A Carnivore's Delight: Grill-Braised Short Ribs

For your reading (and eating) pleasure, a guest post from my partner-in-cookery....

Looking good enough to eat!

As The Picky Eater's Daddy, it is my place to encourage the carnivore in us, even if vegetables do occasionally pass my lips.  As such, I am particularly keen on short ribs, which have risen from relative obscurity as restaurants have discovered that they can take what used to be trash meat and present it as a $28 entrée in many of the restaurants around here.  This same thing happened to Osso Bucco in the 1990’s and flank steak in the 1960’s.

I do enjoy beef short ribs, however, and the restaurant versions are usually very good.  This is due, I think, to their initially roasting the ribs (and perhaps the veggies) in a hot convection oven to really get them very well browned, then using very rich red wine with many added spices, with significant reduction of the braising liquid for service.  At home I have never been too happy with the usual oven versions.

The usual short rib recipe is to brown the ribs in a casserole (I use cast iron) on the stove top, brown some onions, carrots and the like on the stove top, then pour in the red wine and stock and braise in the oven.  This process does take ~3 hrs total, and, in the summer tends to heat up the house (no air conditioning in the homestead) and makes the place smell like braised beef for a couple of days (not such a bad thing, perhaps).

I have converted a roast pork recipe (a variation on Mark Bittman’s Pernil) and a roast turkey breast for the grill to be able to reasonably cook these during the summer.  I took it on myself to try the same thing with short ribs.  The impetus for this was a recent America’s Test Kitchen (Cook’s Country) recipe for grill-braised pork, where pork shoulder “steaks” were grilled first, then braised on the grill in a BBQ sauce concoction, then grilled briefly at the end of the cooking to put on a bit of glaze.  It occurred to me that the same treatment could be used for short ribs.  There is little about this on the web, a couple of recipes using stout or beer, but no traditional red-wine based braise that I could find quickly, but there are some precedents, see for example sausage maker Bruce Aidel's Fine Cooking Magazine article on Barbeque-Braising.

The key to these recipes is that the grill does a much better (and less messy) job of browning the meat than frying in oil on the stove top.  This is probably due to the moisture in the meat being quickly evaporated on the grill, allowing higher surface temperatures on the meat, resulting in better browning.  Additionally, some added flavor is likely imparted to the meat during this grilling.

As browned vegetables are usually used in the braising, I also grilled these after the meat, again generating better flavor in the vegetables (onions, carrots, chili, and celery) than is easily accomplished on the stove.

To get more flavor in the meat, it is marinated in a mixture of red wine and spices, in fact in the same braising liquid that is to be used later.  This helps flavor the meat and also combines with the meat juices during the browning on the grill.  I don’t think the exact measures of the following ingredients are very important, in fact, none of this was measured at the time, so use your best judgment.  Be a bit careful with the salt, however, as eventually the reduced braising liquid will be used for the sauce, and much of the salt will remain in this concentrated liquid.

I balked at the initial price of $6/lb for the short ribs at one mid-range market, but found them in a local Chinese grocery for $4/lb.  God knows what Whole Foods charges.
Thus we have:

Grill-Braised Short Ribs

5-8 lbs beef short ribs as desired
1 disposable aluminum roasting pan, to fit ribs and veggies snugly in a single layer
1 bottle red wine, something robust, I used a cheap (but drinkable) zin-cab-syrah blend out of a box (Target Vintner’s Blend, 2011 as if it really matters)
1 large onion, sliced or quartered
2 large carrots, cut in half the long way
2 large celery stalks, cut in 6” lengths
1 mild chili pepper, such as poblano, seeded and cut in two lengthwise
2+ cloves garlic
2+ tsp black pepper
1 Tb salt
1+ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp chili powder or cayenne or both, as desired

Put the ribs and all of the spices in either a large heavy plastic bag or container, and add enough red wine to just cover the meat and massage briefly to mix.  Let sit in the refrigerator as convenient, say 3-6 hrs.

I use a large covered charcoal grill, so light up a chimney of charcoal, or run a propane grill relatively high until ready for action.   Place the coals on one side of the grill to leave room for the braising off direct heat. Remove the meat from the marinade and start to grill, letting each side (or, well, most of the sides) brown very well, a few minutes per side depending on the heat level.  No reason to hurry here.  Occasional fat flare-ups seem to enhance the flavor. While doing this, transfer all of the marinade to the disposable pan and start to heat it on the grill towards boiling.

When finished grilling the meat, transfer the meat to the pan in a single layer, and grill the vegetables over the coals until also quite browned, a few minutes per side.  Add the vegetables to the pan and make sure the liquid comes up at least 2/3 of the way over the meat, as the liquid will cook down some during the braising.  If more liquid is needed, add more red wine or chicken stock (never water).

Place the pan over the hottest part of the grill and heat until boiling, then either turn down the grill or move the pan off direct heat.  Cover the pan with heavy aluminum foil to reasonably seal the pan.  The heat should be regulated to have the liquid bubbling slowly, for about 2-2.5 hrs.  You can peek after an hour or so to make sure the liquid has not evaporated.  If so, turn down the heat some or add some additional wine or stock.  Once you think it is going well, leave it alone with the cover closed.  With a charcoal grill, the heat will naturally reduce over time, which is not really a problem with this sort of recipe.  The picture shows the ribs at the end of the 2.5 hr braising.  This is what you are looking for.

When done, transfer the ribs to another covered pan and strain and de-fat the braising liquid into a sauce pan.  Reduce the liquid by around half, tasting for salt, which can be added at this point if necessary.  This liquid should be strong and very flavorful.   Serve the ribs with some reduced sauce, perhaps over garlic mashed potatoes or polenta.  A young syrah is a good match for this sort of thing, but pretty much any good, rich red wine will do.  You went to all this trouble to cook the meat; have something worth drinking.  I had a 2009 Provenance Cabernet Franc, which was very nice, thank you.

I simultaneously cooked a ~2” thick boneless chuck the same way, which turned out pretty well, but without the maximum flavor of the short ribs.