Leftover Short Ribs

This is the perfect time of year to prepare braised short ribs in you Dutch oven or handy crock pot. The cooking magazines are filled with recipes for short ribs and there is no shortage of variations available. I have a recipe for Crock Pot Short Ribs as well as one for Short Ribs with Asian Flavors braised the more traditional way.

Typically, I make extra whenever I prepare them at home because I know the leftovers, including the luscious sauce made from the braising liquid is going to be incredibly delicious. Besides, serving them the next day gives the cooking liquid some time to let the fat surface to the top of your storage container and be removed making the dish less fatty, healthier for your diet and in my opinion, tastier than the original night.

What to Serve Leftover Short Ribs On

In my opinion, you can serve leftover short ribs on just about anything and they will be delicious. Rice, potatoes, couscous, risotto but my favorite is either egg noodles or pappardelle pasta. Not always easy to find but I’m seeing pappardelle in a lot more supermarkets these days. I happened to find some at a decent price at Trader Joes but you can also purchase pappardelle on line at Amazon.com.

On or Off the Bone?

I like it both ways. Often I’ll take the meat off the bone if I have time, but when in a hurry like in the middle of the week when I have about 20 minutes to put dinner on the table, I’ll just leave the meat on the bone, reheat and serve.

There really isn’t much else to do but make a salad and/or serve with a side vegetable like sauteed spinach. The flavors from the braising liquids are going to make this leftover dish incredibly tasty. I highly recommend next time you braise short rips, you prepare a few extra for another meal the next night or later in the week. Two meals from one dish, each both equally good.

Found this egg Pappardelle at Trader Joe’s

Heating up the leftover Short Ribs Ragu

Our girl Bailey keeping an eye on the cooking hoping something will fall from the counter.

Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me a steak and cheese sandwich snack,
I don’t care if I never get back

This weekend I took my wife, daughter and her friend to watch the Phillies take on the Oakland A’s. Our hometown Phillies did not win, but my wife and I sure did eat well. At Citizens Bank Park where the Phillies play, they let you bring in your own food and snacks. Not many ballparks allow this because they want you to eat their hotdogs and Crackerjack®.

We had some leftover steak from the night before so I decided to make a couple of special sandwiches for my wife and me to bring to the game. The girls wanted ballpark franks, french fries and popcorn so no sandwiches for them.

I have not talked much about sandwiches on The Reluctant Gourmet web site and blog, and I need to. The anatomy of a sandwich is fascinating to look at. Everyone has their own ideas for making the perfect sandwich and there are so many ways to make an everyday bologna sandwich into something special. In this case I started with a little more than bologna.

Steak, Cheese & Onion Sandwich

I started with a leftover piece of filet mignon from the night before. We were out for dinner and my 11 year old daughter and I like to split a steak, but this was a large cut and we couldn’t finish it. There was just enough left over for two sandwiches.

On Saturday mornings, my wife and I head out to the farmer’s market for some of the week’s groceries. I usually stop at the cheese market to find something new to taste and write about. Usually it’s a stinky washed rind cheese but this day I tasted and purchased a most incredible blue cheese called Point Reyes Blue.

I will be writing more about this wonderful cheese but I can tell you it is from Point Reyes Station, California and is made from Grade A raw milk from Holstein cows that “graze on the certified organic, green pastured hills overlooking Tomales Bay”. Let’s just say it makes an amazing addition to a steak sandwich.

If I don’t bring a sandwich to the game, I typically have a sausage, onion and pepper sandwich. I love the flavor of slow cooked caramelized onions so I decided to add some to my sandwich. I sliced a sweet yellow onion into rings and slowly cooked them with some butter over low heat until they were sweeter yet.

As with any sandwich, the bread you put the ingredients onto is critical.  For example, I like a turkey, tomato and lettuce sandwich on untoasted whole wheat bread but a tuna salad sandwich on toasted whole wheat. A grilled cheese sandwich is best in my opinion on white bread, and anything with sprouts can go into a pita bread with ease.

For this steak, cheese and caramelized onion sandwich, I needed something more substantial. We just happened to have some Phillies Clubhouse Rolls made by Amoroso’s around so of course I went with them. These hearth-baked rolls have been made in Philadelphia since 1904 and I guess are the official roll of the Phillies. It says so right on the label.

To assemble, slice open the bread and then stack on the steak, cheese, onions and a little salt and pepper. The onions were just out of the pan so they melted the cheese onto the steak. I wrapped them up in some aluminum foil and they were ready to go.  You can see me in the photo below about to take my first bite of this delicious sandwich as one of the Phillies was at the plate.

So my question to you is What’s Your Favorite Sandwich To Bring To A Baseball Game?

Slow Cooked Pork Chops

Mistakes were made, but it all worked out in the end.

Slow cooked meals may just be my favorite way of cooking. Taking a less expensive cut of meat like pork shoulder or beef chuck and turning it into something heavenly is what I’m talking about. Sure a grilled New York Strip Steak is great but when you slow cook (braise) you typically combine a bunch of ingredients with a liquid (stock, wine, water) and together, they create the most delightful, soulful meal. Think of some of your favorite comfort foods like beef stew, short ribs , braised chicken, and braised pork chops.

Note: while bouncing around on the Internet, I found this great post at eGullet.org showing the eGCI team testing various braising liquids. They braised short ribs in four individual vessels with ½ inch of stock, red wine, water and vegetables and then completely cover with stock. The results are very interesting and show using partial covered beef stock yielding the best results. See eGullet.org for more.

Slow Cooker or Dutch Oven

I like both techniques for slow cooking depending on how much time I have and what’s going on in my life. For example, if I’m firing up my outdoor wood-burning oven to make pizza, I’ll typically prepare something to slow cook overnight in a cast iron Dutch Oven. My wood burning oven maintains about a 200° F temperature all night so it is perfect for braising.

If I’m going out for the day and won’t be around to take a pot out of the oven, I prep everything in the morning and toss it into my crock pot and let it cook on low all day worry free. When I walk into the house, I’m hit with the most insane aromas and know I have a great meal ahead of me.

Then there’s those days when I want to prepare a slow cooked braise in less time in one of my Le Creuset Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Ovens. You can still walk away after everything is in the oven, but I’m not leaving the house with the oven on and no one at home.

Size Matters

I was looking at a recipe from one of my favorite sources, Cooks Illustrated Online, and found a recipe for slow-cooked barbecued sticky ribs. Looked delicious, easy to prepare and I had all the ingredients on hand including the baby back pork ribs from my freezer.

What I didn’t have and I don’t think the recipe or article mentioned was a 6 – 6½ quart crock-pot. Mine was only 3½ quart and although I was able to jam all the ribs into the smaller pot, the thicker ends didn’t cook all the way through and I had to go back to my standby method of cooking barbecue baby back ribs.

It worked out, but was a pain in the butt. I immediately went online and purchased the highly recommended 6½ quart Crock-Pot Touchscreen model that was almost double the size of my current crock-pot. There’s a whole lot to think about when buying a crock-pot, but finding one with accurate heat settings is most important.

I’ll write an article on crock-pots describing the differences and what to look for when purchasing one soon. I’ll also try the barbecue rib recipe in the new cooker in the future and report back on the results. In the meantime, let’s focus on some pork chops.

Slow Cooked (Braised) Pork Chops

Now that I own this brand new 6½ quart Crock-Pot with a fancy touch screen that is accurate between 195 ° F and 207° F I’m ready to try a new recipe. Hmmm, let’s try another well-researched slow-cooker recipe from my Cooks Illustrated Online. This time it was slow cooked, crock-pot smothered pork chops.

Again, I made a mistake and this time it was my fault. I fill you in on the results first and then tell you the mistake. The smells that filled the house were breathtaking. The sauce made by slow cooking the vegetables and spices with pork and broth was mouth watering but the meat was DRY.

How could this be? I followed the directions to the letter and I’m cooking in a crock-pot for 7½ hours. What could I have done wrong?

Not Reading the Recipe Accurately

What I did wrong was not read the recipe accurately. I purchased 6 bone-in center cut pork chops and the recipe calls for bone-in Blade-Cut pork chops. The difference = an overcooked dry piece of meat versus a tender, fall off the bone one.  Plus it cost me a lot more for center cut chops than if I had purchased blade chops. Stupid me.

I should have known not to try braising a center cut pork chop for that long. Yes, it is possible to braise this cut of pork but it has to be done quickly.  The blade chop does come from the loin but at the end closest to the shoulder. It is marbled with more fat and is tougher than the center cut making it perfect for braising for longer periods of time.

PLEASE, READ YOUR RECIPES CAREFULLY!

All Was Not Lost

The pork was dry but the sauce made by the braise was amazing so the next night I shredded the pork with my fingers and put it back in the pot with the sauce. Cooked some egg noodles and served the pork over them. An expensive shredded pork – noodle dish but was better than the first night as a chop.

Here’s how you make slow cooker pork chops smothered in onions using blade chops adapted from Cooks Illustrated Online version.

Ingredients:

• 4 slices of bacon cut into ¼ inch pieces – good for added flavor and fat
• 3 medium yellow onions, halved and sliced thin
• 4 teaspoons light brown sugar
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
  1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, minced (substitute 1 teaspoon dried)
• salt
• 3 cups chicken broth (homemade is best – low salt is ok)
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Minute Tapioca (used for thickening and usually can be found next to the Jello in your supermarket)
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 bone-in BLADE-CUT pork chops, ¾ inches thick
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon freshly minced parsley leaves for decorating dish at end

How to Make Slow Cooker Pork Chops

Start by cooking the bacon pieces in your favorite large frying pan (skillet, sauté pan).  Cook the bacon until crisp, about 8 minutes and transfer the bacon to a plate covered with paper towels. Save in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve. The bacon bits will be served on top with the parsley at the end.

Pour out all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the pan. Me, I have a dog food can on the counter that I pour all my fats into and when it’s full, I refrigerate to harden up and throw out in a zip lock bag. Don’t pour your fat down the drain. Plumbers delight.

Heat the pan over medium high heat and when the bacon fat shimmers add the onions, 1 teaspoon of brown sugar, thyme, garlic and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, being sure to stir often until the onions start to caramelize. This is going to take as long as 15 minutes but don’t walk away and watch a basketball game on TV. You need to keep stirring so the onions don’t burn.

When the onions are soft and light brown, add 1 cup of the chicken broth and give a stir. Transfer all this good stuff to the crock-pot, add the remaining 2 cups of chicken broth plus the other tablespoon brown sugar, soy sauce, instant tapioca and bay leaves. Stir to combine.

Cover the crock-pot and cook on the low setting for 7½ hours until the meat is tender. (That is if you use the right cut of pork!)  You can also cook on high for 4 to 5 hours, again until tender.

When all is cooked, transfer the meat to a large serving plate if you are not serving individual plates and tent with some aluminum foil. The meat needs to rest while you finish the sauce.

You want to get rid of as much fat as possible from the cooking liquids. Let the liquid cool for 5 minutes and then spoon off as much as you can from the surface. May be my least favorite job when cooking but worth doing.

Get rid of the bay leaves; add the vinegar, stir and season with salt and pepper to taste. You are now almost ready to serve family style.

Reheat the bacon pieces in the microwave oven for about 30 seconds until heated through. Pour 1 cup of the defatted sauce with all those lovely caramelized onions over the pork chops, sprinkle with some bacon bits, fresh parsley and serve with the rest of the sauce on the side.

Let me know if you have better results than I did with the wrong cuts of pork. - The Reluctant Gourmet

Cutting up the bacon

Bacon is nicely sliced up

Sauteing the bacon

Remember bacon bits?

Sauteing the onions