Serves a Crowd

"Fusion" Short Ribs

by:
January  5, 2011
5
4 Ratings
"Fusion" Short Ribs
  • Serves 12
Author Notes

For years I struggled to decide whether classically French, or boldly Asian flavored short ribs were my favorite. Truth be told I made Boulud’s more than any others over the years, so I guess the French won out. Then one day I decided to concoct a marriage of the two styles, took the best of each method and with a little tweaking over time, came up with these “Fusion” ribs. The technique is classic French as are the addition of red wine, thyme, shallots, carrots and celery. The Asian twist comes with the help of fresh ginger, cinnamon, fennel, soy, and star anise. The resulting dish is knock-your-socks-off good.
—Oui, Chef

Test Kitchen Notes

Oui, Chef's multi-culti short ribs are an inspired, and well-edited, foray into fusion cuisine. His suggestion to chill the ribs overnight makes de-fatting a snap and the ribs get that much more succulent -- but even the night of, they're pretty darn tasty. A note of caution: Use the lowest sodium stock and tamari you can find and be gentle in your seasoning of the ribs before browning -- all the flavors concentrate substantially by the time the meat is sliding off the bone. Note: I halved the recipe and it fit perfectly in my 5-quart dutch oven. —Kristen Miglore

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 12 beef short ribs, trimmed of excess fat
  • 3 bottles dry red wine
  • 10 cups low-sodium beef broth
  • 1 cup soy sauce or tamari
  • 1 cup a/p flour, for dredging
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 12 large shallots, peeled, trimmed, and split
  • 3 medium-sized carrots, peeled, trimmed and cut into coins
  • 3 ribs of celery, peeled, trimmed and roughly chopped
  • 2 fennel bulbs, fronds removed, cored and roughly chopped
  • 12 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • 3 star anise
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1/4 cup peeled and roughly chopped fresh ginger
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1/2 bunch fresh thyme sprigs
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
  1. Pour the wine into a large saucepan set over medium heat. When the wine is hot, carefully set it aflame. The flames could jump quite high, so watch out. Let the flames die out, then increase the heat so that the wine boils; allow it to boil until it cooks down by half. Remove from the heat and reserve.
  2. Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350°F
  3. Warm the oil in a large, heavy, dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season the ribs all over with salt and pepper. Place about 1 cup of a/p flour in a large mixing bowl and dredge each of the seasoned short ribs through the flour, knocking off any excess flour before continuing. Then, when the oil is hot, and working in batches, slip the ribs into the pot and sear 4 to 5 minutes on each side, until well-browned. Transfer the ribs to a sheet tray. Repeat with remaining ribs. Remove any burnt flour residue, and all but 1 tablespoon of the fat from the pot, lower the heat under the pot to medium and toss in the vegetables, spices and herbs. Brown the vegetables lightly, about 10 minutes, then stir in the tomato paste and cook for a few minutes more.
  4. Add the reduced wine, ribs, soy and beef stock to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover tightly and place in the oven to braise for 2 1/2-3 hours or until the ribs are very tender. It's best to make the recipe to this point, then let the ribs cool in the braising medium. Chill in the pan overnight, then scrape off the congealed fat from the top the next day before continuing.
  5. After removing all the fat from the top of the braise, carefully transfer the meat to a platter. Boil the braising medium including all the remaining solids until it the liquid has reduced to about 3-4 cups. Pass the sauce through a fine strainer, pressing on the solids to extract all their goodness, then discard the solids. Season the sauce to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper. Add the ribs back to the sauce and heat over a low flame (or covered in a 350 degree oven), basting the ribs frequently, just to heat through. Serve with a potato puree (a sweet potato puree is great too), and a generous slathering of the rich sauce.
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Oui, Chef
I am a father of five, who recently completed a two year professional hiatus during which I indulged my long held passion for cooking by moving to France to study the culinary arts and immerse myself in all things French. I earned “Le Grande Diplome” from Le Cordon Bleu, studied also at The Ritz Escoffier and Lenotre cooking schools, and completed the course offerings of the Bordeaux L’Ecole du Vin. About six months ago started "Oui, Chef", which is a food blog that exists as an extension of my efforts to teach my children a few things about cooking, and how our food choices over time effect not only our own health, but that of our local food communities and our planet at large. By sharing some of our cooking experiences through the blog, I hope to inspire other families to start spending more time together in the kitchen, cooking healthy meals as a family, passing on established familial food traditions, and perhaps starting some new ones.

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30 Reviews

Zehra P.
Zehra P. October 20, 2016
Would the sauce taste richer with bone in short ribs?
 
mikemcl721@verizon.net
[email protected] July 6, 2012
Every other short rib recipe I read suggests separating the ribs and braising liquid when refrigerated overnight- what led you to leave them together?
 
Oui, C.
Oui, C. July 6, 2012
Simply to give the meat more time with the sauce in order to soak up more of it's fantastic flavor. When the meat cools in the braising liquid and the muscle fiber relax a little, they absorb that mush more of the Frensh-Asian flavor of the dish.
 
melissav
melissav January 10, 2011
We had these for dinner last night and served them on top of Sonali's Celery Root Puree. Totally delicious and pretty simple. P.S. - Very much a Oui Chef weekend at our household as we made your Red Pepper Soup on Friday. :-)
 
Oui, C.
Oui, C. January 10, 2011
Wow...that's so cool, thanks for letting me know. Glad you enjoyed the ribs! - S
 
MakeThatMakeThis
MakeThatMakeThis January 7, 2011
Wow. That looks so amazing. Can't wait to try it out!
 
Oui, C.
Oui, C. January 10, 2011
Thanks, I hope you do give them a try.
 
TiggyBee
TiggyBee January 6, 2011
Love it.
 
Oui, C.
Oui, C. January 10, 2011
Thanks TiggyBee.
 
Midge
Midge January 6, 2011
These sound scrumptious and what a beautiful shot!
 
Oui, C.
Oui, C. January 10, 2011
Thanks Midge!
 
lastnightsdinner
lastnightsdinner January 6, 2011
Wow, these are gorgeous!
 
Oui, C.
Oui, C. January 6, 2011
Thanks!
 
dymnyno
dymnyno January 6, 2011
Why do you flame the wine? Just boiling will burn off the alcohol?
 
Oui, C.
Oui, C. January 6, 2011
Yes, just boiling will burn off the alcohol and you can certainly go that route if you wish, but setting it aflame does the job much quicker by bringing the mix to a very rapid boil and reducing the wine in a hurry.
 
MyCommunalTable
MyCommunalTable January 6, 2011
You had me at fennel and red wine. What? Why didn't I think of that. Great recipe. Great pic.
 
Oui, C.
Oui, C. January 6, 2011
I've been struggling with my photography lately, but I AM pretty pleased with this shot. Thanks! - S
 
ellenl
ellenl January 6, 2011
I am always in awe of your talent and love for food. I love your blog. Thanks.
 
Oui, C.
Oui, C. January 6, 2011
Wow, what a lovely comment, thanks so much! - S
 
Kayb
Kayb January 5, 2011
The recipe makes me want to start in on short ribs at 10 p.m. The photo makes me want to lick my screen. I don't suspect either is a good idea!
 
Oui, C.
Oui, C. January 6, 2011
Thanks Kayb. Go ahead....there's no calories in licking your screen! - S
 
Sagegreen
Sagegreen January 5, 2011
And a sorrel leaf for garnish?
 
Oui, C.
Oui, C. January 5, 2011
no...just a little arugula leaf for the photo.
 
Sagegreen
Sagegreen January 5, 2011
Love!
 
thirschfeld
thirschfeld January 5, 2011
is that Boulud's wonderful celery puree underneath. I have made those same ribs more than once over the years and have to agree. This looks great.
 
Oui, C.
Oui, C. January 5, 2011
Thanks. No, these are Robuchon's though I have made the celery root/potato puree and it IS fabulous.
 
hardlikearmour
hardlikearmour January 5, 2011
This sounds amazing, and the picture is positively hunger inducing!
 
Oui, C.
Oui, C. January 5, 2011
Thanks, hardlikearmour!
 
wssmom
wssmom January 5, 2011
This sounds divine ...
 
Oui, C.
Oui, C. January 5, 2011
Thank you.