An Eat'n Man: Bean Pot Country Ribs

If you remember my Black-Eyed Pea post from January, you may remember that I got a new bean pot for Christmas. I'd been wanting one ever since I saw Gabriele Corcos cooking with one in Tuscany on the Cooking Channel.

My new Bean Pot

Bean Pots are an ancient, old school style of cooking vessel--they've been around since at least Colonial times and maybe even longer. While their main claim to fame is cooking beans, they are very much like a Dutch oven and can be used on other slow cooking occasions. This dish is something similar to what I saw Gabriele cooking on the Extra Virgin show, but I couldn't find his recipe so I sort of made up my own.

Oh, and the country ribs in this recipe aren't really ribs at all--they're just strips of chuck roast cut to resemble ribs.

But they are perfect for this technique, as the bean pot will transform them from toughness to tenderness over a nice slow roasting.

Bean Pot Country Ribs

1.5 pounds country ribs (chuck)
3 carrots, sliced
3 celery stalks, sliced
1 onion, diced
3 cups veal stock
12 oz consommé
1 cup red wine
12 oz can fire roasted tomatoes, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 325˚F

Heat olive oil in skillet. Brown the 'ribs' in the olive oil.

Reserve the ribs. Saute onion in olive oil.

When they start to turn golden, add the garlic and cook another two minutes.

Place beef and onions in the bean pot or a Dutch oven if that's what you're using.

Add celery, carrots, and onion/garlic mixture. Add the wine.

Add the tomatoes, thyme and veal stock.

If you've never used veal stock before, you're in for a treat. It's much richer and complex than beef stock, yet at the same time delicate and subtle. I'd use it all the time in place of beef if it weren't so expensive and hard to find. You can usually find it at places like Central Market. Or, you can make your own. I've yet to do that, but I plan to try it.

Add the consommé.

This is another sort of secret ingredient. Consommé is a rich broth popularized by the French and it is usually eaten like a simple soup, but I find it makes a nice addition as an ingredient in dishes like this.

Cover pot and cook in oven at 350˚F until beef is tender. Check it every thirty minutes or so to make sure liquid hasn't cooked down too much. If it does, add a little more stock. After two hours, check to see if beef is tender. If it is, great, if not, let it go another thirty minutes to an hour. When it is done, the dish will have a stew-like consistency.