We are having friends for dinner, so decided to make short ribs — on sale at the supermarket. We are lucky to have a number of independent grocery chains here, so have lots of competition among supermarkets. Even so, one of the grocery chains tends to stock more standard cuts of meat, whereas the other caters more to the Asian demographic here in Victoria. You can always find things like chicken feet, tripe, oxtail, and short-ribs at this one, for considerably less.
I was reading more of the most recent Cooks Illustrated, which suggested taking the short-ribs off the bone in order to cut down the advance prep time usually required. It also supposedly cuts down on the fat you have to skim off the end-product, but requires addition of some gelatin at the end. Here’s the assembly of the short-ribs
It’s a lazy day, so I decided to do this in the oven rather than the pressure cooker. The plan is to have these over mashed celery root and potatoes, with some braised brussels sprouts. I had to take a pic of this celery root — it looks like it has a crazy hairdo!
Finally, here’s the latest Shiba Inu installment — begging for corn chips!
Update on the short-rib progress: They cooked for 2 1/2 hours in total in the oven (300 degrees), then got removed from the braising liquid. I defatted the liquid, which due to the absence of bones, had considerably less fat. I was supposed to reinject some body back into the sauce with gelatin, after straining, but decided to go more rustic at the last minute. The carrots had remained fairly intact during the braising, so I decided to use them to thicken the sauce. A quick whizz with the hand blender resulted in a nice thick sauce, then added some peas for a bit of colour at the end.
with millionaire’s shortbread for dessert!