I tried to follow the recipe to the T but somethings went wrong:

1. The Sauce took on a very sharp bitter taste. I used a Bordeaux red wine (it was really cheap stuff). I followed all the instructions. The sucs didn't burn or anything. What could have happened here?

2. The meat wouldn't tenderize. and it dried out. I checked it along the way to make sure it wasnt going to over cook and it remained dry and the whole time. I took it out at 3.5hrs for fear of more drying out. Should I have left it in? Maybe it was poor meat quality. Although I did pay quite a bit for the ribs (they weren't on the bone, does that make a difference?)

Anyway, any advice would be helpful because I would like to master this

First off, I would really encourage you to watch the lessons called "Combination Cooking Fundamentals" and "How to Braise" (and even the other 2 lessons called "How to Pot Roast" and "Stewing") as these will provide you with some great insight as to what might be going wrong for you.

In these lessons we go into great detail about the whole process of moist-heat cooking. We talk about how it is more about what the meat should look like when it is done and not exactly how long it will take to cook. In the end, it's not about following a recipe exactly. Your meat could be bigger, less fatty, too fatty, your sauce could be thinner, thicker, your pot could have bigger, smaller, your oven is not our oven etc etc. Does this make sense?

Again, I could go into great detail here but the videos will provide you with better and clearer insight as to what you may possibly be doing wrong. If however, you still have questions after watching those lessons then feel free to ask away. Hope this helps. Cheers!

I have only have a 5 quart cast iron pot and was wondering if 4 to 5 lbs would be too much meat possibly.

Is the big consideration to make sure I just have one layer of meat and then just adjust the liquid and vegetables as needed?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks

It's hard to say exactly if your pot would be big enough. The best advice I can give is to watch the lesson on "Combination Cooking Fundamentals" as one of the topics in that lessons goes into quite a bit of detail about the size of pot to use etc. You may even want to watch the lesson on "Braising" as well. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Cheers!

This calls for deglazing with Brandy. Can you suggest a good substitute?

It really depends on whether or not you are looking for something that has no alcohol or not. But really you could use almost any liquid to deglaze as you are merely trying to incorporate all of those deliciously caramelized bits from the bottom of the pan.

You may want to check out the lesson on Pan Sauces (in particular Topic 4 - "Deglazing Pan Sauces" - there we discuss the different things you can use for deglazing). Hope that helps. Cheers!

My husband declared that it was as good as at the officer's mess when he was a kid. Now that was a real compliment!

The carrots were perfect with this dish