RCP: WTN: Braised Short Ribs; Cave Spring Reisling, Canada.

2003 Cave Spring Riesling Reserve Ontario Canada. Beekmans; $12.99. Pale yellow color, clear hue, intense aroma, somewhat restrained tastes, fine acidity, a bit of sweetness. Worked beautifully with the braised beef, and pleasant enough to buy a couple of more bottles for actually drinking. 3*.

Notes: http://www.cavespringcellars.com/

Beekman: This estate-bottled wine (from 22-year old vines) is similar to a German Kabinet. Although light in body, the aromatics are intense. It’s not as sweet as the Semi-Dry, but it is more complex, with some of the steely characteristics of a Rheingau. Flawless.

Braised Beef Short Ribs with Orange and Olives

1 tablespoon olive oil
8 (12-ounce) beef short ribs
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt [optional here]
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup mirepoix -- 2/1/1 onion/carrot/celery diced fine
6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup white wine
4 cups beef broth, low fat, no salt
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon orange zest
4 kalamata olives, pitted and quartered lengthwise

Heat oil in slow cooker bowl on medium-high heat. [If preferred, dredge ribs in flour, turning to coat; shake off excess flour.] Brown ribs on all sides and remove from bowl.

Add garlic to bowl; sauté for 1 minute. Add orange juice. Stir in wine; bring to a boil. Cook 3 minutes. Stir in beef broth, thyme, and tomato paste; return to a boil. Remove from heat.

Add ribs to bowl and cook for six hour on Low or until meat is very tender. Stir in orange rind and olives; cook an additional 30 minutes or until beef is very tender. Remove ribs and place on a platter; keep warm.

Place liquid in freezer for a few minutes to allow fat to go to top, skim fat, reduce liquid to desired consistency over medium heat, reduce heat to low, add ribs to liquid, and warm through.

Serves 6 -- easy to divide, especially in a slow cooker where the liquids in particular can be reduced.

You can check availability, compare prices and order this wine from various retailers through Wine-Searcher.com.

I'm impressed the wine stood up to braised short ribs, although the orange juice and zest would lend itself for that. Still... that's some impressive muscle to pair it with.

For coincidence, I printed out Thomas Keller's short rib recipe today which is my favorite. I was hoping to do that next weekend since it's basically a 3-day recipe (and one I do for celebrations as often as possible). Maybe because it marinates in a bottle of wine as well as the original braise is what lends itself more to a red wine. Although the meat itself just says a tannic red or hoppy beer to me.

I may do some modifications after looking at this. Thanks!

The Riesling has to be very aromatic Dwight, otherwise I would use a red wine. But the aroma seemed to permeate the meat in a delightful way.

I really like marinating before braising, but this dinner was spur of the day, a cold evening with forecasts of a heat wave coming this weekend.

I'll take a look at the Keller recipe -- thanks for the lead.

Regards, Bob

Bob,

Interesting recipe...boy you are full of wonderful slow cooker recipes!

Anyway, I did have a few Q's about the recipe if you didn't mind...

First, Regarding the slow cooker...does yours have a high setting that you can brown and boil on, or do you place the cooker bowl on the stovetop to brown the meat, boil the liquid, and reduce at the end of the recipe?

Second, I know the recipe is called Braised short ribs with orange and olives, but how significant are the olives? It seems to me that they would be too much in this recipe. What did you think?

Third, is it safe to assume that the white wine was the Riesling you drank? Or can you use another white wine?

Finally, do you think that this recipe would be ok with baby back pork ribs?

Sorry for all the questions Bob

Finally, do you think that this recipe would be ok with baby back pork ribs?

Maria, just save all the baby back ribs until you get your Kamado. Girl, you are going to thank me for this advice!

Maria,

I put my cook pot on a gas burner on the stove to brown the meat. This is a Rival, not sure of the model, with a specially hardened pot -- I don't see the claim made on current models, but the instruction booklet for my pot said it was ok up to 500F or so. I wouldn't do it unless I was sure the pot was heat resistant, and frankly browning in an aluminum clad pan gives better results. [I was rushed last week.]

I left out the olives -- Janet can't have salt and we were out of the salt free. The dish was great without them.

Riesling as another poster pointed out is a bit chancey. This one was extremely aromatic and I'm not drinking wine for a month -- so I used the entire bottle after tasting and spitting to be sure it was sound. Normally I would use a red wine which stands up better to the slow cooking.

I'm not sure about baby ribs -- I would worry a little about drying them out or over cooking. It would depend on how fat they are -- in my experience some are really lean, other much fatter. It seems to be ok, but in practice I would check after the first two hours on low, every half hour or so to be sure they were cooking ok.

The most recent Williams Sonoma catlog has a nice recipe similar but with some interesting differences. They strongly recommend red wine in a slow cooker with red meats, and as noted I usually agree.

Note that Williams Sonoma uses what they call a stove top safe insert for the cookpot -- that may be what I have. There are two great advantages to this type of insert -- one less pot to clean (although deglazing with wine is pretty simple really) and there is no chance of losing any of the brown bits.


Short Ribs Braised with Barolo

In Piedmont, cooks often slow-cook beef in Barolo, the famous red wine of the region. Rich, full-bodied and complex, it is known as the king of Italian wines.

Ingredients:

3 lb. beef short ribs
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 oz. pancetta, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 Tbs. tomato paste
1 bottle Barolo or other full-bodied red wine
1 Tbs. veal or beef demi-glace
1 fresh rosemary sprig
1-inch piece Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese rind
Polenta for serving

Directions

Generously season the short ribs with salt and pepper. Dredge the ribs in flour and shake off the excess.

In the stovetop-safe insert of a slow cooker over medium-high heat, cook the pancetta until crispy, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

Working in batches, add the ribs to the insert and brown on all sides, about 10 minutes total. Transfer to a plate.

Pour off the fat from the insert. Set the insert over medium heat and warm the olive oil. Add the onion, carrot and celery and sauté until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for about 1 minute. Add 1 cup of the wine and stir to scrape up the browned bits. Add the remaining wine and the demi-glace and bring to a simmer. Add the short ribs, the pancetta, rosemary and cheese rind. Set the insert on the slow-cooker base. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours, stirring occasionally.

Skim the fat off the cooking liquid, and discard the rosemary and cheese rind. Transfer the ribs to a serving bowl and cover with aluminum foil. Pass the vegetables and cooking liquid through a food mill into a fry pan. Simmer over medium heat until reduced by one-third, about 10 minutes. Adjust the seasonings with salt. Serve the ribs and sauce over polenta. Serves 4 to 5.


Williams-Sonoma Kitchen.