Braised Short Ribs

Directions

1. First heat the oven to 325.
2. In a Dutch oven or heavy bottomed sauté pan (that isn’t nonstick) heat a little olive oil and butter on high heat. You want a really good sear on the meat so by mixing butter with olive oil, the butter can hold a higher temperature. When the pan is good and hot add the ribs so they are all flat not on top of each other, either all at once or in batches depending on the size of the pan and the number of ribs. Brown the ribs on all sides until they are dark and caramelized. Also add the marrow bone briefly to brown.
3. Take the ribs out and drain off some of the fat and turn the heat to medium, and add the vegetables and a salt and pepper them, and cook until softened and a little caramelized.
4. Then add the tomato paste and the demi-glace and cook for about a minute or so. Add the thyme and the bay leaf.
5. Turn the heat back up to high and immediately begin slowly (very slowly) adding the wine, and be extra sure scrape off the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, they will come up easily when the liquid hits them.
6. Bring to a boil and add the garlic clove (you will take it out at the end, it will end up lending a gently flavor of garlic to the dish) and then place all the meat and the marrow bone back into the dish, pushing them toward the bottom so they are covered a bit with wine and vegetables. Cover the dish and put in the oven for roughly four hours.
7. Check on this every hour or so after two hours and if the liquid seems too reduced add a little water and/or beef stock. After four hours check the meat, all the gelatinous fat should be melted off and the meat should be falling apart. Sometimes I have cooked this for five or more hours, depending on how many times I open up the oven and check and how fatty they are. Check the marrow bone as well, the marrow should have shrunk and be very soft.
8. When they are finished take out the ribs as best as you can, leave the small bits that have fallen off. Strain the liquid into a gravy separator (this will put the fat at the top and leave you with just the sauce) and pull out the garlic clove and the bay leaf.
9. Add the vegetable back to the pan and put the sauce back in and bring to a boil on the stove. Scoop all the marrow out of the marrow bone and whisk into the sauce. This not only adds incredible richness and beef flavor, it also acts as a thickener to the sauce. Marrow is absolutely one of my favorite things to cook with, it adds an additional element to a braised dish without any additional effort, as it cook right alongside the meat.
10. Reduce the sauce to desired consistency and add the ribs back in, gently breaking up the boneless pieces to create a thicker ragu-like sauce. Add the parsley at the very end.
11. If you are cooling for the following day, skip this last paragraph, pull out the garlic clove and the bay leaf, and cool to room temp and put in the fridge overnight. The following day before cooking take the fat shell that has solidified off the top, this will leave you with just the saucy goodness and the meat. Take the meat out and bring to a boil. Scoop the marrow out of the marrow bone and whisk into the sauce. Then reduce the sauce and add the meat back in until it is heated through.
12. Serve on mashed potatoes, gnocchi, other pasta or polenta. You will be happy you went the extra mile with this dish. I promise. It is that good.