Ben G
Vancouver
British Columbia
Canada
About Ben
Member since Jan 22, 2007
Once Ben was old enough to eat dinner at various friends' homes he came to realize that his parents had set the food standards bar very high. This set the stage for Ben's love of eating good cooking. In fact, an impromptu dinner at a Filipino friend's house was probably one of his earliest experiences with Asian cuisine and began his pursuit of authentic food experiences. A stint as a bus boy at a local, family-run Italian restaurant completely turned him off a career as a food service whipping boy, but inspired a passion for cooking. Ben has been accused of travelling with his stomach. And it's true, his foreign adventures are filled with a desire is to experience cultures through their food. Other accusations include hoarding of condiments, a proliferation of kitchen gadgets (though he's prone to enjoying traditional French food preparation techniques) and an unhealthy obsession with the maintenance of said gadgets; especially his pots, pans and knives. His favourite ethnic cuisine it a tough choice, but currently Malaysian warms his heart most dearly. His secret weapon: white truffle oil. Ben Garfinkel is a founding principal and Creative Director at Industrial Brand Creative in Vancouver, BC. He's had many dining experiences that led him to believe he could do much better, however, he's under no illusion that entering the restaurant business is a good idea no matter how romantic the notion.
Ben has no recipes published on Rouxbe.
Ben's favorite things
| Breakfast: | At home |
| Food Tip: | White truffle oil! |
Ben has not bookmarked any recipes.
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I was about to fall back on the tried and true red wine braised short ribs for a recent dinner party, but thought I'd try this recipe instead. What a wonderful wonderful and thoroughly delicious recipe. Honestly, the ancho chili twist is a delightful surprise and not too spicy. In fact, the slow braising produces a rich, complex and mellow flavour with just a little kick. Add more chili if you want it spicier, but this is very well balanced as is.
Aside for a little time-consuming browning of the meat, short ribs are a great one for dinner parties since you don't have to worry all that much about timing. Pull them out of the oven when you are ready!
As an aside, I have heard about taking the ribs out of the dutch oven and putting them under the broiler just before serving to give them a nice crust. I'm not sure this is something I'd do with this recipe though since the sauce is thick and would not carmelize all that much - just make sure you get a good browning on the meat in step 1.
This is a good recipe to use as a base, but with roasted carrots, you can play with a variety of ingredients such as flavoured honey, basalmics, salts and herbs. Adjust the sweetness to your liking - in this recipe the 3 tbsp of brown sugar make it on the sweet side. Reduce the sugar a bit for less sweet, or add some basalmic vinegar. I used a combination of regular basalmic vinegar and fig basalmic in this recipe and then garnished the carrots with fleur de sel (to taste) after plating.
These go great with the Ancho Chili Beef Short Rib Recipe and the Smashed Sweet Potatoes recipes on this site.
I've had this three times (at least) now and it is a simple and delicious treat. Also, a perfect dish to make for weekday entertaining to, since it doesn't take too long to prepare at all. The only thing I'd say is that I prefer the dish when the skin is removed from the duck along with any excess fat. Sure, you might loose a little flavour, but I doubt all that much. Preferable than having the dish swimming in fat in my opinion.