Continuing our theme of "cooking with the wedding gifts", we next come to the big red cast iron dutch oven. This was a gift from M. and C. (n.b., a different "M. and C." from that mentioned in the previous post). I wanted one of these because the Internet suggested it was the appropriate tool for making braised short ribs, and I have long wanted to be the sort of person who can make braised short ribs. The recipe followed was that of The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, and has been transcribed in blogs already.
She suggests the use of a dark beer, such as a black lager. After staring at the Whole Foods beer selection for 20 minutes, I settled on Old Rasputin, a Russian Imperial Stout, as our braising beer.
After 3 hours in the above pot, the meat was starting to fall off the bone, as desired. In all likelihood a bit more cooking would not have hurt. We elected to perform the optional extra step in the recipe wherein the ribs are briefly oven roasted after the slow cooking while the sauce is reduced on the stove. I suspect both were worth it.
The ribs were served on top of a parsnip purée, which was worthwhile treat in its own right thanks to the addition of horseradish. We deviated from the recipe here in that we used Lactose-free kefir in lieu of heavy cream.
In all, a highly satisfactory dish. Next time, the one thing I'd do differently is try it with a lower IBU beer.
No comments:
Post a Comment