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Stumbling my way around the internet I came across a recipe from She Cooks, He Cleans (not a blog I have been following, but one I’m going to look into more now) that I figured I could probably adapt to the Egg. This is her recipe and I didn’t follow it exactly as I wasn’t using an oven, but I’ll let you know where and how I made changes.
Ingredients:
- 2-3 pounds grass-fed beef short ribs (on bones)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- grass-fed beef lard
- extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 celery ribs, coarsely chopped
- 2 medium carrots, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 large sweet onion, coarsely chopped
- 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed with the side of a knife
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4-5 springs of thyme, tied together with kitchen string
- 2 cups red wine
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 cups beef stock
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- Season the ribs all over with salt and pepper.
- Heat 1-2 tablespoons of lard in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown beef on all sides in batches; place browned ribs in a bowl.
- Pour off “used” oil. Add ~1 tablespoon of olive oil to pan and return to medium-high heat. Add onions, celery, and carrots. Cook until softened, stirring occasionally.
- Add garlic, bay leaf, tomato paste, and thyme Cook briefly (about 2 minutes), stirring constantly. The tomato paste should begin to caramelize, sticking to the pan.
- Add wine, beef stock, and balsamic vinegar. Stir well.
- Bring to a boil, then return the ribs and any accumulated liquids to the pot. Cover and place in oven to braise for around 3 hours or until the ribs are very tender (as in falling-apart-tender). Check on them occasionally to ladle off excess fat and make sure the liquid doesn’t get too low. You want the liquids to reduce, but not completely!
- When the ribs are done, carefully transfer the meat to a platter.
- Ladle off extra fat. Remove the bay leaf and the thyme stems tied with kitchen string. Using an immersion blender, puree the sauce. (You can strain the sauce if you’d like a fine texture, but it is not necessary.) Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Return the rib meat to the sauce, reheat on the stove top, and it’s ready to serve!
So I procured 3 lbs of short ribs from my butcher after work and let me tell you, it is good to get to know your butcher. Don’t be afraid to ask them for certain cuts of meat if you don’t see them out in the store. Mine had to go into the back and get it and cut it right there in front of me after letting me select from the beef ribs he had in stock! I seasoned them up simply with some salt and freshly ground pepper and a light sprinkling of Dizzy Pig’s Cow Lick. They then went on my grill at 350F (you are going to have the grill at 350F for the duration of the cook) to sear and absorb some smoke from cherry wood chips (instead of browning in a dutch oven. No beef lard was used obviously)
![P1030536](https://griffinsgrub.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/p1030536.jpg?w=730)
The ribs were grilled for 3 to 4 minutes per side until they browned and had a nice crust.
![P1030538](https://griffinsgrub.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/p1030538.jpg?w=730)
Once the ribs were done grilling, I removed the grate and inserted the placesetter legs up and my Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven to the Egg to begin heating up. After it was heated up, olive oil was added and the veggies went in.
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Can’t really say how long the veggies took, but cook until softened, stirring occasionally. When they are soft, add the garlic, bay leaf, tomato paste and thyme. Here I changed the recipe a tad by adding in a few sprigs of rosemary that we have growing in our yard.
![P1030541](https://griffinsgrub.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/p1030541.jpg?w=730)
Cook briefly, stirring constantly. The tomato paste should begin to carmelize in the dutch oven. At this point, you want to deglaze the pan. I had poured all the beef stock, wine and balsamic vinegar into a measuring cup, so I used this mixture to deglaze.
![P1030542](https://griffinsgrub.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/p1030542.jpg?w=730)
Bring to a boil and then add the ribs back into the dutch oven. I did not add a cover at this point as I wanted it to pick up more smoke. You will want the ribs to braise for about 3 hours or until the ribs are falling apart tender.
![P1030545](https://griffinsgrub.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/p1030545.jpg?w=730)
Check on them occasionally to make sure that the liquid does not get to low. You want it to reduce, but not completely. If needed, add more wine or beef broth. During this process, I had to remove the dutch oven and place the little green feet under the dutch oven to raise it from the direct heat of the placesetter as it begain to boil too fast (although anything you can add as a spacer of about 1/2 to 1 inch will work if you do not have the feet).
![P1030553](https://griffinsgrub.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/p1030553.jpg?w=730)
When the ribs are done, remove them and transfer to a platter. Ladle off any extra fat and then remove the bay leaf and thyme and rosemary stems. She Cooks said to use an immersion blender to puree the sauce. I didn’t have one, but I do have a blender. If you try this, make sure to hold the lid down tightly with a towel since it is hot liquid.
![P1030555](https://griffinsgrub.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/p1030555.jpg?w=730)
Season to taste with salt and pepper. We served them up on top of some creamy polenta we made using parmesan cheese and goat cheese and a side salad (not pictured).
![P1030559](https://griffinsgrub.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/p1030559.jpg?w=730)
This was an outstanding meal. The ribs were so tender and the flavors from the wine and vegetables was amazing. There was a background hint of smoke that you would not be able to achieve with an oven. Sure, it took a long time (over 4 hours start to finish) to prepare, but it wasn’t labor intensive, most of it was allowing it to braise for 3 hours. Mrs. G said we are going to have to make this again. Can’t get a better compliment than that.
I lurve polenta. Short ribs too!
Never had short ribs before, but now I can say I lurve ’em too.
Well done Jason
Going to give this a try
Nice detailed post 🙂
I would recommend you try it Shane. Let me know how it goes.
I have never eaten nor made short ribs.
I do make a mean baby-back rib…so I’m partial.
But, this looks SO damn good that as I’m sitting here munching my turkey sandwich for lunch, I’m having visions of your short ribs. Thanks for sharing! Fabulous.
First time for me as well. I usually do spare ribs or baby backs. Have done beef ribs a few times, but usually there’s hardly any meat on them so they aren’t worth doing. We’ll be doing this again.
Great job on the short ribs. 🙂
If you have a birthday coming up, you should add an immersion blender to your gift list, as they are worth their weight in gold.
Thanks SG. I could see you doing a cook like this. Very fancy. Probably would put mine to shame.
Nice job, Grif! You da man! I’ll have to try this out.
I recommend it.
This looks great. I’m going to add this recipe to my list. Nice work!
Thanks. Your Month of Goat has got me wanting to try it, just not sure where to find it in Dallas.
I do have some short ribs in the freezer! I have got to get my hands on a Lodge Dutch oven!
I think I got mine at Academy, but it was a long time ago, so I’m not real sure anymore.
this sounds like a super delicious meal! yum!
Why thank you! I’m really liking your blog.
I have grill envy! Amazing-looking short ribs!
I love wine-braised short-ribs, and polenta sounds like such a fantastic combination 🙂
That looks just about perfect, seriously. I can just imagine how velvety the sauce would be.
You should try it, Chris. I’m sure your pictures would come out much better than mine.
I love short ribs and this sounds absolutely amazing!!
Is there anything better than short ribs in wine? Short ribs MARINATED in wine 🙂 Yum!
I’m making this tonight, love your blog, updates on FB and the eggheadforum. Keep up the good work.
Thanks. This was a more laborous and time consuming dish, but well worth it.