Moche means ugly in French and this sauce certainly qualifies, but the results are stupendous and the technique is not fussy. You will see that the demi-glace is optional. For years, I’ve reduced stock to make glace to have around, and I find it valuable, but it’s not necessary. For this recipe, I used Dartagnan’s demi-glace, it’s delicious and works well here…for those who don’t make their own.
Braised Short Ribs with Sauce ‘Moche’
Ingredients
- 8 pounds of meaty trimmed beef short ribs
- Salt and pepper
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 6 cups mixed celery, carrot, onion, shallots, parsnips, leek, etc whatever mix you like
- 8 cloves garlic, sliced
- 2 large sprigs rosemary
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon Herbes de Provence
- 3 cups red wine
- 2 cups beef or veal stock
- 4 ounces veal demi-glace (optional)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
Let the beef short ribs come to room temperature. Season the ribs very well with salt and pepper. Brown your ribs in the vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a large pan. Transfer ribs to a deep baking dish or roasting pan.
Using the pan you browned the ribs in, add the vegetables, garlic, rosemary, bay leaves and herbes de Provence. After lightly browning them, add the wine and simmer until reduced by half. Then add the stock and demi-glace if you are using it. Bring to a boil.
Place the vegetable and wine-stock mix in the roasting pan with the reserved short ribs. Lightly tent with aluminum foil making sure ribs have coverage but the foil doesn’t reach the side of the pan. Place in the oven, lower heat to 275 degrees and roast for 4 hours. Check your ribs, they should be fork-tender. Discard foil.
Skim any fat from the surface of the liquid. Continue to roast, basting occasionally for an additional 20-30 minutes until the pan is nearly dry, vegetables have broken down and ribs have glazed.
Season ribs. Slip bones out, trim and discard cartilage. Slice and serve with fried fingerling potatoes, spooning the ‘ugly sauce’ over the ribs.
