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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.

@AlaMoi, opening the oven multiple times for misting may result in more heat loss than you'd want. Another option to consider is placing a pan on another shelf and letting it preheat; when you put the dough in, throw either a cup of water or several ice cubes into the preheated pan. I don't remember whether the water or the ice cubes worked better for me, but they helped with oven spring.

well, first attempt in the books . . . disappointing.... followed Bouchon Bakery book recipe & technique precisely. I do not have a steam oven.... the bread did not brown - the technique calls for baking at 460'F imho, this is too hot. baked in a preheated oven on a preheated stone,,,, it's 'done' before the crust has time to brown. lack of rise - altho the 'times' were done by a timer, I suspect my kitchen is too cool for the prescribed times. next up: reduced baking temp multiple 'misting' for humidity extend rising times to make results vs. timer going off . . .

I borrowed one of those rubber collared jar openers and it popped right open, then I yelled "I LOOSENED IT FOR YOU" at the gadget before returning it.

I've completed a few tests in order to find an alternative to Flaxfiber. The candidates I tested were Inulin cold, Inulin hot (without the application of heat, so I can't guarantee proper hydration and activation, but in the past, it seems to have worked after an overnight resting period), Xanthan gum and a combination of Inulin hot/Xanthan gum. First, I did a test to compare texture change and flavour release against a Flaxfiber benchmark. To do this, I blended and hydrated the different stabilizers/emulsifiers with store bought apple juice in the same ratio I've used for Flaxfiber in the sorbets/sherbets above. Control sample: 1.8g Flaxfiber 250g Apple juice Results in a runny fluid gel like texture with little or no change in flavour compared to straight apple juice. Inulin cold: 1.8g Sosa inulin cold 250g Apple juice No noticeable texture change at this ratio, but the 10% POD was quite noticeable... Inulin hot: 1.8g Sosa inulin hot 250g Apple juice Slight texture change, but still very much a liquid and nowhere near Flaxfiber. Good flavour release. Xanthan gum: 1.8g Xanthan gum 250g Apple juice It looks like Sosa may have reversed the Flaxfiber to Xanthan gum replacement ratio because this resulted in a thick nasty goop. 0.9g might have worked better, but I went for another option. Inulin hot and Xanthan gum: 1.4g Inulin hot 0.4g Xanthan gum 250g Apple juice Very close in texture and fluidity. Good flavour release, but interestingly, it highlights and exaggerates the acid in the juice rather than the fruit. Still, this was enough of a success to proceed to a full cultured milk sherbet trial: Same recipe as above, but 3.6g Flaxfiber was replaced by 2.8g inulin hot and 0.8g Xanthan gum. Inulin should be added together with Gellan gum, sodium citrate and sucrose. Version with Flaxfiber on the left and inulin/xanthan on the right. Both very good, but a couple of minor differences. The inulin/xanthan version is slightly softer and melts a bit too quickly on the tongue for my liking (they are both very stable on the plate though, probably thanks to the gellan gum). It's also more acid forward in flavour, but that could be partly because of milk from different cartons/production dates. If I didn't have Flaxfiber, I would definitely experiment more with this. I would probably try to increase the amount of inulin and/or xanthan a bit though.

This was originally going to be a fattoush: toasted bread broken up, laid as the bed for torn lettuce, tomato, hard boiled egg, with my current batch of dressing. But I wanted hummus on that tiast, so kept the bread whole. Open-faced toasted sandwich with hummus, salad atop it. This tomato is from the very last of the excellent locally-grown tomatoes I can get here for the season. I'll be sorry to see it go, but I'll celebrate it while I can. It turns out that the hummus plays very well with the salad dressing. I've added some hummus to the mix. It looks too goopy to honor with a photo, but that doesn't stop its being delicious!

Tacos with roasted Poblano chiles, Shiitake mushrooms, and shrimp. Other flavors came from sliced jalapeno, sliced white onion, garlic, cumin seed, thyme, Mexican oregano, cilantro, fish sauce, and ancho chile powder, finished with crumbled feta and a splash of half-and-half.

Took a drive out to our farm house and to enjoy the fall colours. Got home too late to bake the huge ham, so I did 2 thick slices on the pan, drizzled with maple syrup.

I usually start the day with a smoothie but decided to give the blender a day off. I had a few odds and ends in the refrigerator that became a tortilla de patatas-ish breakfast. The filling was leftover potato pave, red onion and yellow pepper sauteed in butter and tomato infused olive oil. I topped the two egg dish with labneh and semi-dried tomatoes.

Espresso loaf cake with burnt butter and coffee icing by Diana Henry (recipe)... It was fine, but failed to wow me. I thought the icing was better than the cake, which is the opposite of what @blue_dolphin thought way back on page two (!) of this thread, so don't let me put you off if you like the look of it.

The guiding idea for this tabbouli is from Balaboosta (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), written by Einat Admony, a restaurateur / writer / cook in Manhattan. Her proportions are 1 c bulgur (before soaking), 1 c each cilantro and parsley, and 1/4 c mint, with the tomatoes, onions and dressings thrown in. That said, she herself writes in the book: Last night I was busily using as much of the herbs as I had available, and flying by the seat of my pants -- that is, no cookbook. And to @rotuts' point, I like the bulgur for its texture and ability to absorb and show off the tangy dressing. So I suppose you could say my version is from Northern Minnesota.

That area of downtown Santa Ana is really charming. Next year, I’ll try to get tickets to more of the Encuentro events - it’s 3-day weekend of Peace, Love & Beans - and stay overnight. There was an art walk, movie screenings, panel discussions related to food and drag bingo, among other things.

"Big enough to swaddle a baby" spinach.

Ive had various friends from the Middle East their version of tabbouli was always very green. I prefer T a la @Smithy. I think bulgur has interesting flavor , and texture .

That's what I'm used to too. Basically a parsley/mint salad with a few bites of grain thrown in for good measure.