Korean Short Ribs Paired with Eroica by Chateau St. Michelle

My original plans were for a red wine with this dish, but I must have been out of my tiny little English mind when I thought that pairing up. The only way is white for this dish, so don’t even THINK about getting creative and going the red-route. It won’t work, mainly for the reason of the complexity of flavors in the short rib marinade.

When was the last time you ate a pear?
I just read that back and it sounds ridiculous. I actually don’t believe a raw pear has graced my lips in quite a few years. I’ve actually created wine dinner menus where caramelized pear has been the main ingredient of a salad, but so far as eating it raw, it’s been quite a while.

The one thing I will say about documenting these recipes is that it’s really pointed out some major flaws in my eating habits. Not that I’ve been eating poorly. Far from it. More that I really need to expand my horizons. However, there’s no excuse for not eating a raw pear in a few years!!! A decent proportion of my wine reviews mention pear as one of the flavor components, so it would probably behoove me to taste it in its raw, unadulterated form!

Daikon. Think potato meets radish, in the shape of a fat white carrot. The reason I’m telling you this is that I always forget what the bloody things look like when I’m grocery shopping. I do believe this was the third time this year I’ve been stood in the middle of the grocery store searching for “Daikon” on my phone under Google Images…

For my initial recipe I used regular soy sauce, but if I were to make this again I would probably use sodium free. The simple reason being that the short ribs ended up being quite salty, but then again, I did marinate them for two days. I’ve changed the recipe at the bottom to take into account this modification, but luckily the benefit of the wine was it managed to quench my thirst making up for the slightly over-salted character of the dish. A red wouldn’t have achieved the same “refreshment” effect.

My wife bought me this miniature bottle of Saki as a Christmas stocking-stuffer about 3 years and I’m just finally getting around to using it…..in cooking. It was also my own last-minute ingredient addition, so feel free to drop it from the final recipe. The Mirin achieves the same effect.

For the amount of photos I have take featuring my Global knives I should try and strike up some kind of sponsorship deal!

I’d always wanted a set of Globals ever-since I started at culinary school in England (‘97-‘99).
I managed to save enough money to buy the knife case (which was about about one-third the price of any one knife, and served the purpose of everyone I walked past thinking that the case contained a full set), but never actually owned a single knife. Now I won’t work with anything else. They’re so sharp they’ll cut you if you look at them the wrong way, and thus they made light work of the short ribs. 4 ribs per person should be enough.

How much simpler do you want these recipes to get!?!? When it comes down to it, all you’re really doing is basically blending together all the ingredients in a food processor, throwing the short ribs into the mix, refrigerating and leaving it to marinate for as long as you see fit.

I’m going to make a promise (at least to myself) to start cooking with Bok Choi more often. It’s possibly one of the easiest vegetables to work with, and since I’m still trying to watch the carbs I think it might make suitable side to a curry (as opposed to rice).
The prep couldn’t be simpler: cut the root off, separate into individual leaves, wash, throw into a pan with a couple of cups of boiling water and two tablespoons of soy sauce, cover for five minutes on high or until thick white parts are still moderately al dente, serve.

Eroica by Chateau St Michelle is without a doubt in the top 10 Riesling’s produced in this country. “Ahhh, but you see, I’m not a fan of Riesling! It’s all sugary-sweet-insulin-shock-in-a-bottle, right?” Wrong! Sorry to disappoint. But if that was your first thought anyway, you probably don’t have a true understanding of what “real” Riesling should taste like. You need to do something to remedy that A.S.A.P., at least from a food pairing perspective.

Eroica is is joint collaboration between Washington State producer Chateau St Michelle and Mosel (Germany) producer Dr. Ernst Loosen. The U.S. has some real potential to produce decent-quality, off-dry Riesling when winemakers put their mind to it, but the simple fact is that consumers don’t understand it. Why put your heart and soul into producing a wine, only to have to spend even more money on marketing $’s explaining “…no, I promise you, it isn’t as sweet as you’d think! Try it! I promise you!!! You’ll like it!!!” I guess the only real way is to pickup a bottle, and taste it for yourself to know what I’m talking about.

Named after Beethoven’s Third Symphony (Eroica), the wine showed beautiful pear, apricot, lemon, delicate honeycomb, and cinnamon-dusted green apple. Crisp, minerally, with the perfect level of balanced acidity, the wine and the food paired together beautifully. Probably even-more-so since the short ribs were slightly over-salted from the extended marinade session, and served as a suitable refreshment pairing. This wine is MADE for Asian-style cuisine

Recipe for Korean Short Ribs

Serves: 2-4
Depending on how many short ribs you buy. The marinade should stretch to 4 portions.

Prep Time: 20 mins (not including overnight marinade)

Cooking Time: 20 mins

INGREDIENTS

4 garlic cloves, halved
1 small pear, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
Daikon (enough to make one cup) peeled and roughly chopped
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh ginger or just the stuff in a tube)
1 cup sodium-free soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin (sweet rice wine)
1/2 cup Sake (feel free to drop if you like)
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds

Beef short ribs

METHOD

1. In a food processor, add everything (except the short ribs, obviously, but if I had to tell you that you probably don’t belong anywhere near sharp objects). Transfer the mix to a large bowl or Zip-loc bag.

2. Using a sharp knife, make cuts in the ribs every 1/2 inch, cutting 1/4 inch deep. Add the meat to the marinade and refrigerate overnight.

3. Light a grill. Grill the meat over moderately high heat, turning to make sure they don’t burn too much, about 10-15 minutes total (depending on the thickness of the ribs). Let rest for 5 minutes, and serve with Bok Choi.