porter braised shortribs: bitter sauce

[JohnRichardson]

So I braised up some short ribs this weekend. I've made this 6 or 8 times and I feel like I learn something each time. I basically salted & peppered the the ribs which marinated in 2 bottles of beer with a sliced onion, browned in peanut oil with a dollop of bacon fat, drained the fat, then cooked 3 thinly sliced medium onions (total, one of which was from the marinade) until nicely browned with another small bit of bacon fat, then added 4 cloves of garlic and deglazed with 4 bottles of porter (boulevard Bully! Porter, and again that includes the marinade) which I reduced by about 1/3 to 1/2, and 2 cubes of my super-reduced (something like 18:1) beef/veal ersatz demi. I added the ribs (8), 4 small bay leaves, and a few star anise (3 whole ones and a couple of broken ones), then put in a 275 degF oven for about 4 hours. I then strained and defatted the sauce and reduced it by about 1/3 more, until I probably had about 2 cups, which I then thickened with roux I made using the skimmed fat.

Upon tasting for final seasoning, I discovered that the sauce was almost inedibly bitter! I managed to rescue it with a splash of balsamic vinegar and some honey, but it was still not as good as I'd hoped, even though it was a beautiful color and texture and the meat was perfectly cooked.

The two differences from my usual method were that I normally add a tablespoon or so of sugar to the onions while they're cooking but forgot that this time, and I normally use 4 cups of 2:1 stock instead of the super-reduced stuff.

What went wrong? I definitely had too much of that, but I can't tell if it was causing the bitterness or not. Or was it just the hops from the beer being super-concentrated? There's always a hint of bitter, but it's usually pleasant, not nasty. Or do I just not usually notice it since I usually add sugar?

[heather s]

hmm... I'm not sure, but if I were to guess I would say that using the reduced demi instead of your usual stock would be the culprit.

I know from experience that over-reducing beer will make a bitter sauce - not sure why though! Probably what happened was when you reduced your braising liquid in the final step, having used a small amount of demi instead of your usual 4 cups of stock, basically what you were doing was reducing the porter from a starting point of 4 bottles to just 2 cups. Thats huge!

[JAZ]

My guess is that you overreduced the beer (the reason that overreducing beer results in a bitter sauce is that the bitterness of the hops increases as the beer reduces). The extra water from your usual process probably mitigates the bitterness of the beer.

When I do short ribs in porter, I use only 1-2 bottles with no initial reduction at all (no marinating, either). I often cook the ribs uncovered for the last 45 minutes or hour, which reduces the beer a lot. Then, after removing the fat, if it's still too thin, I reduce it further. Once or twice, when I used a particularly bitter beer, I needed to add a little brown sugar at the end, but usually it's fine as it is.

[TongoRad]

I think the lack of sugar played a part as well. In beer residual sugars will tend to play a great role in creating an overall balance on the palate, even if that balance skews toward the bitter end of the spectrum. The porter you used is a dry and bitter one to begin with but, as Heather suggested, you then reduced the hell out of it making that aspect even more pronounced. If the sugar has given you satisfactory results in the past I would consider it an integral part of the recipe if you use the Bully Porter. Or you could use a sweeter beer, like a cream stout, if you want to cut back on the sugar.

[scott123]

Here's a few theories of what may occured:

1. I can't tell by your recipe- did you saute the garlic? It could have been oversatueed. It's really easy to do. If the garlic starts taking on color, it's gone too far and will give your sauce bitter notes. If you know you're going to be braising the dish for 4 hours that's more than enough time to mellow the garlic- no need to sautee.

2. How closely did you watch your onion? Onions can take on some color (obviously) but if you walk away and end up with a layer of brown/black on the bottom of the pan, regardless of how thin, you're talking bad news. Bitter city. Toss and start again.

3. What color was your roux? The darkest I go with this would be blond.

4. This is a huge long shot, but was either your onions or garlic old/sprouting? Some people cook with/adore garlic/onion scapes, but I find them bitter and grassy tasting. Not my bag.

Honestly, these scenarios are fairly unlikely. You sound like your skills are well beyond these potential pitfalls. More likely, though, it was the lack of water that created a more concentrated broth, which, in turn, sped up maillard reactions. When that happens I wouldn't call it bitter, persay, just 'dark' tasting and overcooked. I get that when I try to reduce poultry stock too far. Speaking of reducing stock, you did taste your demi before you cooked with it, correct?

If the omission of the sugar is the problem, then adding the sugar back at the end should have solved it, which, from what it sounds like, did not.

[JohnRichardson]

I didn't sautee the garlic, I put it in for about 30-40 seconds before adding the liquid. The onions and garlic seemed okay and nothing burned. I've made french onion soup quite a few times and the onions were a couple of minutes short of that mark, so they definitely weren't burned. I've been using this demi for sauces and such, and actually re-constituted it for french onion soup a couple of times so it's okay. Adding the honey and balsamic at the end did fix it, it just seemed a little more bitter than usual. After tasting the leftovers, the bitterness has a very hoppy quality, not a burned one, so I think it's just too high a percentage of beer, reduced too much. I usually only use 2 or 3 bottles and I guess I thought that since I didn't have the usual volume from stock I'd make it up with beer

Next time, either no star anise or only one, and I'll add a cup of water for each demi cube and less beer. The roux was somewhere in the neighborhood of blonde, it had a nice nutty smell but it's hard to tell the color since the fat had some color already.

Here's a few theories of what may occured:

1. I can't tell by your recipe- did you saute the garlic? It could have been oversatueed. It's really easy to do.  If the garlic starts taking on color, it's gone too far and will give your sauce bitter notes.  If you know you're going to be braising the dish for 4 hours that's more than enough time to mellow the garlic- no need to sautee.

2. How closely did you watch your onion? Onions can take on some color (obviously) but if you walk away and end up with a layer of brown/black on the bottom of the pan, regardless of how thin, you're talking bad news.  Bitter city. Toss and start again.

3. What color was your roux? The darkest I go with this would be blond.

4. This is a huge long shot, but was either your onions or garlic old/sprouting? Some people cook with/adore garlic/onion scapes, but I find them bitter and grassy tasting. Not my bag.

Honestly, these scenarios are fairly unlikely. You sound like your skills are well beyond these potential pitfalls.  More likely, though, it was the lack of water that created a more concentrated broth, which, in turn, sped up maillard reactions. When that happens I wouldn't call it bitter, persay, just 'dark' tasting and overcooked.  I get that when I try to reduce poultry stock too far. Speaking of reducing stock, you did taste your demi before you cooked with it, correct?

If the omission of the sugar is the problem, then adding the sugar back at the end should have solved it, which, from what it sounds like, did not.

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