Tag: beef stock

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Main Dish

Nothing about wine-braised ribs falls short

Braised short ribs are seared to perfection before being slow cooked in the oven with lots of vegetables and seasonings, along with wine and beef stock, to create a rich sauce.
Braised short ribs are seared to perfection before being slow cooked in the oven with lots of vegetables and seasonings, along with wine and beef stock, to create a rich sauce.

I am generally pretty useless when it comes to remembering the different cuts of meat.

If I’m ordering a steak, I know that a t-bone will have, well, a t-shaped bone in it, but I forget which cut has the best marbling or is the leanest, etc., etc.

But after this week’s experiment, I now understand a new one: the beef short rib. And I also know that I really enjoy eating them.

If you’re like me and have no idea what a short rib is, the easy answer is that it’s literally a short piece of rib.

According to a post from the Lake Geneva Country Meats website, short ribs come from the area between the chuck section of a cow (where we get chuck roasts and a variety of steak cuts) and the rib section. The pieces aren’t big enough for steaks, so they get to be their own cut.

They’re extremely flavorful and are a favorite of a lot of chefs. And now me, too.

The recipe I tried comes from the blog “Good Food Baddie” by Capri Lilly. You can find her original post at https://goodfoodbaddie.com/red-wine-braised-short-ribs/. I added extra seasoning in my version below and changed some of the directions around.

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Braised Short Ribs

Braised short ribs are seared to perfection before being slow cooked in the oven with lots of vegetables and seasonings, along with wine and beef stock, to create a rich sauce.
Course Main Course
Keyword beef broth, beef stock, black pepper, cabernet sauvignon, carrots, celery, dry red wine, fresh garlic, jalapenos, minced garlic, onions, oregano, parsley, short ribs, slow cooking, smoked paprika, thyme, tomato paste, yellow onion

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
  • 3 pounds bone-in short ribs
  • 1 medium onion diced (I used yellow)
  • 4 large stalks celery diced
  • 4 carrots diced
  • 2 to 4 jalapenos diced
  • 24 to 30 cloves garlic about two large heads, minced
  • 4 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon dried parsley
  • 4 teaspoons fresh ground pepper plus extra for seasoning the meat
  • 2 teaspoons salt plus extra for seasoning the meat
  • 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
  • 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
  • 2 teaspoons dried thyme
  • 750 ml dry red wine I used cabernet sauvignon
  • 3 to 4 cups beef stock or broth

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Heat the oil over medium heat in a large Dutch oven or pot with a lid. Meanwhile, sprinkle the short ribs on all sides with salt and pepper, to taste, and once the oil is hot, sear each rib on all sides. You will have to do this in batches.
  • Remove seared ribs to a plate on the side.
  • Add the onion, celery, carrots and jalapeno to the pot, and stir regularly, sauteing until the vegetables are starting to soften. Add in the garlic and saute for another couple of minutes, just until it starts to be fragrant, and stir in the tomato paste, parsley, pepper, salt, smoked paprika, rosemary and thyme. Continue stirring for about two minutes, letting the tomato paste brown slightly and incorporate with all the vegetables.
  • Pour in the wine, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot to get all of the browned bits incorporated.
  • Raise the heat to bring the mixture to a boil, and then lower it back to medium and simmer, stirring regularly, until the wine mixture reduces by about half. (This will take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes.)
  • Pour in three cups of beef stock, and stir to combine. Return the ribs to the pot. You’ll want to make sure the meat is covered in liquid, so if it isn’t quite covered, add the other cup of the beef stock and supplement with some water until they are.
  • Let the liquid come back up to a simmer, put the lid on the pot and put it in the oven for about three hours or until the meat is falling off the bone.
  • For serving, the recipe author suggests straining out and discarding the vegetables, but we served ours as a part of the meal. Be sure to remove the bones, and then serve the meat, along with the sauce from the pot. We served ours over mashed potatoes.

This was heavenly. I love a good pot roast, and this was one step above that. The deep flavors of the wine paired perfectly with the tomato and beef to create a rich, fabulous dinner.

We ended up halving the recipe when we made it, so I was pretty bummed it was a single serving meal. I would have loved to have some leftovers.

But now that I am firmly aware of what a short rib is, I’ll be on the lookout for it in our local grocery store and butcher shop. This is definitely worthy of a permanent place in the recipe box.

And hopefully, by the next time I end up at a steakhouse, I can educate myself on the difference between a filet and a strip, too. If not, I may just have to order the chicken instead.

This piece first appeared in print Sept. 18, 2025.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

Don’t skip this week’s a‘braising’ recipe

Making red wine braised beef is a bit of a labor of love, but the rich flavors and tender vegetables produced by this recipe make it well worth the effort.
Making red wine braised beef is a bit of a labor of love, but the rich flavors and tender vegetables produced by this recipe make it well worth the effort.

Several years ago, my parents gifted me with a gorgeous, red braising pot.

It’s a ceramic-coated cast iron pot, and I always feel like whatever I put in it should be really extraordinary.

This week’s recipe really fit the bill for using my special pot, since I was getting ready to embark on a dinner project that was going to take some decent preparation and several hours of braising to accomplish, and boy, did it stand up to the task.

The recipe I tried comes from the blog “Well Seasoned Studio” by Ari Laing. You can find the original post at https://www.wellseasonedstudio.com/red-wine-braised-beef/. I added extra garlic in my version.

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Red Wine Braised Beef

Making red wine braised beef is a bit of a labor of love, but the rich flavors and tender vegetables produced by this recipe make it well worth the effort.
Course Main Course
Keyword bay leaves, beef broth, beef stock, braised beef, cabernet sauvignon, carrots, chuck roast, dijon mustard, fresh garlic, fresh thyme, leeks, mashed potatoes, onion, red wine, Sunday dinner, sweet onion, tomato paste, yellow onion

Ingredients

  • 3 1/2 to 4 pound beef chuck roast
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
  • 1 large sweet onion cut into one-inch pieces
  • 2 leeks halved and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 8 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 cups red wine I used a cabernet sauvignon
  • 2 cups beef broth or stock
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
  • 2 bay leaves
  • about 12 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 3 large carrots cut into one-inch pieces
  • mashed potatoes for serving

Instructions

  • Set your roast out to come to room temperature while you prep all of your vegetables.
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Using paper towels, pat the roast dry all the way around, and then season it liberally with salt and pepper.
  • Put a large Dutch oven (or braising pot—just make sure what you use is deep, has a lid and is oven-safe) on the stovetop and heat the oil on medium-high heat.
  • Add the roast, and sear it on all sides, cooking each side for about three or four minutes. Transfer the meat to a plate, and add the onion and leeks, along with just a bit more salt. Saute, stirring regularly, until they are soft.
  • Add the garlic to the pot and saute for one or two minutes until it just starts to brown and is fragrant.
  • Stir in the tomato paste, making sure to incorporate everything in the pot well.
  • Pour in the wine, and using a wooden spoon or spatula, scape the bottom of the pot to get all the stuck on bits up. Let this cook for two or three minutes, and then add the beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, bay leaves, thyme (I tied mine together in a bundle with cooking twine so it will be easy to remove later), and carrots.
  • Add the roast back to the pot, pushing it down into the ingredients so that it’s mostly submerged.
  • Cover with a lid and put the pot in the oven. Cook until the meat is tender enough to shred with a fork, which will take about three hours.
  • Remove the pot from the oven and use tongs to carefully put the roast on a cutting board. Let it rest for five to 10 minutes before shredding it with two forks.
  • Meanwhile, remove the thyme and bay leaves from the pot. Taste the sauce and add salt and pepper, if needed. Add the shredded beef back to the pot, and stir.
  • Serve the beef and veggies over mashed potatoes, along with some of the amazing sauce you created.

This was heavenly. The meat melted in your mouth, and the vegetables were cooked to perfection. We enjoyed a glass of the leftover cabernet sauvignon with our dinner, too, which made it feel extra special.

I have made plenty of chuck roasts in my slow cooker, and they’re always delicious, but this treatment just took everything up a notch, and while it does take a bit of a time commitment, I will absolutely be making this again.

After all, I need all the excuses I can get to let my pretty cast iron pot shine.

This piece first appeared in print March 20, 2025.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish

‘Hoi’ can’t recommend these Mongolian noodles enough

Mongolian beef noodles are easy to prepare and take fewer than 30 minutes from start to finish to get on the table. The addition of hoisin sauce gives it a sweet and savory flavor that makes seconds a must.
Mongolian beef noodles are easy to prepare and take fewer than 30 minutes from start to finish to get on the table. The addition of hoisin sauce gives it a sweet and savory flavor that makes seconds a must.

In an interview with the Food Network, Chinese food expert Nadia Liu Spellman explained hoisin sauce, a condiment that is new to my refrigerator as of this week.

“I would call it the ketchup of Chinese cuisine, because it’s used as an ingredient but also as a finishing sauce and condiment,” Liu Spellman said in the interview. “Hoisin sauce looks like dark brown ketchup but not as viscous; it’s thicker and pastier. It’s sweet at the start and savory at the end.”

I purchased my first bottle of hoisin for this week’s recipe, and since I had not knowingly ever tasted it before, I was going in blind on what the flavor profile would be.

Of course, knowing that I like soy sauce, garlic and ginger didn’t hurt anything.

The good news is I really liked hoisin, and now I’m excited to see what other applications it has—although I’ll likely be using it to make this week’s recipe again, because it was great.

This recipe was posted on Instagram by Kirk Muenzenberger. His page is @kirkscookingandcocktails, if you want to see the original. I added extra garlic and pasta in my version.

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Mongolian Beef Noodles

Mongolian beef noodles are easy to prepare and take fewer than 30 minutes from start to finish to get on the table. The addition of hoisin sauce gives it a sweet and savory flavor that makes seconds a must.
Course Main Course
Keyword 30-minute meal, fresh ginger, ginger paste, ground beef, hoisin sauce, minced garlic, pasta, quick meals, spaghetti

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 16 ounces long pasta I used whole wheat spaghetti
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 2 tablespoons ginger paste
  • 8 to 10 cloves garlic minced
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • sesame seeds and green onion for garnish

Sauce Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup beef broth/stock
  • 5 tablespoons hoisin sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

  • Boil the pasta according to package directions and drain.
  • While the pasta cooks, brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat until it is cooked through. Strain off as much fat as possible, and add in the ginger paste and garlic. Saute for a couple of minutes or until the garlic is fragrant.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the sauce. Add the sauce to the skillet, stirring to combine. (The sauce will look very loose at this moment. Don’t worry. It will thicken up.) Continue to stir until the sauce bubbles gently and begins to thicken.
  • Stir in the cooked pasta until it is well coated, and continue stirring until the sauce is thickened to your liking. Add additional salt and pepper, if necessary.
  • Serve with sesame seeds and fresh sliced green onion, if desired.

I will absolutely be making this again. It came together in well under 30 minutes, all told, and it was just slightly sweet, a bit spicy and very good. The next time, though, I will dice up a red bell pepper and cook that down with the ground beef. I think it would be a great addition for flavor, color and vitamins.

And now that I have “the ketchup of Chinese cuisine” in my refrigerator, the world is my oyster.

Actually, I’m not sure it’s good on oysters. I might have to do some more research.

This piece first appeared in print on May 16, 2024.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Main Dish Side Dish

Onion soup-inspired baked potatoes will have you crying with joy

French onion baked potatoes combines the rich flavors of French onion soup with the heartiness of a twice-baked potato to create a magnificent meal or side.
French onion baked potatoes combines the rich flavors of French onion soup with the heartiness of a twice-baked potato to create a magnificent meal or side.

There’s that famous quote from Ecclesiastes that “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

That phrase is especially applicable when it comes to recipes, it seems. Any time I wonder if anyone has actually accomplished some weird idea, a simple Google search tends to find me a recipe to try.

With that said, I’m still regularly surprised with the recipes I find and the ideas people have when it comes to combining ingredients.

The recipe I found this week for French-onion-soup-inspired baked potatoes was one of those. They sounded delicious, and I knew I just had to try it.

This recipe actually ended up being an amalgamation of three different ones as I searched for the flavor profile I was after. First from the blog “12 Tomatoes” by Kristy Norrell at https://12tomatoes.com/french-onion-stuffed-potatoes. Second, from the blog “Simply Recipes” by Elise Bauer at https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/french_onion_soup/. And finally, from the blog “The Cookie Rookie” by Becky Hardin at https://www.thecookierookie.com/cook-perfect-baked-potatoes/.

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French Onion Baked Potatoes

French onion baked potatoes combines the rich flavors of French onion soup with the heartiness of a twice-baked potato to create a magnificent meal or side.
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Keyword baked potatoes, bay leaves, beef stock, French onion soup, garlic, gruyere, pinot grigio, Russet potato, thyme, white wine, yellow onion

Ingredients

  • 4 large Russet potatoes
  • Olive oil to coat potatoes
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 4 medium yellow onions thinly sliced
  • 8 cloves garlic minced
  • pinch of sugar
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine I used pinot grigio
  • 1 cup beef stock
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 10 to 12 ounces gruyere shredded
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
  • While it preheats, wash your potatoes and prick them all over with a fork. Fill a large bowl with warm water and dump in a healthy amount of salt. Place your potatoes in the bowl to soak.
  • Prepare a rimmed baking sheet by lining it with foil and placing a baking rack on top.
  • Once the oven is preheated, remove the potatoes from the water and place them with space between them on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes.
  • Remove the sheet from the oven and carefully brush the potatoes with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  • Place them back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
  • When your potatoes are about 20 minutes from being done, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and let them saute, stirring regularly, until they are a deep, golden brown. (This will likely take at least 20 minutes. Be patient.) When the onions are nearly done, add in the garlic, sprinkle in the pinch of sugar and add salt and pepper to taste. Saute for a couple more minutes and then add in the white wine, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to get up any stuck-on bits.
  • Add in the beef stock, bay leaves and thyme, and let the mixture come to a very low boil, stirring regularly.
  • Once the liquid is completely reduced, remove the skillet from the heat and discard the bay leaves.
  • Cut about one-half inch off the tops of your baked potatoes and scoop out the insides into a mixing bowl, being careful to leave just a bit of the potato attached to the skin so it will hold up to being stuffed.
  • Smash the potato you scooped into the bowl a bit and then add in a handful of the shredded cheese and all but about 1/2 cup of the onion mixture. Stir it well.
  • Scoop the mixture back into the potato shells, and place the filled potatoes on the prepared baking rack from before. Evenly distribute the rest of the onions on the top of the filled potatoes and top with as much cheese as you can balance on top of that. (I highly recommend putting some cheese on the potato tops you cut off earlier and putting those on the sheet, too.)
  • Turn the broiler on low and place the potatoes back in the oven, keeping an eye on them. When the cheese is melted, turn the broiler up to high, and once the cheese is browned to your liking, remove the potatoes from the oven and serve.

These were fabulous and filling. You could eat these as a side dish, but I found large enough potatoes that we made a meal out of them. The caramelized onion flavor along with the cheese and potato was a fantastic combination. And even though these take a bit of a time commitment to create, I would say it’s worth it.

I have to admit that combining French onion soup with a twice-baked potato is a new one for me, so maybe there are a few exceptions to that phrase from Ecclesiastes. Of course, I doubt that the biblical author was considering spuds when creating that line.

This piece first appeared in print on Jan. 5, 2023.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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