Braised Short Ribs
Finite Cellars Wine pairing: 2024 RPG Pinot Noir
Recipe Origin: Basics with Babish
Scale of difficulty: Ben Special - but it takes some time (7/10)
OK, first off, this is one of the more decadent meals Ben makes, please consult your cardiologist before partaking. The short ribs are braised in red wine and Au jus until the meat is falling off the bones. The Potatoes Aligot is basically just a ton of parmesan cheese and butter with some mashed potatoes (approximate ratio of 1:1). Steph took one bite, dropped her fork, ignored a crying baby, hurdled a dog, and sprinted to the pot for more. We served this with sauteed green beans to pretend to be healthy. For the wine, we paired with our RPG Pinot Noir, the fuller mouthfeel and complex blueberry and oak profiles stand up beautifully to the super rich braised meat and cheese potatoes.
Now that we sold you on this, we need to talk about this cook book, Basics with Babish. Andrew Rea, aka Babish, is a YouTube chef that rose to fame for his series Binging With Babish recreating fictional foods from TV and movies, beginning with a Parks and Recreation burger in 2016. Featuring a style that focused on the food, the viewers see only his hands and the food while listening to his entertaining, self-deprecating banter (see the Cacio e pepe episode). The channels rapid growth, and his following from fans like Ben, allowed Andrew to quit is job and launch spin-off series like Basics With Babish, publish cookbooks, and build a massive culinary brand by making pop culture tangible and delicious. With his Basics with Babish, he tries complex recipes until he succeeds and teaches you all the techniques featuring a section of “How I’ve Screwed this Up”. His cook book, which we linked above, documents in great detail all of the tips and tricks. Ben HIGHLY recommends the cookbook and any of his videos on YouTube if you love learning to cook new dishes.
Here is a video for Babish’s braised short rib recipe. An overview of what Ben did here:
Braised Short Ribs
2 racks of short ribs or 6 English-style short ribs
Sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper
1tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, sliced
3 tbsp tomato paste
5 celery stocks, roughly chopped
1/2 lb carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 cups red wine
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup prune juice
1 tbsp soy sauce
5 garlic cloves
-Trim excess silver skin from the English-style short ribs, season generously with salt and pepper and bring to room temperature.
-Heat olive oil over medium-high heat to near smoking and sear short ribs on each side for 4-5 minutes, working in batches if needed.
-Remove the ribs and cook the onions until tender and browned. Add the tomato paste and stir to coat cooking for 2-3 minutes. Add the celery and carrots and cook until tender.
-Deglaze the fond with the red wine, then add the chicken stock, prune juice, soy sauce, garlic thyme and parsley. Stir to combine.
-Nestle the ribs into the braising liquid with each just peaking out. Cover and cook at a low simmer on the stove for 3.5-4.5 hours.
-Once done, rest ribs and strain braising liquid through a sieve into a large high-walled skillet, discard the solids.
-Reduce strained braising liquid by 80% until thickened and baste the ribs in the pan until warmed.
-Plate over the Potatoes Aligot and top with more sauce.
Potatoes Aligot
2 lbs of Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 oz of heavy cream
1 stick of unsalted butter (8 tbsp)
12 oz shredded melty cheese of your choice (we used Parmigiano reggiano)
-Boil potatoes over medium heat in salted water until tender, do not water log.
-Rice the potatoes in a pot using a potato ricer.
-Warm the heavy cream and butter mixture until melted and steaming then whisk into the potatoes
-Add the cheese slowly in batches while whisking until a consistency of fondue-y potatoes are achieved.
-Season to taste with salt and pepper.