Recipe: Braised Beef Recipe

This is an excellent recipe for roasts/ribs/brisket.  It takes time, but is definitely worth the wait. 
Braised Short Ribs (worth the effort)
Ingredients for the Brine

  • 2t Juniper berries
  • 3 Bay leaves
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 2C Brown Sugar \
  • 2C Salt                    – Typical brine
  • 2Q Water             /
  • 4 cups of ice

I like to brine meats that cook for a while with bones.  This allows you to firm up the meat so when you braise it, it doesn’t completely fall apart and it also gets some seasoning and flavor deep into the meat.
Put all the ingredients above (except the ice) together and heat it on medium high until it boils and dissolves all the salt/sugar.  Continue boiling for 5 more minutes.  This allows the flavor from the other ingredients to seep into the brine.  Turn the heat off and to kick-start the cooling process, add the ice to the brine and stir until the mixture melts the ice.  Let cool until room temperature.
Ingredients for the Meal

  • 4 lbs of beef short ribs.  In the supermarket they often-times come cut into individual ribs.  I prefer getting them from the butcher in cut racks of 4 or 5 bones
  • 2C Beef Broth
  • 1 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon (any that you’d otherwise drink – not a believer in cooking with wine you wouldn’t otherwise drink)
  • 2 medium sized onions – coarsely chopped
  • 3 large carrots – coarsely chopped
  • 1T Thyme
  • Salt to taste
  • 1/2 t ground black Pepper

Place the short ribs into the brine once cooled.  Steep the ribs into the brine for 3 hours.
Place the ribs in an oven-safe roasting pan and bake in a pre-heated 450 degrees oven until the ribs are well browned which should take approximately 30 minutes depending on oven.  Mid-way through the time, you will want to turn the ribs over.  Please don’t use a fork when turning the meat, use tongs/chop-sticks/spoons/whatever – just avoid stabbing the meat and letting the juices out of the meat.
Adjust stove temperatore to 350 degrees.
Remove the ribs from the pan, add the onions and carrots and cook them on medium-high until they are well caramelized (browned).  Add the wine, broth, thyme, and black pepper to the mixture and scrape any bits that might be stuck on the pan.  Add the ribs back into the pan.  Bring the mixture to a boil on the stove-top.
Put into the oven and cover either with foil or a top (picturing an enameled cast iron dutch oven) and cook for 2.5 hours.
-Mike Rothman