RECIPE: Braised Short Ribs

by Steven Fineberg

Carla and I have conversed about how much we love braised dishes…the slow cooked meals that comprise some of our most pleasurable dinnertime memories. Recently I raved to Carla about braised short ribs that were tender, slightly sweet, and spicy. She suggested I post the recipe to Local Forage.

Braised short ribs have become the quintessential American dish, found on just about every menu featuring New American cuisine. This more “exercised” cut of beef is ideal for slow cooking. The short rib cut from the chuck and plate of the cow (the plate is between the brisket and flank, above the shank), is most tender when slow cooked.

I could have prepared the dish with the method I learned while enrolled in cooking school, which is to sauté a mirepoix (carrot, onion, celery). Deglaze in red wine, add beef stock, herbs, and slow cook. Serve with mashed potatoes and sautéed baby spinach. Is this delicious? YES! Is it original? NO! I wanted a more original recipe; therefore, I turned to my friend, Lois, a trained chef of over 15 years.

I purchased my short ribs from Rocky Canyon, a resource at the Hollywood and Santa Monica Farmers Markets. Greg from Rocky raises his cattle on grass and supplements with barley. His herd is raised in Paso Robles. (Note from Carla: When I can’t get my grass-fed beef ribs from a local purveyor, I go to Whole Foods here in SF. Whole Foods beef is supposedly free-range and grass fed 9 out of 12 months. Another option for people who live centrally in the city is Ashbury Market (Ashbury and Frederick St.), which carries Niman Ranch. The last supply I got from there were delicious and made a very gelatinous broth.)

I served the ribs with jasmine brown rice, braised escarole and kale.  The sauce is thick and rich with a slight sweet and spicy flavor. Goes perfect with a hearty “super” grain such as millet.  Or soba or udon noodles.

LOIS’ BRAISED SHORT RIBS

Ingredients

• 5lbs. short ribs (oxtail can be used also)
• 1Tbls. butter
• 1Tbls. olive oil
• ½ cup mirin or sake
• ½ cup Ohsawa Nama Shoyu (Note from Carla: Nama shoyu is an unpasteurized, double-fermented soy sauce. Considered the champagne of soy sauces, it's aged for four years in cedar kegs, has less salt than regular soy sauce and is full of live enzymes and lactobacillus. It's the only kind I buy.)
• 1 Tbls. unrefined cane sugar (rapadura)
• 2 cups beef stock or water.
• 1 star anise
• 3 green onions, sliced in 1” pieces.
• 2 slices fresh ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, mashed
• 1 orange.  4 strips of zest removed with vegetable peeler. Save orange.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 300. Using a heavy pot, brown the ribs on all sides.
2. Remove from pot.  Turn flame high and add mirin or sake.  Deglaze pan by scraping up the brown bits.
3. Mix Shoyu/tamari and sugar with 2 cups beef stock/water. Add to the pot.
4. Add star anise, green onion, ginger, garlic.  Bring to a boil.
5. Add ribs and zest. Cover with lid. Turn down flame. Cover pot with foil and place in center of oven.
6. Bake for 3 hours.
7. Remove pot from oven. Place meat in a shallow baking dish. Strain sauce.
8. Pour sauce over meat and place back into 300* oven uncovered for 30 minutes.
9. Turn up heat to 400 and cook another 15-30 minutes until glazed.
10. Remove from oven. Juice orange over meat and serve.

Comments

[Steven]

Tamari is fermented and a little less expensive. I used Nama Shoyu for this recipe, but, Tamari also works well.

[Caryl]

When you can't get your beef from the local farmer's market, I'd like to encourage you and your readers to seek out alternatives to Whole Foods. While Whole Foods has stated they would like to source beef from U.S. producers, in practice much of their beef comes from Australia and South America (you could ask at the meat counter).
As a small farmer here in the U.S. trying to make a living producing healthy, grassfed, organic beef for people (rather than for a corporation), I get depressed when I see folks buying out-of-country beef.
Instead, try to find a producer near you through localharvest.com. There are many small, family-run farms like us that ship direct to your door, and you can know exactly where your beef is coming from.
We have a number of regular customers in the Bay area. Even with shipping, meat shipped direct from the farmer is often very affordable because the middlemen costs have been removed.

[steven fineberg]

Caryl:
We at Local Forage share the same sentiment about buying from Local Producers. In Los Angeles I am part of a buyer's co-op. Some of the foods we order as a group, are beef and lamb. In addition to Local Harvest, I recomend for people to contact their local chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation to connect with other people that are ordering fresh food via mail order. Thank you for your response! I am glad to see a local producer reading our site. Steven!

[steven fineberg]

Hello!
Caryl posted the comment above. Please check out her ranch at www.alderspring.com. I just went to the site! There beef is grass-fed and finished, dry aged 14-21 days. The product is hand-processed in a family-owned, USDA-inspected facility. Wonderful photos of the land and product.
Steven

[Carla]

Caryl makes a good point. I edited the post to include the link to my list of local beef purveyors...

[Cristal Guderjahn]

My friend who is going through some fairly rigorous chemotherapy and is only allowed to eat cooked foods. She is missing lox and bagels, however, and is curious to know if cured meats count as raw or cooked. I've heard that nitrites and nitrates are bad, but I don't remember why. Any advice?

[Steven]

Cristal:
Lox is cold-smoked, therefore technically is a raw food. Nitrates/Nitrites are unhealthy because they form nitrosamines in the body, which are carcinogenic. Nitrosamines have been linked to lung and prostate cancers and over a long exposure period can cause malignant tumor growth. Our ancestors cured meat and fish with salt and whey. Some of the greatest cured meats are not cured with nitrates. The best sources for obtaining meats cured without nitrates are found by contacting a local producer. Many of the producers listed under our Sourceror category offer cured meats nitrate free. A good source for nitrate free smoked salmon is www.vitalchoice.com.

[Carla]

Cristal, while there doesn't seem to be an absolutely direct, scientifically-proven correlation between nitrates/nitrites and cancer, it makes common sense to avoid foods that are processed while on a healing diet. You can take a look at my del.icio.us links (tag: nitrates) if you want to read some of the articles and studies I found.

[Mark Vane]

Hi, Found a cool news widget for our blogs at www.widgetmate.com. Now I can show the latest news on my blog. Worked like a breeze.