
through this meat, just to allow it to fold over more.
Might need to nick it a little more.
There you go, and then we'll get that piece to fold over.
So, that's gonna give this its really interesting shape,
this really impressive presentation after it's all cooked,
and then I'll take the butcher's twine.
I usually put about two pieces.
The reason for this is, when it braises,
it gets super tender and wants to fall apart,
and if you just have one piece,
it might cut through the meat, so by using two
you ensure that it'll stay together.
I kinda do a double knot
to keep that from slipping too much when I'm tying it,
and then I'll go in with my second piece of twine.
Come around twice, that should help this
get nice and tight without slipping,
and then again, double knot.
I'll cut off any excess twine I've got here.
So, there I've got that really impressive short rib.
It's kinda like a tomahawk short rib,
or just a long bone short rib.
So, I'll go in and do the same to the rest of these.
The next thing I'm gonna do is I'm gonna get these
seasoned up really with some salt and pepper.
Then, we'll get started on our searing
and then begin our braise.
If you wanted to, you could trim these bones back
a little bit and make 'em a little cleaner,
but during the braising process,
the meat should pull back from the bone naturally.
I'm gonna get these short ribs searing now.
First thing I'll do is add a little bit of canola oil
to a pre-heated dutch oven.
I like doing this dutch oven because I've got
a lot of room to sear these in.
I've got this set to a medium-high heat
because I really wanna get a good sear on these short ribs.
The key with getting that good sear is developing flavor.
All that browning that you see
on the surface of the short ribs after a good sear,
that's all just intensified flavor.
I'm using a pretty large oval shaped dutch oven here,
and that's really important because I have
a little more surface area to work with
so I'm not overcrowding the pan.
These four short ribs in this pan
is about all it can handle.
If your pan's any smaller, work in batches.
All right, so now flip and get a sear on the side of these.
(meat sizzling)
So, I've got a good sear on these short ribs.
It's gonna take a few minutes on each side,
but really what I'm looking for is color,
so that's what you wanna see.
It's got that really rich dark brown color.
If it's still a little gray, let it go.
It's worth it to wait for that good sear.
Otherwise, you're not doing yourself any favors.
All right, I'm gonna flip 'em.
(meat sizzling)
So, I've seared these short ribs on all sides,
and I've got a really nice deep brown crust developing,
so I'm gonna pull these off the heat
and drop my heat to medium-low
because I'm gonna add in my mirepoix.
So, instead of your traditional French style mirepoix
of carrots, celery, and onions, I'm gonna make it
a little bit more Italian and I'm gonna add
fennel, onion, carrot, and garlic because I really like
the flavor of fennel, and it's got a slight
anise flavor to it that I think really makes this dish
a little more complex and a little bit different.
So, I'm just gonna let these cook a little bit to get soft.
I'm not trying to sear these like I was the short ribs.
What I'm really trying to do is soften them
and allow them to release some of their juices.
That way, all the flavors kinda meld together.
I'll season this with a little bit
of salt and pepper as well,
just because it's good to season along the way.
That way all of your ingredients
really help develop their flavor.
Now that I've allowed these to cook down a little bit
and soften, I'm gonna go in with two ingredients
that are heavy on umami.
First is tomato paste, which is just a heavy reduction
of pureed tomatoes, and then anchovy paste.
Now, some people may say, "I don't like fish,
"I don't like anchovies," well you're really not
gonna taste anchovies in this.
It's more about the richness, the salty,
the deep flavors that that helps develop in this recipe,
and then I'm gonna add a couple of bay leaves as well.
So, all I'm doing right here is trying to make sure
that everything gets a little bit coated
in that tomato paste, and all the ingredients
are well distributed throughout.
Now I'm gonna go in with my two final ingredients.
I've got some balsamic vinegar,
so that's what I'm de-glazing with here,
and this I'm using in place of red wine.
A lot of recipes use red wine, and I thought we would do
something different, and balsamic being slightly acidic,
just like wine, but not as strong as a typical vinegar
really adds a nice complex flavor to this braise.
So, it's important that I bought this to a simmer
on the stove top because I'm going into a fairly low oven,
and it won't come to a simmer if I just put it directly in,
so I wanna get that liquid simmering
before I reintroduce these short ribs.
So now, I've got them nestled nicely in the braising liquid.
We'll go on with the lid, and I'm gonna put this
into a pre-heated 325 degree oven.
These have been braising at 325 for three hours.
They're smelling awesome.
And, they look amazing as well.
So, I'll just plate these up, and you can take the sauce
and reduce it down and strain the veggies where you want,
or you can keep it a little more rustic
and just put those veggies with some of this braising liquid
right over top of everything like a nice gravy.
Leaving the strings on helps keep
these short ribs together because they're so tender.
I've reserved some fennel fronds for garnish.
They add a nice pop of color,
and they're pretty fragrant and flavorful.
A simple cutting technique turns a rustic cut,
like short ribs, into something
super impressive on the plate.
For this recipe and more on braising,
check out CertifiedAngusBeef.com.
(upbeat country music)