Tender and Lucious Dutch Oven Red Wine Braised Short Ribs

Super tender fall of the bone wine-braised short ribs. These ribs have a sauce with intense flavor and a thick coating sauce. Serve it with rice, potatoes, or over pasta. It will quickly become your favorite recipe.

this Recipe!

What are Short Ribs?

Short ribs come from the short plate area of the cow, which is located towards the bottom (belly side) of the cow. Skirt steak and short ribs come from the short plate. Short ribs are thick flat ribs with a thick slab of meat on top of it held together by thick cartilage. Due to the amount of fat and connective tissue found in short ribs, short ribs are excellent for slow cooking and smoking. For more information on what short ribs are, please click here.

What are the key ingredients to making this recipe?

Besides the main attraction, the short ribs, the following ingredients make this dish that much more delicious.

Wine. When I thought of this recipe, I realized I have never made anything like it. So, I turned to my inspiration and mentor, Julia Child. I read her books Mastering the Art of French Cooking and came up with a mixture of techniques. I loved the wine marinade she uses, although I did not marinate my short ribs, and I used a slurry, not a roux when it came to thickening the sauce. The wine gives decadence and gusto to this dish.

Mirepoix. I have used this term before, and it is a term commonly used in French cooking. "But Zoe, other than your name, Forestier, you are not French?!" You are correct, but my culinary training is. Mirepoix is a combination of a few ingredients, mainly onions, carrots, and celery. These ingredients are considered aromatics because they provide food with fragrance and flavor. When combined with the wine, they transform the wine into a sauce full of flavor and dimension.

Herbs. Same as the mirepoix, herbs bring aroma to the food. I used dried Herbs de Provence from Spicewalla. Which I love because of the use of lavender flowers. These tiny flowers give the dish a hint of wonder and delight. Spicewalla has increasingly become one of my favorite sources of spice, the quality is great and the color and flavor they bring to my cooking are crisp and fresh.

Substitutions

Mushroom or beef broth, or well-crafted beef stock. If you would like to avoid alcohol completely, substitute the wine for a hearty stock or broth. A mushroom broth will give your dish earthiness, while a beef broth or stock will enhance the beef flavor.

Beer. If you are not a wine drinker, you might be able to substitute the beer for the wine. Beer will give the sauce a less fruity undertone, with a slight tang, but still quite a delicious rendition. Some of the photos for this post are from the beer-braised short ribs. In order to adjust the flavor to my beer base sauce, I add about a tablespoon of honey to balance the bitterness. Still, the result was a full-bodied sauce complementary to the ribs and the Mashed Yautia and Collard Greens side-dishes.

Not Roux, Slurrry

Thickeners can make or break any sauce if not used properly. As a matter of fact, I will write a post on how to make them and use them in different applications, but for now, I will go over slurry and a roux.

Roux. A cooked combination of equal parts of butter and flour. There are different levels of cooking degrees for roux depending on the product you are cooking. For example, a bechamel or a cream sauce will have what is known as a blonde roux. A blonde roux is a roux that has been cooked but retains a light golden color. A sauce like an etouffee, which is rich and dark would use a dark roux or brown roux. A roux that has been carefully cooked to the point both butter and flour have been toasted to a dark brown color, but neither is burnt. Roux can be made ahead of time and kept in airtight containers and used as needed.

Slurry. A slurry is equal parts of water and cornstarch (or arrowroot, if available). By far the easiest thickener, since it does not require to be cooked before use. It is ideal for light pan sauces, as I used it in this recipe. The key to using it is to allow it to cook within the sauce before adding more to the sauce. Without exploring the exact way of how slurry work, my uneducated guess is that as the slurry cooks, the cornstarch or arrowroot expands within the sauce absorbing the sauce and thickening as it expands. I used 1 tablespoon of cornstarch for this recipe and it rendered a beautifully silky sauce. Something to keep in mind next Thanksgiving season when we make turkey gravy.

What you will need:

For the Short Ribs:

• Two packs of Short Ribs
• Salt
• Pepper
• Two teaspoons of cumin
• Two teaspoons of paprika

For Marinade:

• Two carrots
• Three stalks of celery
• one onion
• About six garlic cloves
• Two tablespoons of Herbs de Provence
• Two tablespoons of Sofrito
• Four cups of Red Wine
• Parsley
• Cilantro
• Bay leaf
• Quarter cup of Brandy

For Braising:

• Two tablespoons of olive oil or achiote oil
• One container of beef broth

For Sauce:

• Two tablespoons of cornstarch
• Enough water to dilute cornstarch and create a milky thickness

Let's cook

Day before cooking. To begin, take the short ribs and season with salt, pepper, paprika, powdered garlic, and cumin. Place ribs in a ziplock bag and let rest overnight.

Day of cooking.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Peel and thinly slice two carrots, one onion, 4 cloves of garlic, and three stalks of celery. Place in a bowl. I am Puerto Rican and I put sofrito in everything, so add two tablespoons of sofrito to the bowl. If you do not want to add the sofrito you do not have to. Add three cups of wine to the vegetables and set them aside.

In a deep kettle or saucepot, render the fat of two slices of bacon. Once the bacon is crispy but not burned, remove the bacon. Sear the short ribs for about two minutes on each side. Once the short ribs are seared, remove the ribs and set them aside. Add three cups of wine along with the rest of the ingredients for the marinade to the vegetables and set them aside.

With a spoon, carefully remove any excess oil that boils to the top. Place the short ribs back into the kettle and cover. Place pot into the oven. Cook in the oven for about an hour and a half, checking on them every 30 minutes. The ribs are done when tender to the pierce of a knife and connective tissue almost melted.

Finishing the sauce.

Remove the short ribs from the saucepot and set them aside. Place the kettle onto the stove and bring it to a low boil. Skim the sauce off excess oil with a spoon. Mix one tablespoon of cornstarch or arrowroot with about one tablespoon of water. Slurry should have a milk-like consistency. Pour slurry into the sauce and mix continuously. Allow about a minute or so of boiling to see a difference in the thickness of the sauce. If the sauce is still too runny make another slurry, except this time add a small amount at a time and allow each addition to cook for about a minute. Once you get to your desired thickness, add short ribs back to the sauce.

Serve over egg noodles, rice, or potatoes.

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