Sunday Dinner: Braised Short Ribs

I used the "Braised Short Ribs with Pearl Onions, Mushrooms, and Bacon" quantities from FStoS and modified the prep a bit since it was Sunday and I've been reading too much McGee.

After browning the meat and vegetables, I added only 3/4 of the wine and made up the rest of the volume with water. I threw the pot in a cold oven, without bringing it to a boil first, set the oven to 225-250 and partially covered the pot. After a couple hours of that (turning the meat every 30 minutes or so) I removed the lid, set the oven to 250-275 and let things cook until finished (continuing to turn the meat every 30 minutes).

When the ribs were done (~3.5 hours total cooking time), I pulled the pot out and let them cool in the braising liquid for an hour. I then pulled out the ribs, cooled the liquid down in an ice bath and refrigerated it for an hour or so to separate the fat. Then I skimmed it and strained it; this was a mistake, I should have strained the sauce before refrigerating it, oh well.

Before serving, I reduced the sauce a bit and then added the remaining 1/4 bottle of wine and all the other ingredients.

The result, served with hard polenta, was really really good.