Tags
beef, beef short ribs, braised, braised beef short ribs, braising, cooking tip, dinner with friends, jamie oliver, meat, recipe, Recipes, slow cooked
I have to say the hardest bit about blogging for me is the photography.
Personally my least favourite phrase is “Let’s take a photo”. I can proudly say I’ve never taken a ‘selfie’ and have no intention to EVER. My first reaction or thought is never to take a photo. Point of reference I had to be talked into having a photographer at my wedding. True story. Not my thing.
Since I started blogging I have to consciously think about taking photos while cooking, it just isn’t an action (or reaction) that comes naturally to me. I often forget to take photos (oops). And frustratingly more often than not it’s the final snap of the plated meal that I forget to take. Which is exactly what happened recently while braising beef short ribs for a non-traditional, turkey-free Thanksgiving dinner with friends. In the confusion of thinking about how to safely transport my dutch oven full of delicious braised meat to my friends’ place who were hosting dinner I forgot to take one last snap of the finished product. Sigh. Slight failure.
Luckily though I do have photos of what I was really excited to share.. A new cooking tip for braising meat. I must give full credit to Jamie Oliver for this tip, which (as only he could) he referred to as “tucking in the meat”.
The idea is to place a piece of parchment paper on top of the liquid to trap or seal in the flavours while braising. It’s really a simple idea, but I thought I would give it a try to see if it improved the flavours that developed during braising. So how exactly do you ‘tuck in’ meat??
Well according to Jamie once the meat, veg, and broth is ready to be placed in the oven..
You place a layer of parchment paper on top. AKA “the sheet”
Then you finish tucking in the meat with a layer of foil and the tight fitting lid. The meat is now ready for a long, warm nap 😉
Kudos to Jamie I was pleasantly surprised – the meat was very tender as usual, but was incredibly flavourful and the braising liquid that I turned into a sauce had more complexity than my previous attempts at this recipe. I will definitely be using this pro tip again when braising and friends, I highly recommend. Thanks Jamie!!
Braised Red Wine Boneless Beef Short Ribs
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 6 x 8-10 oz. pieces boneless beef short ribs (ask your butcher to prepare)
- 1/8 olive oil
- 3 strips of bacon cut into pieces
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 carrots cut into 1 “ chunks
- 2 celery into 1 “ chunks
- 1 onion cut into 1 “ chunks
- 2 cloves garlic lightly smashed
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 fresh bay leaf
- 1 cup of red wine **
- 900 ml beef stock
Directions
- Cut bacon into strips and cook in large dutch over medium heat. Once brown remove.
- Add olive oil, heat until nearly smoking. Season ribs with salt and pepper. Sear ribs till brown on all sides.
- Add butter to pan and cook vegetables over medium low heat until golden.
- Add the garlic, and thyme stir well. Then add the red wine and reduce till almost dry, add the tomato paste and beef stock stir well until the tomato paste is completely incorporated.
- Add bay leaf and ‘tuck in’ meat.
- Place into oven and cook at 275F for 3.5/4 hours. Until the meat in tender and looks something like….
Oh ya I forgot to take a photo of the braised ribs 😦 Please use your imagination!
** This could be increased to 2 cups but I was cooking for a new Mum and wanted to keep the alcohol low in the recipe.