Slow-Cooker Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs

Slowly braising ribs on the stovetop yields melting, fork-tender perfection—but it’s also a lot of work. We wanted a recipe with as much upfront work as possible that gave us tender, flavorful ribs in a rich sauce that wasn’t watery and dotted with fat. Here’s what we discovered:

Test Kitchen Discoveries

• Adequately browning the ribs with the bones attached was impossible. Slicing them off the bone first allows the ribs to lie flat in the skillet and also trims away some of the fat.
• The bones add a wealth of flavor, so throwing them away was not an option. Microwaving the rib bones before adding them to the slow cooker proved to be a faster, less complicated alternative to roasting them.
• Because the slow cooker does not allow for evaporation, we reduced the red wine on the stovetop to concentrate the flavor before adding it to the slow cooker.
• Many recipes we tested suffered from soupy sauce. However, we steered clear of traditional thickeners like flour and cornstarch and settled on an unconventional ingredient.