I’ve posted on short ribs before, so I must really like them! The recipe I created before for the blog was called a luxurious dinner. These short ribs had a Southwestern flair to tem, with the inclusion of my home-made ancho chile paste.
This recipe is more or less the traditional way to cook short ribs, using a whole bottle of red wine. I say “more or less” only because there is not only one way to cook short ribs, of course, but the following recipe is the one I see the most.
Cooking short ribs was also an excuse to use my new slow cooker I got from Santa (see Christmas Wishes!). This newest model of slow cooker, by All Clad, has an insert that can be used directly on the stove, so meats can be browned first and aromatics sautéed.
If you love short ribs, I guarantee you will like this recipe! They’re rich and delicate at the same time.
Short Ribs
1/2 cup white flour
Salt
Pepper
Seasoning, I used a mixture called Bouquet Garni
9 – 10 short ribs, about 5 pounds
Olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 bottle red wine – I used a pinot noir
8 ounces tomato sauce
1/3 cup dry soup blend*
Few bay leaves
In a large bowl, mix together the flour with the seasonings. You can choose whatever seasoning you wish if you prefer your sauce to have a hint of thyme or rosemary, for example. Today I just decided to let the flavors speak for themselves, without any specific herbal additions.
Toss the short ribs in the flour mixture. Heat the oil in the slow cooker insert over high heat, and brown the ribs on all sides a few at a time. Place them in a bowl, and continue with the remaining ribs.
This is when I discovered that this insert does not heat like a regular pan. I kept thinking that I hadn’t let it warm up enough, but it never did. I still got some good browning on the ribs, just not as good as I would have liked. Also, being that the insert is non-stick, none of the browned meaty bits were stuck to the bottom. Something else I hadn’t thought of.
Over medium heat, add the onions and sauté them for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and give it a stir, then pour in the wine and tomato sauce. Stir in the dehydrated vegetables and add the bay leaves. Bring everything to a boil, then place the insert in the slow cooker.
I cooked the ribs, first on high for two hours, then turned them down to low for four hours. After things cooled down, I refrigerated them overnight.
The next morning, I scraped off the grease that had solidified – short ribs are fatty. Then I removed the short ribs, scraping off any sauce on them, and placed them all in a bowl. I put the slow cooker insert on the stove and simmered the sauce to reduce it by about a third.
Now, this next step is not really necessary, but I was in the mood for a rich, smooth sauce. First, I used my immersion blender to blend up the sauce. Then, I put the sauce through my Chinois. This really thickened up the sauce.
When I was ready to serve the short ribs, I first removed the meat from the bones, then I heated them up. I served the meat alongside my Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and topped everything off with the red wine-based sauce. It was perfect, if I may say so myself!
* The soup blend mixture I use is from Frontier, and it’s a fabulous mixture of dehydrated aromatic veggies plus herbs. It just adds a little more flavor than just a broth powder. However, you could also use fresh vegetables like carrots and leeks, as well.
Oohh! I want that All Clad Slow Cooker! I always eye it when I’m at a store that sells it. This is inspiriing me to go out and buy one!! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
You are so welcome!
This sounds and look delicious.
Thank you!
Oh wow. This looks delicious! I tried to find what “short ribs” would be in French, but couldn’t find anything that sounded familiar… I must seriously research the matter as this is really the kind of recipes I love!
I can find out from Stephane – he told me the same thing but figured it out. I’ll be in touch…
Oh that would be wonderful! Thank you!
I often have problems translating meat cuts, especially as they vary from animal to animal, and some of them are really tricky to figure out in French!
Thats what Stephane said as well. He’s pretty sure they’re called “plats de cote”
Thank you so much for checking out! It does look similar on pictures; he must be right!
Stephane said he would check into it again for us.
Hello Mimi,
I did my own little research and Stéphane is right; it is “plat de côtes”. I will be talking with the butcher in the near future. Thanks so much for being helpful in my translation problems.
Great recipe!
Thank you!
Your braise looks rich and delicious, roll on winter….
it’s a great winter dish!!!
Lokks seriously delicious!
Thank you!
The finished dish looks great!
It was a surprise to see you using dry soup and a seasoning mixture — funny to use a mixture called bouquet garni rather than using an actual bouquet garni.
If you like short ribs, you may like them sous-vide as well. Cooked 48 hrs at 135 degrees they will be very different from the traditional preparation, but oh so good!
Good to know about the sous vide preparation.
It’s not really funny using a bouquet garni seasoning mixture, because I blended everything up afterwards. I still got the bouquet garni essence.
The dry soup mixture is a very high quality mixture of dried vegetables sold in the states by Frontier, which can be purchased online or at Whole Foods. I especially use it in the winter months when I don’t always have a good assortment of veggies on hand. It creates a very nice well-rounded flavor without the veggie bulk, as well.
These look delicious! That meat looks so tender!
It is so tender, I love short ribs!!!
What a neat idea to refrigerate the contents so you can scrape off the fat! This sounds delicious, the meat looks so tender.
It’s best made the day before so it works out well chilling it overnight!