What to do with red wine-based braising liquid?
I made a large pot of braised short ribs in red wine this weekend, and have about 2 quarts of semi-reduced liquid left over. I refuse to throw it away, but am afraid that the flavor is a bit too strong for a soup. Should I reduce it further and use it as a sauce the next time I cook red meat? Should I try to cook some risotto/cous cous with it? If I don't decide soon, it'll end up going into the freezer 'til who knows when. The main flavors are Merlot and beef stock but the base consisted of a mirepoix of shallot, celery and carrot, to which I added garlic, thyme, peppercorn and tomato paste (already strained out). Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!
vvvindaloo
Apr 28, 2008 12:22PM
I wonder if it would work as a base for onion soup? You certainly have enough stock. All you'd need would be a good quantity of sliced and slowly caramelized onions, some gruyere, and a baguette for slicing.
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I never would have thought of this. What a great idea. Thanks, Pat.
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Wonderful idea.
And, if you need more beef flavor in the pot for any reason, an incredible product for that is Johnny's Au Jus concentrate. I'm in So. Cal. and can find it an most grocery stores. A little bit goes a long way with water. It is in a little white plastic container that looks like a moonshine jug (See pic at http://www.johnnysfinefoods.com/)
And a great spice mixture to liven it up the beefy flavor in a French Onion Soup is Cavendar's Greek Seasoning (pic at http://www.greekseasoning.com/ >> yellow container) or Konriko Greek Spice (pic at http://www.amazon.com/Konriko-Greek-S... ) - one of those Greek seasonings should be in the grocery store spice isle - sometimes with the grilling spices near the meat.
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I've actually diluted that liquid to make soup, adding some of the meat leftover from the ribs, some noodles, vegetables etc. I think it might be a little rich for risotto, so if you use it for that, I might dilute it a bit.
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I think the addition of water (perhaps some vegetable broth?) and noodles would indeed make this better as a soup. Maybe even some rice, and mushrooms, instead of the noodles... we'll see. It looks like I am going to try some kind of soup, after all :) Thank you.
EDIT: sorry for the OT addition here, but I am not sure if you saw my last post on vongole :)
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/51128...
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I froze some leftover Short Rib "Juice" a couple of months ago. Yesterday I took it out and used half as part of the liquid in a rice pilau, and the other half as "gravy" with sauteed mushrooms. Both were lifted to another level by the inclusion of the flavorful liquidy goop. All the guests wanted to know what I had "done" to the rice!
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I'd love to know how you made your rice, for future reference. Thanks, ChefJune.
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that is hilarious; I have 5 1-quart containers of exactly the same (did daniel boulud's short rib recipe) in my freezer; I was just planning to do a pot roast or some other large cut of beef in the slow cooker with the stuff; is it too weird to cook a second main meat dish w/ the same stuff?
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You made the three-bottle recipe? Was it worth all of the expense of the wine?
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ya its absolutely delicious. granted, I used $8 bottles of wine so it wasn't super costly but I love the simplicity of the ingredients; I used to braise short ribs in a ton of stuff, and sometimes, I'll add a couple tablespoons of dijon as well.
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My dish was definitely based on DB's recipe, but I made some minor modifications. I had nearly twice as much meat as his recipe calls for, so I ended up reducing the wine a bit less than he requires (I used $15 bottles of Calif. merlot and compensated for the rest of of the liquid with extra stock). I also doubled the mirepoix and tomato paste, and eliminated the bay leaf and parsley. It was very good, though not my best effort.
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I would reduce the liquid way, way down and use it sparaingly as a concentrated flavoring for other future meat dishes or as the base of a sauce.
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Gravy.
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Macaronade, a traditional side to Provençal daubes (though pretty good on its own, too). Cook 1 lb. of macaroni or similar pasta. With half of it, cover the bottom of a buttered or oiled baking dish. Moisten with some of the daube's braising liquid. Sprinkle on 1/2 cup grated Parmesan. Top with the remaining pasta, moisten with more braising liquid, sprinkle on another 1/2 cup or more of Parmesan. Run under the broiler until the cheese melts and begins to brown.
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I don't know if this has already been suggested. Freeze it for the next time you braise short-ribs, etc. Just re-season and replenish it with more liquid if it needs it. I often freeze my braising liquid...I have a soy-braise that has braised many chickens over the last few years.
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Thanks to everyone who has replied today... at this point, the liquid is in the freezer. I probably won't cook another meat dish with it, but am considering reducing it to a much thicker consistency (and maybe adding a little butter at the end) for nice sweet reduction, and trying it on the side of a simple beef tenderloin with frites or even a nice thin steak sandwich :)
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I bet it would make a great poutine sauce.... Reduce it, then thicken it like a gravy starting with a roux, pour over fries with fresh cheese curds...
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The Master Sauce.
Freeze and reuse for braising, or reduce some for concentrated additions.
I kept re-using a red wine Master Sauce and an analog Asian braising sauce for years in the freezer. Then came the nasty power outage and it was lost, but was given a final chance to shine as a liquid on the compost pile. So... I guess it never really died.
Here's a bit of discussion:
http://forums.chef2chef.net/viewtopic...
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