Thursday night for dinner I wanted some ribs, but I wanted to try them in a way I had never made ribs before. So I set out to do my very first Braised ribs. When trying something new I always do a little research first. After reading for a while I figured I had this down and I could make my own.

I started with a deep skillet on the stove with some olive oil in the bottom of the pan and turned the heat on low. I took the ribs and seasoned them with some minced onion and garlic. A bit of seasoning salt and pepper. Then I turned the heat up to medium and places the ribs inside. I cooked them for about 4 minutes each side making sure they got nice and brown before turning them.

When they were all done I removed them and set them in my crock pot (6 hour setting,) and then I deglazed the pan. I used a white wine to deglaze the pan with. After about 2 minutes of the wine cooking I added in about 1/4 c. Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce, and 2 Tbsp. A1 sauce. Then I poured this mixture over the Short Ribs that were in the crock pot and let them slow cook for 6 hours.

They were delicious the only problem I had was I didn’t baste them, and they aren’t covered in liquid so after about 4 hours they started to get a little burnt. when I started to smell the burntness I realized my mistake, and gave a big ol duh to myself and started to baste them. Even though in the pictures you can see they have sort of a blackish crust around the outside of them they were amazingly delicious. I didn’t even mind the little bit of burnt on them, it added a different kind of flavor that reminded me of BBQ that is cooked over a pit outside.

I really enjoyed cooking these ribs this way, and they were so good, they fell apart with such ease. If you have never tried cooking your meat this way I highly recommend it. I wasn’t too sure that this was going to be good, I was even worried about the wine, but it all turned out beautiful. Broccoli and Mashed Potatoes were the side dishes I used with the meat, and they accompanied it very well.

The definition of Braise is: To cook (meat or vegetables) by browning in fat, then simmering in a small quantity of liquid in a covered container.

The definition of Deglaze is: To dissolve the remaining bits of sauteed or roasted food in (a pan or pot) by adding a liquid and heating.

One of the points of this blog was for me to share my new experiences with you. To some of you this type of cooking is old hat. However for me, and I am willing to bet a lot of people this is something that hasn’t been tried. Making the ribs this way instead of just popping them in the slow cooker for hours gave it a nice crust on the outside (which I ruined,) that you can’t get with the slow cooker by itself. This isn’t really a recipe, although you can take the basics of what I have done and add your own flavor to it.

I know that in the future I will be using these methods more, and if there is anyone out there that is willing to give me some advice I am more then happy to take it. Please let me know if there is something I did wrong, or something I can do better, after all I am here to learn.

Filed under: Cooking, Helpful Tips, Rants & Raves, bakedblog