Ingredients:
12 beef short ribs, bone-in
2 yellow onions, peeled and chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 750-ml bottles of a robust dry red wine
¼ cup olive oil
6 cups veal or beef stock
Salt and pepper, freshly ground
Directions:
Preparing short ribs at Umbria Prime is a seven day process, but the actual hands-on cooking time is at most four hours, and is broken up over two days. The key step is after the initial marinating period of 5 days and the slow cooking, is to let the ribs cool and then chill overnight in the refrigerator. This makes it much easier to remove the generous amount of excess fat that ends up solidifying in the chilling process. The beef ribs also spend the whole night absorbing the flavor of the stock. You must use a good bottle of wine, the better the wine, the better the result. Use veal stock it if you can get it, if not, beef stock will do.
To Marinade:
Wash, peel and roughly cut the vegetables. Place the vegetables at the bottom of a container large enough to accommodate all the ribs, cover with the wine and refrigerate for as long as 5 days. Before braising remove the ribs, strain the vegetables from the wine and save both for later.
To Cook:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Season ribs to taste with the salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed oven proof pan over high heat. Add ribs and brown on all sides. Work in batches if you need to so that the ribs don’t get crowded (this will help with browning).
Transfer ribs to a plate. Pour off excess fat. Add the onions, celery, and carrots to the pan and sauté, stirring often, until lightly browned (about 5 minutes). Remove the vegetables from the pan, set aside. Then add the wine to the pan. Deglaze the pan by scraping off any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine by three-quarters until thick and slightly syrupy, about 15 minutes.
Return the ribs to the pan, add the veal stock and enough water (if needed) to cover the ribs. Bring to a boil, cover with foil, and place in the oven. Braise, cooking in the oven, until the meat is fork-tender, 3 to 3 1/2 hours. During the last 1/2-hour of cooking, add back in the vegetables. Remove from the oven and allow the ribs to cool in the liquid at room temperature, then cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, remove the excess fat that has solidified at the top from the overnight chilling. Place the pan with the ribs and cooking liquid over medium heat, uncovered. Cook until the liquid has reduced by three-quarters (about 1 hour). Continue to cook, spooning the sauce over the ribs, until the sauce is thick and ribs are glazed. Take care not to burn the glaze; move the ribs around in the pan to keep them from burning.
Photo By: Jazz Martin
Author: Chef Gianni Caruso
Restaurant: Umbria Prime, Boston, MA, USA
Source: http://www.sceneboston.com/2010/04/umbria-prime-braised-beef-short-rib/