Short Rib / sauce questions...

[betarhoalphadelta]

So I'm going to be cooking over the weekend. Here are my thoughts. Bear in mind that I'm a novice and have NEVER made a sauce in my life, so I'm trying to figure this one out... I'm pretty sure the ribs and the mashed cauliflower are good, but I don't know whether I'm even in the ballpark on the sauce (i.e. if I need a thickening agent, if I need additional ingredients, etc).

Sous Vide Short Ribs:
A bunch of bone-in short ribs, seasoned with salt and pepper. 24 hours at 158 deg F. Bag juice used for sauce (see below), and short ribs will be seared in grapeseed oil on cast iron before serving.

Sauce:
While the ribs are cooking, melt butter & minced garlic in a pan, skim off fat to clarify. (Bulk of butter used will then be used in dish below). Add red wine, simmer & reduce ~30 min. Then, pull the ribs, run the juice through a strainer into the pan, and continue reducing ~60 min or until desired consistency is reached.

Mashed Cauliflower (mock mashed potatoes):
Steam cauliflower, season w/ salt.
Mash in a food processor, incorporating extra butter & garlic from sauce.
Put in baking dish, cover with cheese, bake until cheese starts to brown and get tasty.

 

[chocotaco]

Sounds pretty tasty. I would add a bit of onion or shallot to the sauce (sweat with the garlic) and some tomato paste with the wine for richness.

 

[chocotaco]

For thickening, it depends whether you want the sauce to be thick or not.

If you want it to be finger-lickin' thick, you will get some gelatin from the short rub juices but you could try adding a little more (unflavored from a packet) until it has the consistency you like. It won't take much, if any.

You can also try mounting with butter at the end of the sauce prep. This involves taking a cold chunk of butter, maybe a tablespoon, and drop it whole into the sauce pan. Swirl the pan gently until the butter integrates itself as it melts. That thickens somewhat and enriches as well.

I would NOT thicken a rib sauce with roux or anything starch-based like that.

 

[RonPopeil]

Butter makes a sauce. I would start there. If you're planning on using the au jus and reduced red wine then grab some whipping cream or heavy cream. Add black pepper and rosemary and let it cook a bit. Once it smells great pull it off.

So, process. Do 1 small onion diced down and sauteed in butter. Once soft and caramelized add red wine and reduce. Add jus and simmer for 10 minutes or so. Add cream and herbs. Season to taste.

 

[satph]

Here's another option. The Anise Scented Short Ribs from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything are fantastic. The recipe is posted here. It's got a strong flavor from the anise, so it's pretty different from your original idea. I think you could adapt it to work with sous vide ribs.

 

[rgauthier20420]

24 hours for cooking 1 dinner? ipe:

That's a bit excessive, but best of luck to you. A somewhat thin sauce is nice with short ribs. You want it more like a sauce and not like a gravy. The mounting butter trick would work as would a touch of heavy whipping cream, but that will change the look a bit and flavor slightly also.

When I do short ribs, I brown them in oil/butter then remove from the pan. I then saute my veggies for a couple minutes and then add red wine and beef stock then the ribs back into the mix. I then braise them in the oven at 350 for 3 hrs. It's amazing!

 

[chocotaco]

I would definitely NOT use cream for a beef sauce. Unless I was making steak au poivre, which is really a pepper sauce at that point.

Also, throw a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme in that sauce while you're reducing it. Mmmmm, getting hungry now.

 

[Mwhy71]

+1 for searing and braising. The braising liquid makes a great sauce, and the mirepoix can be pureed to thicken the sauce as much or as little as wanted. MMM, beer braised short ribs.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

24 hours for cooking 1 dinner? ipe:

That's sous vide... BTW 23 of those hours are complete "set and forget".

Time/temp chosen based upon below link and the fact that because I'm doing this at a mountain cabin, I can't start it until at best 30-35 hours prior to dinner... I had planned on doing a 48 hour @ 148 deg cook instead.

http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/short-ribs-time-and-temp

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Looks like it might be a moot point. Son has a sore throat and a Dr appt tomorrow morning, and I'm not 100% myself. So it's unclear whether we'll go, and even if so, I've lost the motivation to do this.

Thanks to all for your advice, I'll be sure to revisit at some point when I plan to try it for real...

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Well, although I didn't go to the cabin, that meant I had a full weekend to cook. And since my brother and his family are in town and came over for dinner last night, I decided to go forward anyway.

I bought ~4# of beautiful marbled bone-in short ribs from Whole Foods. I seasoned them in salt & pepper, then put them as-is into the bath for 48 hours at 149 degrees. I figured there was enough fat that I wouldn't need to add any additional fat or sauce in the bag. After cooking, the meat had pulled back from the bone significantly, so I just sliced it away from the bone, and seared it in grapeseed oil. My wife made a simple red wine reduction (not using the bag juices), and we served it with a salad.

The result was perfection. The fat rendered, the collagen melted, and I had the most moist, tender, beefy short ribs I've ever eaten.

I will be doing this again.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Okay, just ordered 8# this time, and I'll be doing this over the weekend. I'll try to take pics this time!

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Here we go! Started last night at 5 PM.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Well, I took some more pictures, but again forgot the finished product :banghead:

However, the meal was very well received.

 

[estricklin]

Well, I took some more pictures, but again forgot the finished product :banghead:

However, the meal was very well received.

Very nice, we do our ribs a bit different here in the south but I would still go to town on those!