Listen. And hear me. (West Side Story reference. Sorry. "Listen. And hear me. You must go and stop it.")
But seriously. Listen. You must make this as soon as you can.
Pancetta! It's a very thinly sliced Italian variety of bacon, and I'm using it in this dish because I just happen to have it. If I didn't have this, I would use just a little regular bacon, but I'd do the thinly sliced stuff—not the thick, peppered bacon that i usually have in my fridge.
Isn’t it beautiful? I love its circular shape.
Dice up a medium onion.
Grab two or three carrots. Wash ’em but don’t peel ’em.
I’m all about the rustic.
Cut the carrots into thin sticks…
And dice ’em up, too.
Shallots! Again, I’m using them here because I have them, and because they really have a unique, lovely flavor. But if you don’t have any (and I very often do not), just skip ’em.
But when you do use them, dice them really finely.
Shallots need to be minced finely. It is written.
You also need some beef short ribs, sometimes called “short ribs bone in”.
The “bone in” is the key, baby.
This is a short rib. Take a moment. You’re in the presence of greatness here.
See those beautiful striations of fat throughout the ribs? They’re what will eventually make these babies so irresistibly delectable later on.
Just you wait, ‘Enry ‘Iggins. Just you wait.
Let’s do it! Grab several pieces of pancetta…
Dice it up…
And throw it into a Dutch oven over medium heat.
We’re going to cook the pancetta until it’s very crispy, because at that point we’ll know all the fat has been rendered.
It's the flavor we're looking for here.
It takes a little while to totally cook it and render the fat, and I always find pancetta renders far less fat than bacon here in our neck of the woods.
After ten minutes or so, this is how much fat I had. And oh, does it ever smell good.
Lay all the short ribs on a flat surface…
Then sprinkle on some kosher salt, which isn’t in itself “kosher”—did you know that? It’s called kosher salt because the salt’s flat grains adhere more easily to meat and is prepare kosher meats.
I think.
I’m going to call this photo…The Grain.
It is not to be confused with this photo, which is beautifully entitled… Many Grains.
I’ll stop now.
Season them liberally with freshly ground black pepper, too.
You’ll be glad you did.
Next, throw some all-purpose flour into a bowl and dredge the ribs in flour.
Then set them aside while you get the pan ready.
Oh, are you going to love this.
Turn the burner on high heat, then drizzle olive oil into the pan with the pancetta grease.
When the oil is heated, place the ribs into the pan.
Brown the ribs on all sides, no more than about 45 seconds on each side. We wanna get them nice and seared and brown.
Remove them to a plate.
Without cleaning the pan, of course, throw in the carrots, onions, and shallots. Stir them around…
And cook them for a few minutes, until the veggies start to soften.
And now. And now it’s time to get serious. Pour in 2 cups of red wine. (White wine will work, too! Just make sure it’s dry…not sweet.)
Use a whisk to scrape the bottom of the pan. We want all of that flavor from the bottom of the pan… man.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then cook it for a few minutes.
Pour in an equal amount of beef broth. Unless you’re me, that is. If you’re me, you’ll find that you’re totally out of beef broth…so just use chicken broth instead.
And let me tell you: it works just fine.
That’s my sad, sad story and I’m stickin’ to it.
With tongs, place the browned short ribs right into the cooking liquid.
Oh, baby.
But wait. We’re not finished.
Grab a couple of sprigs of both rosemary and thyme…
And throw them right into the pan.
I’m in love with this world. Just look at what it provides us: root vegetables from the ground. Fragrant herbs from the fertile soil. Meat, to nourish our bones. Wine, to nourish everything else.
I’m not quite sure where the pancetta fits in yet, but I’ll get back with you on that.
Finally, because I don’t want you to waste it, throw in the cooked pancetta.
Now place the lid on the pot and put the pot into the oven for a good 2 1/2 hours. Just walk away. Let the magic happen.
And now.
And now.
If you can handle the truth, I will show you the magic.
Take a moment to center yourself.
Mmmm.
What you’re looking at here, and I hope this doesn’t gross you out, is the beautiful meat’s attempt to hang on to the bone. But it can’t. It’s just so fall-apart tender…it simply can’t hang on.
And just wait till you see what’s underneath.
I cover the pan, though, and let it sit for a little while before serving—about twenty minutes or so. This will let the meat relax a little bit, but it will also allow the fat to rise to the top of the cooking liquid.
You can use a regular ladle; just carefully lower the rim just under the surface of the fat, and it will start spilling right into the ladle. The point is to get as much fat and as little juice as you can. Discard the fat when you’re done.
Alternate method: If you have the time, you can actually cover the pan and refrigerate it for several hours. The fat will solidify and will be much easier to remove, and you can just reheat the ribs and cooking liquid at that point. (It’s ever bit as—if not more—delicious reheated.)
Once a lot of the fat is gone, you can scoop the delicious cooking liquid into the ladle…
And spoon it over the top of each rib..
And when we make the polenta (which has an out-of-this-world addition that absolutely completes this dish) and place the ribs on top of it, we can spoon more juice over the top at that point.
We’ll finish the rest of this deliciousness bright and early tomorrow morning.
But if you can’t wait—if you absolutely, positive can’t wait—you can make them tonight and serve ’em over a bed of my creamy mashed potatoes.
It's what I did for Marlboro Man the other night.
