Red Wine Braised Short Ribs (an in-depth guide to braising)

Instructions

1. Trim the silver skin on short ribs. Put the oil into a large, deep, oven-safe skillet or dutch oven and set over high heat. Dry the short ribs thoroughly with paper towels and season lightly with salt and pepper. Brown on all sides, adding oil as necessary and regulating the heat so that the short ribs brown steadily, but not too aggressively (do this in batches if necessary). Remove the short ribs from the pan. Add the carrots and onions to the pan. Reduce the heat to medium and cook stirring occasionally until golden brown. While the vegetables are cooking, preheat the oven to 300F (150C) with a rack in the middle, and sprinkle gelatin over the stock (unless it’s pretty gelatinous already), and let it sit for 5 min.
2. Add the garlic and tomato paste to the vegetables in the pan and cook stirring constantly until evenly distributed. Add the short ribs back to the pan bone side down snuggling them in between the veggies. Pour in the wine, stock, and enough water to almost cover the short ribs. Add the thyme sprigs and the bay leaf. Cover with a lid or a round piece of parchment paper. If using the paper, tuck it in so that it makes full contact with the liquid. Cook in the middle of the oven until fork-tender, 3-5 hours.
3. Remove from the oven, flip the short ribs bone side up and let cool in the sauce to lukewarm, about 2 hours. Remove and discard the bones and connective tissue (or save for stock). Put the meat into a container and cool completely. Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a container and cool completely. Refrigerate the meat and the sauce overnight or up to 5 days (only cover once they are completely cool).
4. The next day, remove the grease from the sauce. At this point, the meat and the sauce can be frozen if desired. Put the sauce into a large skillet and boil it down until slightly syrupy. Stir in the pomegranate molasses. Add the short ribs, cover, and warm up on very low heat flipping occasionally for about 15 minutes. In a small bowl, mash the flour and butter together with a fork into a smooth paste. Remove the short ribs from the pan. Taste the sauce. If it’s too salty, don’t reduce it anymore. Add a splash of water, and use the flour-butter paste to thicken. If it’s not salty and still feels too thin, boil it down. If you feel that it needs help thickening, stir in the flour-butter paste a bit at a time, bringing the sauce to a simmer after each addition. Wait 30-60 seconds after the sauce comes to a simmer before judging the thickness. Stir constantly. Taste and correct for salt. If the sauce ends up too thick or salty, add a splash of water. Pour over the short ribs and serve.