In this video, Chef John shows you how to make his delicious Short Ribs Pizzaiola, a mouthwatering twist on a classic Italian dish. Tender, slow-cooked short ribs are simmered in a rich tomato sauce infused with garlic, herbs, and red pepper flakes for an unforgettable flavor. This hearty dish is perfect for cozy dinners or special occasions.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello, this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with Short Ribs Pizza Aeola.
00:08That's right, we're doing beef short ribs pizza maker style, which simply means we're
00:13going to cook them in something very similar to a pizza sauce.
00:16Okay, I guess if we were really going to cook these like a pizza maker, we would be putting
00:20them on a pizza.
00:22But anyway, this tender braised beef was incredible, and I think rustic Italian home cooking at
00:27its finest.
00:28And to get started, we're going to crush up one can of San Marzano plum tomatoes using
00:33nothing more than our bare clean hand.
00:35And one of my earliest food memories is that of my grandmother or mom or aunts doing this
00:40at the kitchen table.
00:42And I would always try to help them, but my hands were tiny, so after a minute they would
00:46tell me to go outside and play.
00:48But anyway, the point is we're going to crush these into a puree, which we will then set
00:52aside until needed, at which point we'll move on to season our beef short ribs.
00:57And for this, I have about three pounds, which is probably going to be six big, beautiful
01:01short ribs.
01:02And what we'll do is season this very generously on all sides with kosher salt, using one teaspoon
01:08per pound of meat, which is why I'll be applying about three teaspoons.
01:12And by the way, shout out to the butchers at Pacific Market who hand cut these for me
01:17so they'd be the same size, which is the first official tip in this video.
01:21Alright, don't buy your meat right out of the case like a total stranger.
01:25Make friends with the butcher and tell them exactly what you're making and what you need,
01:29and they will be more than happy to cut these to order.
01:32And if they're not, go to another store.
01:34But anyway, once we have those successfully salted, we will head to the stove, where we'll
01:38heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a Dutch oven set over high heat.
01:43And our first and most important step, besides the seasoning, is to sear these really well
01:48on all sides, and hopefully achieve that beautiful brown crust we're always after when we do
01:52something like this.
01:54Because in general, the more browning you get, the more meaty and delicious your beef
01:58will be.
01:59So we really do want to take our time with these.
02:02And by the way, if you can't find or afford short ribs, which can be a little bit pricey,
02:07some big old chunks of beef chuck would also work, since that comes from the shoulder and
02:12has lots of connective tissue also.
02:14So it will work in a similar way to the short ribs, and it's definitely a little more of
02:18an affordable cut.
02:20But either way, once we run out of sides to sear, we will turn off the heat and remove
02:24those to a plate, and we will let those rest while we make the base of our sauce.
02:30Which we will start by tossing in some large brown mushrooms, that we've simply cut in
02:34half.
02:35And we'll also toss in a nice big pinch of salt, and we'll set our heat back on to medium
02:39high.
02:41And we could just saute these, stirring them occasionally with a spoon or spatula.
02:45But I'm actually going to take an extra minute and use some tongs to turn all these mushrooms
02:49to their flat side.
02:51And then once we do, we'll let those cook until they're nice and golden brown, which
02:55is going to take a few minutes, so don't be in a hurry.
02:58Just like the beef step, we need to invest a little bit of time for best results.
03:03And that's it, once we've gotten some nice color on those mushrooms, and they're looking
03:07a little something like this, we will stop and toss in our diced onion, and then we'll
03:11cook those stirring for a few minutes, or until they start to turn translucent.
03:16And once they do, we will stop and season this up with some freshly ground black pepper,
03:22plus some red chili flakes, if we want a little bit of heat, which I do.
03:27And we'll also toss in a very generous amount of dried oregano, which of course is a must
03:32in any pizza related sauce.
03:35And what we'll do is stir all that together and cook it for about a minute, before we
03:39add another ingredient key to any good pizza sauce.
03:42And that of course would be some garlic.
03:45And yes, for this I'm using a very generous amount.
03:48And what we'll do is stir that in, and cook that for another minute or so, just to take
03:52the raw edge off, and infuse everything with that garlicky goodness.
03:57But we don't want it to cook too long, or start to brown, so after about a minute, we
04:02will transfer in our white wine, and we will give that a stir to deglaze the bottom.
04:07And by the way, a lot of folks would use red wine for this, but I almost always prefer
04:11the slightly subtler white wine.
04:14And that's it, once our wine's been stirred in, we can add our San Marzano tomatoes, plus
04:19we will also do a cup of chicken or beef broth, which because we're highly efficient, we will
04:24pour into the bowl our tomatoes were in, to sort of rinse it out, and get any of those
04:28last bits.
04:30And then what we'll do besides giving everything a stir, is turn our heat up to high, since
04:34we want this to come back to a simmer.
04:37And once it does, we can stir in our sweet pepper, and I went with red bell, but almost
04:42literally any pepper will work.
04:44And that's it, we can transfer our beef short ribs back in, along with, and stop me if you've
04:49heard this one before, any and all accumulated juices.
04:53Oh yeah, if you ever have juices that have accumulated on the plate, you must, you have
04:58to add those back in.
05:00And then our plan here, will be to reduce our heat to low, and then we'll cover this
05:04and let it simmer gently, for anywhere between three and four hours, or until our meat is
05:10fork tender.
05:12And you don't have to, but usually at about the two hour mark, we might want to uncover
05:16this, and turn our short ribs over.
05:18Okay, it probably doesn't make that much of a difference if you do or not, but three and
05:22a half hours is a long time not to touch our meat.
05:26So I do like to give these a turn, and see how things are going.
05:30And that's it, once accomplished, we'll put the lid back on, and let this continue to
05:34simmer until, like I said, the meat is fork tender, which is very easy to determine if
05:39you have a fork.
05:41And usually if one's done, they all tend to be done.
05:45But just to be safe, test a few, if not all of them.
05:49And once we've determined those are fork tender, we will remove those to a bowl, and reserve
05:54them while we reduce our sauce.
05:56Which I should mention is a totally optional step, because if your meat's cooked, and you
06:01think your sauce is perfect now, you could just move on to final seasoning and service.
06:06But generally, I like to raise my heat up to medium high, and let this reduce a little
06:10bit, just to intensify those flavors a little more.
06:14Which besides thickening things, is kind of the main point of reducing a sauce.
06:18And while that's happening, if we want, we can skim off some of that fat floating on
06:23the top.
06:24And how much you should do, depends on who you ask.
06:26All right, my grandfather would have said don't skim any, whereas his cardiologist would
06:31have said to skim it all, so you'll have to make the call.
06:35And besides skimming, of course, we should probably give things a taste, just in case
06:39we want another pinch of salt.
06:41And that's it, once we've skimmed and tasted, and we're happy with how far our sauce has
06:45reduced, we will back our heat down to low, and we will transfer our beef short ribs back
06:50in, and we will toss those in our sauce.
06:54And by the way, since they're going to slip out anyway, I usually remove the bones before
06:57I add the meat back in.
06:59But if you want to try to leave the bones in, go ahead, since it does make for a little
07:03more primitive, more provocative appearance.
07:06But anyway, I went with a more user-friendly approach, and you really can't go wrong either
07:10way.
07:11And then we will simply let these simmer gently, until they're heated back through.
07:16And other than a final check of seasoning, that's pretty much going to be it.
07:20And while these finish off, I guess we could turn them again, or maybe baste some of the
07:24sauce over the top, which is what I did, since I knew I was going to have to take some contractually
07:29obligated pictures.
07:30Oh, and I should mention, you can actually do this all in the oven, in the same covered
07:35pot, at 325.
07:38So if you don't feel like going stovetop, that's an option.
07:41I mean, you are, after all, the pizza maker, of whether you should be a baker.
07:45And as long as our meat ends up nice and tender and succulent, it really doesn't matter.
07:50And that's it.
07:51After simmering these in the sauce, I gave them one last taste, just to be sure, at which
07:56point I pulled them off the heat, and proceeded to garnish these, in classic pizza aiola style.
08:02And that would be with some freshly picked basil leaves, which I'm actually doing sprigs
08:06of on the top, which is just for the pictures, since when I serve this, I actually like to
08:11tear the basil up, and scatter it over the top.
08:14And that's it.
08:15My version of pizza maker's beef, was ready to enjoy.
08:18And for the first official taste here, I'm going to go pure meat, and just plate one
08:23of these up with nothing but the sauce, and as I mentioned, some torn basil.
08:28And that, my friends, really was truly amazing.
08:30Okay, if you cooked it long enough, that meat's going to be tender and succulent.
08:35And if you browned it properly, the flavors are going to be deep and pronounced.
08:39And while it is very reminiscent of a pizza sauce, for obvious reasons, it is also significantly
08:44more savory, and I think much more complex.
08:48Which is why we really don't want to eat this plain, and we should probably serve this in
08:51a bowl, with maybe some baked polenta, so we're able to capture all those amazing juices.
08:58And yes, in case you're wondering, I'm going to show you my baked polenta recipe at some
09:01point.
09:02But this polenta is amazing as it was, we'll have to wait for it's moment in the spotlight.
09:07Because this video is supposed to be about our pizza maker's beef.
09:11And we've actually done a version of this dish, using steak, which is another much faster
09:16version you can do.
09:18But I have to say, especially served with something like polenta, this low and slow
09:22fork tender version, is probably my favorite, and I really do hope you give this a try soon.
09:28So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much
09:33more info as usual.
09:35And as always, enjoy!