[Modernist Cuisine at Home] Red Wine Glaze

[Anonymous Modernist 9803]

In the recipe for Red Wine Glaze, step 1 notes the use of 2.8lbs of Lean Ground Beef. The beef is browned along with 1/4 cup of frying oil and a portion of the resultin fat reserved, and the beef appears to be discarded. Is this correct, or should the browned beef be added back in during step 6 (with the knucklebones)? One would think there would be a better way of obtaining beef-flavored fat than using/wasting this quantity of beef. Any suggestions?

Also, is the yield correct for this recipe as 100g? Given the use of 750ml of wine and 1L of water, this appears to be quite low.

Any advice is appreciated.

-Brandon

[Judy Wilson]

Hi Brandon,

I've talked to the chefs and they say that the beef is not discarded. Hope that helps! Let us know your results!

Judy

[Anonymous Modernist 10517]

I was just coming here to ask this very same question. The recipe is definitely missing a step: after browning all the ground beef it is never mentioned again in the recipe. I assume it goes in with the knucklebones to pressure cook for 2 hours.

Neil

[Anonymous Modernist 10517]

Well, we finished this tonight and it was a fail After reducing it was so thick you could stand a spoon in it, and that was before it was down to 1/3rd of a cup. My guess is it's my fault for a substitution: using beef shanks instead of knucklebones. We couldn't find knucklebones.

Neil

[Anonymous Modernist 11719]

I'm in hour 66 of the 72 hour short rib recipe and about to embark on the Red Wine Glaze. I had the same questions as Brandon and neil_enns. What do the chefs do with the ground beef, if it's not discarded and not added back to this recipe? I also thought that the end volume was low. No doubt it has a dynamite flavor! Looking forward to a wonderful meal! Tom PS: Fantastic dinner! The ribs were perfect. The glaze was wonderful, leaving us wanting more.

[Anonymous Modernist 14818]

Hi Tom,

Based on your PS, it sounds like you figured things out. I'm about ready to embark on this one. Any tips on the glaze? I noticed the ribs recipe requires double the amount of the glaze recipe. I presume you just doubled everything - do you think it would all fit in a 6 qt pressure cooker? How did you handle the ground beef addition?

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Dennis

[Anonymous Modernist 11719]

Hi Dennis, To be honest, I hadn't noticed that the recipe for the ribs had double the recipe of the glaze. Good pickup! I didn't double the glaze. I made the ribs for my wife and I, and the glaze was sufficient for two portions with enough left for perhaps two more. You don't need a lot since it's quite concentrated. I actually made up 4+ pounds of boneless ribs and chilled and froze the remainder for later consumption. As to the leftover ground beef, it's still in the fridge and will probably become part of a red sauce for pasta. I think we need Judy from ADMIN to ask the chefs what they actually do with the meat set aside. I used a 5 liter (5.3 Qt.) Kuhn-Rikon pressure cooker and was able to just fit in the standard glaze recipe ingredients. I don't think a 6 L. pot would hold a double recipe and I think that's why they have the proportions listed. One note: it takes more time than usual to decompress the pressure cooker because of the large amount of liquid in the pot. Be patient and don't rush the process. Bon appetit! Tom

[Judy Wilson]

Here I am!

Yes, you add the beef back in at step 6. It's actually quite like this recipe here: http://modernistcuisine.com/recipes/sous-vide-short-ribs/

Judy

[Anonymous Modernist 14818]

Thank you Tom and Judy for your quick and helpful replies! The meat is cookin' and I'm working to reserve 4 hours tomorrow night for the sauce! Can't believe I'm going to spend 4 hours on a sauce!!! Hope it's good!

[Anonymous Modernist 14818]

I completed this last night and enjoyed it with the braised short rib recipe (and the potato puree). A few notes from my experience:

* I used the oil from 3 lbs. gnd beef but only used 2 lbs. of the actual gnd beef in the pressure cooker (1 lb. for tacos!!!)

* I put all of the solids in a strainer in the cooker. This made it very easy to remove the solids prior to the cheesecloth straining.

* BIG TIP: make the glaze ahead of time. Once you strain it (post-pressure cooker), put it in the refrigerator overnight. The fat will rise to the top and harden, making it very easy to remove prior to the final reduction. I had a good 1/8" layer of fat on the top that came off very easily all at once.

* I think I over-reduced the sauce. I found that as it was reducing it really accelerated at the end there. Also, I was wondering how thick it should be. Given that it was over high heat, it was less syrupy than it is in the actual dish. In other words, I think you should plan for it to still be fairly liquid as you are reducing it. I'd stop a little short of where you might think you should given the "syrup" description. I ended up adding some liquid from the short ribs (I had about a cup of liquid in the vacuum bag after the 3-day cook) to thin it out.

In the end the sauce turned out really well - it tasted great. Was it worth the high cost, time, and effort? Maybe not but it was fun for a one-time thing. I'll almost definitely pursue some other cheaper, less time-consuming sauce the next time I do this rib recipe but for the experience I highly recommend making this sauce at least once. At a minimum, I was just continuously surprised at how much sheer mass is involved in making a flavorful sauce from scratch. Pounds upon pounds of solids and liquids result in such a feeble amount of sauce!! That alone was very educational.

[Anonymous Modernist 5686]

It also seems weird to me that the knucklebones don't get browned before going into the pressure cooker. Is that a mistake as well?

[Anonymous Modernist 14738]

I also noticed the recipe yields 1/3 cup or 100g. The short ribs recipe says it needs 1/2 cup or 200g.

Is the weight/volume in error for the recipe? What should it reduce to? The glaze recipe says 100g is 1/3 cup and the short rib recipe says 100g would be 1/4 cup?

[Sam Fahey-Burke]

Hi matash,

The bones are used to add body to the finished sauce, so there‚’s no need to caramelize them. The browned ground meat provides the caramelized meat flavor.

Does that answer your question?

Sam