MC's Short Ribs with 5 Onion Cavalo Nero

Ingredients for the short ribs brine:
2 quarts water

2 cups brown sugar 

2 cups kosher salt 

2 T juniper berries

3 bay leaves

Ingredients for short ribs:
4 cross-cut short ribs, about 1 pound each (ask your butcher to cold smoke them if he can)
olive oil

2 cups onion, coarsely chopped

1 cup carrot, coarsely chopped
1 cup celery, coarsely chopped
1 cup red wine

1 quart chicken stock

Ingredients for 5 onion cavalo nero:
2 cups leek whites, small diced
2 cups scallion whites, sliced
2 cups shallot, small diced
2 cups red onion, small diced
2 cups yellow onion, small diced
2 cups carrot, grated
extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 case black cabbage, chiffonade

Preparing the brine:
Bring all ingredients to a boil in a sauce pan, stirring to dissolve sugar. Cool completely. Cover short ribs with brine and refrigerate 3 hours.

Preparing the short ribs:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Remove short ribs from brine and pat dry. Heat a large high-sided sauté pan over moderately high heat until hot. Add a film of olive oil. When oil begins to smoke, brown short ribs on all sides. (They brown quickly because of the sugar in the brine.) When richly browned, place in a dish that can go from stovetop to oven. Add onion, carrot and celery to sauté pan and cook over moderately high heat until vegetables are well caramelized. Transfer vegetables to dish with short ribs. Add red wine to sauté pan and simmer until reduced by half, scraping up any stuck-on bits with a wooden spoon. Add stock, bring to a boil and pour over short ribs. Bring short ribs to a boil on top of the stove, then cover and bake until fork-tender, about 4 hours.

Preparing the 5 onion cavalo nero:
Slowly sweat all onions and carrot in olive oil. Add raisins, sweat briefly. Add cabbage and cook slowly stirring frequently until cooked very soft. This will take a two hours.

Serves 4