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Gimme your best braising recipe...


Lori in PA

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We are celebrating Christmas with my side of the family today. We do wish lists. For 3-4 years, mine has included a request for a Le Creuset 9.5 qt. oval French Oven. I think this just may be my year. :biggrin: So, give me your absolute favorite thing to do with such a pot. I don't have Molly's Braising cookbook (though that's on my list, too, so maybe...). I'm really wanting to make Chufi's butter braised beef, since I read her ENTIRE thread a couple of days ago. Other ideas?

~ Lori in PA

My blog: http://inmykitcheninmylife.blogspot.com/

My egullet blog: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=89647&hl=

"Cooking is not a chore, it is a joy."

- Julia Child

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Braised Lamb Shanks with Porcini Risotto.

serves 6 (with risotto (risotto recipe not included unless requested!!))

I made this yesterday for my parents and in-laws.

For the Shanks

6 Lamb Shanks

Flour (to dust)

A little vegetable oil (for browning the meat)

1 cup Noilly Prat

6 small sprigs Rosemary

6 cloves garlic (Finely Chopped)

1 Onion (Finely Chopped)

2-3 cups of Beef Stock

Old Bay Seasoning (to taste)

1 table spoon Veal Glaze (demi glace?)

Dust Shanks with flour and quickly fry in pan with a little oil to brown meat.

Then place shanks in Le Creuset pot and add other ingredients. Cover and place in 180oCentigrade oven for approx 3 hours until meat falling off the bone!

Drain juice into a small saucepan and reserve shanks.

Simmer pan juices until reduced by half and add Veal glaze and stir until sauce has a nice glossy appearance.

Serve with porcini risotto and a nice South Australian Coonawarra Shiraz.

gallery_31652_2254_37754.jpg

Cheers,

Doc-G

Edited by Doc-G (log)
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I'll go pull out a package of short ribs, since I'll be making these for dinner tomorrow, but I haven't really gone by pounds. I tend to use 7-9 short ribs in this recipe, english style, not flanken style.

Edited to add: I just pulled a pack. Since there are only two of us for dinner, the pack I pulled out has 6 short ribs in it, weighing 3 and 3/4 pds. My normal pack has 9 ribs in it weighing approx 6 pds.

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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(Boy, I thought I discovered lamb shanks but now they're everywhere. And we're eating better for it. Doc-G, it's not something that would occur to most non-Greeks, I think, but lamb shanks and risotto is something you might stumble across in Athens, if your karma was going particularly well that day. Though not, I suspect, with Old Bay).

First recipe: buy a copy of the French Laundry Cookbook and cook the shortribs. Typical Keller/Rullman blabbery. "What we're doing is taking cheaper, tougher cuts of meat and transforming them..." Yeah, cheaper cuts of meat plus the bottle of wine and quart-and-a-half of stock you need to make the recipe. It probably works out cheaper to buy a prime dry-aged strip and serve it with good bernaise than to make the short ribs. :wink: No matter, it's a brilliant recipe and you'll learn how to braise by making it.

Second recipe: Get a pork butt, throw it in a bottle or two of decent gewurtztraminer or riesling (see - I learned my TK braising lesson well) some leeks, carrots, onion, parsley, bay leaf etc.

(Keller does this thing where he boils off the alcohol in the wine. I don't know if the alcohol damages the meat, as he alleges, but boiling does seem to release the flavors from the vegetables and aromatics. Just boil the marinade and, to amuse the kids or your guests, call them in and strike a match over the marinade, and enjoy the cool blue flame until the alcohol is gone.)

Anyways, after the butt sits in the marinade for a day or so, brown it (this is a pain) and throw it in a pot of pork stock (we think neck bones make a good, cheap stock), apple cider, the marinade, and -- if you're feeling rich -- some Calvados. You can chop up some onions and apples, too. Braise at 275 for many hours, cool overnight, skim the fat, strain the cooking liquid and rewarm gently. It should be falling apart done. Serve with sauteed apples and more Gewurtztraminer.

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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I'm really wanting to make Chufi's butter braised beef,

well ofcourse that is a very good idea...

But, one of my own favorite braises is a meat & beetroot braise. The original recipe is for venison, but I've made it many times with beef instead.

It's basically meat, raw beetroot and portwine.. The beetroot makes the meat incredibly tender, the whole braise has a beatiful deep ruby color, and even if you make it with beef, it ends up with a very deep, sweet, complex, gamey flavor.

I can pm you the recipe if you like.

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...I think, but lamb shanks and risotto is something you might stumble across in Athens, if your karma was going particularly well that day. Though not, I suspect, with Old Bay

Hi Busboy,

Lamb shanks are really popular here in Australia.

The addition of Old Bay was a complete afterthought and I did not even know what it tasted like! I had just received it from our American neighbours for christmas after I had been asking them every question under the sun about the US cuisine (big fan of Steve Raichlen and Charlie Trotter). They got their family who was visiting to bring some Old Bay seasoning. I added it because it seemed to have everything in it and it looked like it would do the job for seasoning the shanks (I would normally have just have used salt, pepper and some chilli).

I got the idea to serve it with risotto from one of the main courses at our wedding four years ago at the Landmark hotel in London which was 'braised beef shin with pearl barley risotto'. The meat was soft and unctuous and with the risotto, the dish was almost 'naughty' in the way that chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce would be naughty!

I thought this combination would be a nice adaptation. My parents and in-laws thought it was to 'die for' so I was happy!

Cheers,

Doc-G

Edited by Doc-G (log)
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...I think, but lamb shanks and risotto is something you might stumble across in Athens, if your karma was going particularly well that day. Though not, I suspect, with Old Bay

Hi Busboy,

Lamb shanks are really popular here in Australia.

The addition of Old Bay was a complete afterthought and I did not even know what it tasted like! I had just received it from our American neighbours for christmas after I had been asking them every question under the sun about the US cuisine (big fan of Steve Raichlen and Charlie Trotter). They got their family who was visiting to bring some Old Bay seasoning. I added it because it seemed to have everything in it and it looked like it would do the job for seasoning the shanks (I would normally have just have used salt, pepper and some chilli).

I got the idea to serve it with risotto from one of the main courses at our wedding four years ago at the Landmark hotel in London which was 'braised beef shin with pearl barley risotto'. The meat was soft and unctuous and with the risotto, the dish was almost 'naughty' in the way that chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce would be naughty!

I thought this combination would be a nice adaptation. My parents and in-laws thought it was to 'die for' so I was happy!

Cheers,

Doc-G

You Aussies do have a bit of a reputation for lamb, so I guess it's not surprising that you've mastered the shank. And the fact that the Greek diaspora washed heavily over Sydney and other Autralian cities (I worked with the Greek Olympic Committee and learned a lot of these odd facts) may not be entirely coincidental, the Greeks being as good at lamb-cooking as you appear to be in Oz.

Living just upriver from the Chesapeake Bay -- we put the bay in Old Bay -- I am a little surprised to hear you using it on lamb so far from its home. I always think of it as a local treasure and never expect to see it more than an hour's drive from Baltimore or my home town of Washington, DC. I'll have to give it a try on soemthing besides crab.

-Bus

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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That would explain why I got it in the first place then!

My neighbours are from Baltimore.

... the Greeks being as good at lamb-cooking as you appear to be in Oz.

I thought the Greeks invented cooking lamb and even if they didn't, they should have 'cause the way they do it is so good.

We Aussies really do love our lamb. I have noticed that over your side of the puddle that you have a preference for beef and pork. Do Americans eat much lamb?

Sorry getting off topic!

Doc-G

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Not off-topic: braise=lamb=prevalence -- works for me.

Definitely I think we eat more beef and pork, but lamb seems to be gaining in popularity/availability.

Back to the lovely Miss LC: I really, really want to do short ribs of some kind. I'm serving three who don't care for lamb (unlike myself) and one who barely tolerates veal shanks because of "all the weird bones and things." My problem is budget. This week the specials are all about pork since we're gearing up for New Year's Day. I want to braise the traditional Pennsylvania Dutch pork and saurkraut for Sunday, but first want to inaugurate the pot with something for Friday or Saturday night. We're just finishing ham from xmas, so beef is calling to me. But I expect when I go to the market tomorrow I'll find short ribs cost more than my purse wants to pay. We'll see.

~ Lori in PA

My blog: http://inmykitcheninmylife.blogspot.com/

My egullet blog: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=89647&hl=

"Cooking is not a chore, it is a joy."

- Julia Child

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That would explain why I got it in the first place then!

My neighbours are from Baltimore.

... the Greeks being as good at lamb-cooking as you appear to be in Oz.

We Aussies really do love our lamb. I have noticed that over your side of the puddle that you have a preference for beef and pork. Do Americans eat much lamb?

Sorry getting off topic!

Doc-G

It's my imrpession that many Americans think of lamb as "gamey" tasting and won't go near it. I believe this arises from the old U.S. tradition of overcooking lamb (I'm positive that's what my grandmother did to my father, who now dislikes lamb), which does bring out an unfortunate flavor.

Lori: that pork and saurkraut sounds great.

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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Second recipe:  Get a pork butt, throw it in a bottle or two of decent gewurtztraminer or riesling (see - I learned my TK braising lesson well) some leeks, carrots, onion, parsley, bay leaf etc.

Anyways, after the butt sits in the marinade for a day or so, brown it (this is a pain) and throw it in a pot of pork stock (we think neck bones make a good, cheap stock), apple cider, the marinade, and -- if you're feeling rich -- some Calvados.  You can chop up some onions and apples, too.  Braise at 275 for many hours, cool overnight, skim the fat, strain the cooking liquid and rewarm gently. It should be falling apart done.  Serve with sauteed apples and more Gewurtztraminer.

I almost never make pork stock. Is it brown or white?

We usually have ham on New Years Day, but this sounds much better and gives me an excuse to buy another bottle of Calvados.

Heather Johnson

In Good Thyme

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I usually make a brown pork stock. I always roast the bones first, but don't paint them with tomato sauce as I do for beef stock.

I've found pork stock to come in very handy in many dishes, especially in Molly's Caribbean Pork Shoulder braise.

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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[quote

Living just upriver from the Chesapeake Bay -- we put the bay in Old Bay -- I am a little surprised to hear you using it on lamb so far from its home. I always think of it as a local treasure and never expect to see it more than an hour's drive from Baltimore or my home town of Washington, DC. I'll have to give it a try on soemthing besides crab.

-Bus

I participated in a food exchange thru the foodblogging world and I received a container of Old Bay. Its a really wonderful all purpose seasoning. I love to use it in my tuna salad. It's not sold here, but I was very familar with it as I used it when I lived in California. You can find " seafood seasonings" in the bulk stores and I believe they try to approximate old bay.

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Since I'm not using it to make a "refined" sauce I use whatever pork comes cheap and has the requisite combination of bone and meat needed to get a decent flavor, hence the neck bones, which are cheap and plentiful in my 'hood. I usually don't bother to brown them, nor do I use tomato, but I do throw in a pig's foot to gelatine the stuff up (another Keller suggestion), leeks, onion, carrot etc.

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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What about if you added 'smoked' bacon bones. You can buy them in Australia in all of the continental deli's. My father makes Hungarian bean soup with them and you get this wonderful taste of smoked bacon through the soup.

That could be an interesting flavour in your pork stock!

mmmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Bacon!!!

Cheers,

Doc-G

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What about if you added 'smoked' bacon bones. You can buy them in Australia in all of the continental deli's. My father makes Hungarian bean soup with them and you get this wonderful taste of smoked bacon through the soup.

That could be an interesting flavour in your pork stock!

mmmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMMMMMMMM  Bacon!!!

Cheers,

Doc-G

I'm the first advocate for bacon. In almost anything. But, not in stock. It makes the stock way too salty as the stock reduces. Save the bacon for rendering and adding the crisped bits to the braise itself. If you want a smokey quality to the stock, smoke some pork or a turkey and use them bones for the smokey stock.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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Since this is a braising thread, we should probably take the stock discussion to the stock thread! :smile:

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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I inaugerated the LC on Friday with Chufi's Dutch Braised Beef. We like it very much, though we noted it is similar in many ways to our Mom's American Braised Beef!

Saturday I braised a six pound pork roast. After cooking, I drained off most of the broth/drippings for gravy and added two bags of drained saurkraut. I reheated the pork and saurkraut for our New Year's Day meal, with mashed potatoes and gravy alongside. We will have leftovers of that meal tonight. Thanks for the ideas for braises. I have many more things to try in this lovely pot.

~ Lori in PA

My blog: http://inmykitcheninmylife.blogspot.com/

My egullet blog: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=89647&hl=

"Cooking is not a chore, it is a joy."

- Julia Child

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