More Short Ribs Sous Vide

See this?

That's short ribs about to be cooked sous vide in brown butter for 72 hours.

See this?

That's what I call a sandwich.

Short Ribs Sous Vide

Last post not for you? Not into those middle school love stories? This may be a post for you.

My newest toy,

has been getting lots of use.

Short ribs being one of my favorite foods, I naturally chose to use them as the subject for my experiments. Short Ribs are just plain great, especially now, when I'm cold, even inside my house. Sous vid'ing (verb form of sous vide?) ribs however, would not produce the same effect as a house warming and perfuming braise. In my quest for the best however, I decided to pretend I was smelling the warm, flavorful scent of braised short ribs, as they cooked away slowly and unnoticeably in a warm water bath.

Based on recommendations from different people, and from research, I decided on three times and temperatures that I would try. Disclaimer: As I know from science class, this is not a controlled experiment (for example the 176 cooked rib was cooked with cooked off red wine). Further experimentation must be done to determine a clear winner. But, you know me, I will make my chemistry teacher proud and perform these experiments till I get it right! And then, of course, I will get back to you.

131 for 36 hours

141 for 72 hours

176 for 12 hours

131 was too steak-like. 176 too average. 141 was juuuusssttt right. Call me Goldilocks.

The 131 cooked rib was basically just red and raw and not extremely tender. It would've passed for a flank steak. Essentially, it took away all the things I love about a great braised rib.

The 176 cooked rib was cooked with red wine cooked down with garlic, shallot, thyme and peppercorn. That was a mistake. The red wine overwhelmed the meat. It was way to powerful. That aside, though it was essentially ideal texture, something about it just wasn't special. I would've taken a braised rib over it any day.

The 141 cooked rib was perfect. It was incredibly tender and moist. If the 131 cooked rib was like a flank steak, this was a rib-eye- flavorful, tender, fatty. "Yum," is really the only way to describe it.

Five Foods

Five foods I wish I had in front of me right now-

1. Duck Confit

2. Braised Pork Belly

3. Crispy Sweetbreads

4. Shropshire Bleu Cheese

5. Homemade Pumpkin Spice Doughnuts, with a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte.

One food I do have in front of me right now

-Perfectly braised short ribs

Beer Braised Short Ribs

Ah, Beer Braised Short Ribs. Don't those four words just conjure up images of deep, rich, reduced beer, tenderizing tough fatty chuck short ribs. Add a mermaid to serve that to me and you've got my Beer Heaven. At Lacroix, they braise shortribs in Guinness and veal stock, and that was my inspiration for trying my own, beer braised short ribs.

I picked up some bone-in chuck short ribs from whole foods and went to work immediately. I first trimmed them of excess fat, then seared those suckers off in a flaming hot cast-iron pan.

I then removed them from the pan, and added some carrots and celery, caramelizing those veggies before deglazing with red wine. I let the wine reduce to oblivion, and believe me, in that hot pan, the wine evaporated quicker than my guilt of forgoing my summer reading.I then returned the short ribs to the pan and added equal parts Heineken and Beef Stock to cover about 3/4 the ribs. All this went into a 350 degree oven for about 2.5 hours.The rib-tastic result? Incredible. Beer Heaven worthy? Undoubtedly. The ribs were literally falling off the bone, and incredibly tender and flavorful. I'm really into braising now. Look for more dishes of the like in the future.