Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/53439
[ Dine In ] Longing for Short Ribs H ome cooks tend to fall into one of two categories: 1) serious epi- cures who do not need help from the likes of me; or 2) those who watch hours and hours of Food TV, then pick up the phone to order a pizza. In a random survey I conducted over the holidays of people from ages 18 to 88, I came across a lot more of the latter than of the former. "But why do you watch, if not to make the dish?" I asked a niece. "A girl can dream," came her reply. "To work up an appetite," said an el- derly auntie. "Because my roommates get high, and that's what's on," chimed in one young man who'd best not be identified. Right. His roommates. I refused to let up on the subject be- cause I fluctuate from being perplexed to infuriated that there is so much food coverage on television yet so little actual cookery taking places in people's homes. And I've heard more out-of-town visi- tors than I can count marvel at how the restaurant business here continues to boom in a recession. It is indeed a marvel. So many talented chefs — not to mention the farmers who produce the food they work with. But at the same time it's hard not to shout, "It's [32] LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 2.12 because no one cooks!" Tus I persisted in my queries. What I discovered is that most people do not want to deal with the steps and stages of cooking, particularly if a recipe involves moving a dish from one heat- ing venue to another — from stovetop to oven or grill (or vice versa) or from one kind of pan to another. Tey want Velveeta mac-n-cheese ease. Tere is a worse bugaboo, and I know I've mentioned it before in this column. It's being daunted by the print on the page. For some reason, it seems nearly impossible for novice cooks to compre- hend the importance of conceptualizing the stages of what will happen with the ingredients once they come together. I keep telling my son that reading a recipe before beginning to cook is like reading the dust jacket before beginning a novel. You want to find out what it's about be- fore you crack it open. His riposte: "You know I don't read novels." I won't go into how that breaks my heart. But seriously, no matter where your recipe comes from, if you just take a couple of minutes to picture how the process is going to play out, it will make the whole thing so much easier to ex- ecute. At the same time, I do understand the >>By Mary Welp Photo by John Nation The only thing that can stop you from enjoying this browned-and-braised rib dish is a fear of reading recipes. horror that one of my OCD pals suffers at the notion of grease popping all over his stovetop or the reluctance another feels to waste precious downtime, stand- ing at the stove and stirring while a sauce reduces. And this is why every week I offer a thank-you to the universe for the Italian home cook who, decades ago, taught me that making meatballs is about a thou- sand times easier if you brown the damn things in the oven rather than in a frying pan. Recently I have applied her advice to just about every kind of "browning" situation. I can't tell you how it has sim- plified both cooking and cleanup. Tis one-pot recipe takes pages from both the Italian cook's playbook and from the Texan I know who taught me about slow-cooking barbecued brisket. It really is insanely easy, as the dish practi- cally cooks itself. You can put the oven temperature even lower, let it cook all day while you're at work and come home to a done dinner. Remember: eyeball the recipe first! And keep this in mind, as well: Short ribs cost about a 10th as much at the grocery store as they do off the menu of your favorite restaurant.