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I’m not recommending this method for cooking beans, the warnings above are wise, but am sharing this little tidbit on the length of time it would likely take. This past weekend, I enjoyed a meal at the Rancho Gordo Heirloom Bean Encuentro at Alta Baja Market in Santa Ana, CA. One of the participating chefs was Tony Esnault of the Michelin star restaurant Knife Pleat (and formerly Church & State and Spring in Los Angeles) who served a dish of RG Buckeye beans, forest mushrooms, allium crumble and fine herbs. It was delicious. When asked how the beans were cooked, he said they were soaked overnight in salted water, then cooked for 24 hrs at 202°. He did NOT specifically say they used sous vide and there are other ways to maintain that temp but it’s in the range where sous vide could work. The texture of the beans was more fudgy than creamy. They were tender, but not soft or mushy at all. Not a revelation, it was the flavors that made the dish special, not the texture of the beans but they contrasted very effectively with the texture of the mushrooms I'm sort of tempted to try it to compare more carefully with conventional cooked beans from the same bag.

echoing what @gfweb has said braise is probably more about the sauce , then the meat on its own. Id suggest always letting the braise cool , and be refrigerated overnight, where hopefully some of that flavor in the sauce re-enters the meat. also , ' tradition ' requires temps that have some bubbling . why not try a lower temp , 170 F ? and thus longer ? traditional cooking techniques , under expert hands , have been tasty for a long long time. but can be adapted , with fairly current knowledge , to yield a better result. and the fat you take off then next day , will not just be beef fat ( currently a Cure-All ) but flavored w other fat soluble flavors. why not use ( some ) of that for a steamed dumpling ?

I think they are quite different but I haven’t been to a Northgate, so I could be wrong. I've always thought Northgate was a supermarket, similar to Vallarta, which has more locations in my area. Alta Baja Market is more of a specialty shop than a supermarket. They carry some food items like heirloom beans, grains and flours, ground chiles, sauces and condiments, along with a selection of wines and spirits but no fresh produce, meat, frozen or refrigerated goods. They have a reach-in cooler stocked with beer and nonalcoholic beverages but it’s not a place you could do your weekly shopping. It’s possible they offer more than I saw as they had tables squeezed into every corner for this event. That said, I think it's worth a visit. Nice selection of La Chamba and other pottery, cookbooks and other books and gift items. I thought their prices for the wines and spirits were on the high side but they are specialty items and not as widely available. I’d like to try their cafe offerings. They host various events like cooking classes that sound appealing. If you go, you might pay a visit to Mr. Diablito, a fruit vendor across the street at 4th & Bush. He made the delicious agua fresca served at our meal.

I have done SV short ribs. I like the old school braise. SV is perfectly nice but not what I think of when I hear braised short ribs. I like the veg and the sauce that results from a braise. Re GF vs GF...I imagine all were grain finished but I don't know

Another BLPT sandwich, this time with C added as well. Another precious slice of my last-of-the-year farmers' market tomatoes gone. Another 2 slices of my oven-baked bacon, gone. By the time the bacon had been heated adequately atop the dressed bread and the cheese, the cheese had melted more than I'd have preferred. That was all right, though: I just let it cool slightly to solidify, and then I could pick up the whole thing. Messy. Juicy. Delicious. Filling.

@Victual Vignettes, I think you can seecfrom the posts above that there are many, many seasoning and flavor methods in a standard braise... and I suspect that @rotuts has the right of it: grass-fed beef will behave differently than grain-finished beef. Let us know more about what you've done in the past, and maybe post some photos of the beef you're working with now.

@gfweb have you made GF short ribs ? vs grain finished ? @AlaMoi ditto above ? good tips here , my guess is that w a braise , independent of ' cut ' , there is going to be a big difference in results using the exact same cooking method , GF vs Grain finished .

the usual seasonings are semi-consistent across recipes - as for 'too thin' one approach I've used is start with a roux, cook it to dark, use that as a base, adding beef stock as needed to adjust consistency to your liking. for wine I like Marsala - has a nice flavor twist. another very successful trick: make it, cool, chill overnight in the fridge, reheat&serve next day. (the baby potatoes below were boiled and added on service second day....)

Saturday, sticky chicken wings with broccoli, rice, and cream cheese wontons Sunday I did not feel like cooking a big dinner so we just had sandwiches. Everyone made what they wanted. I only took a picture of mine, which was a mushroom cheesesteak. Husband had a burger, sister had a caprese, and niece just ate leftovers from Saturday before heading to skating practice. Last night, rigatoni with spicy turkey meatballs

I use a pyrex dish and add a cup of red wine, 1 tbsp tomato paste, two tbsp soy, an onion in wedges and a carrot sliced (don't omit the carrot, it matters). Th liquid should come halfway up the meat. Add water as needed. Cover with foil and bake at 250 or 300 for 3 hours. Although I use lots of SV, the product is different than the braised beef and I like braised here.

@Victual Vignettes what were your SR's like before ? what type of meat did you use ? I would think that true grass fed beef presents difficulties w braising : it's leaner , and tougher than grain finished beef. All braises end up w meat , while tender , when tasted alone w/o the resulting sauce , can be dry and stringy if over cooked. its the nature of meat fibers contracting , making the sauce. start w a flavorful beef stock . if using wine , consider a dry-er version , as the sugars will concentrate as the wine evaporates. but you might want that sweetness. and let the braise cool , and use the nexxt day if you can . some of the stock re equilibrates w the meat. over all , I think you meat is too lean , and possibly over cooked. @Smithy has good refereces , above. P.S.: Ive only cooked GFB a couple of times , sirloin-ish cuts. I use SV as the method , @ 130 F specifically to minimize muscle contraction , and timed for tenderness. this got me flavorful tender meat . not sure if this helps.

Panko Bread eggplant parm/ meatball patty center/ eggplant bottom/ garden sauce--has a middle layer of hot chili paste--Asiago and Provel cheese ( St, Louis thing )

Scrambled eggs with broccolini, white onion, and roasted chile Poblano, finished with thyme, Mexican oregano, and crumbled feta. Still using up produce that I purchased before being away for a few days. This batch of chile Poblano had good flavor and a little heat so I did not use any jalapenos. 🙂

Duke's mayo is $4.20 for 48 oz at Amazon. No indication how long it'll be on sale.

I think you're using the right equipment. The Staub Dutch Oven has good thermal mass, and that's what you want although I don't think it has to be Staub. I've had good results with other brands of heavy cooking equipment, and even with glass Pyrex baking dishes and aluminum foil in a pinch. My basic procedure for beef short ribs is: rinse the ribs, pat them dry, and coat with the seasoning (rub) of your choice; brown on stovetop in fat of your choice (I generally use olive oil); add enough water to cover the bottom of the pan, and come up maybe a quarter of the way, no more than halfway, up the side of the ribs; cover and put into a low oven temperature (225F to 275F); walk away and leave them for 1.5 - 2 hours, then check; you're looking for the meat to be tender enough to remove the bones; remove the meat from the juice, let it cool enough to remove the bones, and set it aside; defat the sauce; make gravy from the sauce if you wish (here's where I would add wine); reduce sauce to the thickness you want; reheat the rib meat in the sauce; serve and enjoy. I haven't cooked short ribs since December 2023, but this post shows the steps and the results. The pan used isn't an enameled cast iron because I didn't have one available, but it was the biggest Dutch oven that I had, and it worked well despite its light weight. Some notes: @Margaret Pilgrim, in this post, recommended a French Laundry - inspired recipe with video. She cautioned that the volume is very loud, so be prepared to turn it down. This is considerably more elaborate than what I do, and probably orders of magnitude more flavorful. In an eGCI lab on braising, long long ago, some people reported having good success with stovetop braising so they can monitor the progress of the braise and be sure that the liquid is at the lowest possible simmer. It's never worked as well for me, whether I used an electric stove / oven or gas stove / oven, so I've always stuck with oven braising for best tenderness. YMMV. For all the detailed experiments and discussion on the braising seminar, search the eGCI for "braising" or "The Truth About Braising". It was a week-long seminar, followed by Q&A, and it's where I first learned about braising and fell in love with the method. The introduction is here. Some people found that browning beforehand helped; others didn't. Some found that the braising liquid mattered; some didn't. So my method listed above works for me but isn't the do-all and be-all. See my first note about Margaret's method! Finally: I've never tried braising grass-fed beef ribs, and don't know what the marbling is like. If that meat is very lean, you may have to adjust methods. I've listed what I do with grocery-store ribs. Maybe someone else can help with the grass-fed aspect. My guess, based on your "stringy and not very flavorful" results, is that you're overcooking them and maybe not seasoning them properly at the outset.

@blue_dolphin I've been meaning to visit that market, especially since discovering the relatively new Northgate market in Costa Mesa - I know Northgate is a chain, and if you've been to one, is it possible to compare the two?

I had to look up ajvar. Grilled red peppers and eggplant sounds like a good combination that I've seen under other names. Do you make your own? If so, is the Serious Eats link I put in here close to what you do?

@Midlife or , go back to that restaurant , and take a few pics ! I would.

hmmm. I may resort to some sort of wash - but methinks I'll go with slight modifications first. the recipe - used also for mini-baguette - makes two. next go I'll do one loaf, one + one epis style.

I don't know what's happened to me, but after a long spell of not making short ribs or any braises really, I have attempted them twice in the last couple of months with underwhelming results. Specifically, I'm ending up with a too - watery sauce and meat that is "done" but somewhat stringy and not particularly flavorful. I think I need to go back to the basic elements and get tips on how to amp each step up a notch - what type of wine, ratio of liquid to beef, are you simmering stove-top or cooking in the oven (does it make a notable difference?), type of beef (I have used grass fed on these two recent sub-par attempts). I am open to any and all suggestions. I should further note that I theoretically have the time to prepare these and let them cook then also cool in order to skim fat, if that is recommended. Essentially, I am able to start at 11:30 a.m. something that won't need to be on the table until 7ish pm. I am working with a large staub dutch oven and cooking with gas (range and oven). Please give me all of your best tried and true tips! Your ultimate instructions. Thank you. I will share my results.

The last of the gift salad kits! I added home-grown tomato, bacon, skipped the bagel chips and made some garlic toast (Penzey's Garden Salad Blend + olive oil). Tonight I am going to have some hot food--I'm saladed out for a while, though I've got a lot of tomatoes to use. And it is a chilly day, too!

Ajvar-Chicken with Carrots - chicken breast is quickly pan-seared, before smeared with ajvar and finished in the oven. Carrots, chickpeas, red onions and garlic are sauteed and cooked with a mix of vegetable broth and ajvar before finished with sour cream, mint, parsley, lemon zest and juice

Rotuts, thanks for ‘taking one for the team with the CRs. I’ll try the air fryer>400° method soon. OTOH, I just had a restaurant CR a few days ago and that much batter on the TJs is certainly not how they did it. Hopefully max crispness will help as an alternative solution.

@Smithy quite some time ago , when I used to bake I used an enamel coated cast iron skillet , ie heavy mass , and 10 " in the bottom rack , and threw in a couple of ice cubes. the cubes evaporated , so the door of the oven did not need to be opened again its was much easier than trying water in a very hot oven , and quicker.

They certainly look great except for the color. It looks like you didn't use a bread wash. Here is an excellent article that explains different bread washes that you could use. I usually just brush them with milk but that's only because I'm lazy.