The Best Beef Short Ribs
Prep
30m
Cook
210m
Total
240m
Bigly says
Sit down for this one. Braised beef short ribs. The greatest braised short ribs in the history of braised short ribs — and I have eaten more short ribs than anyone alive, probably more than anyone in recorded history, the people who track these things have stopped tracking because the numbers are simply too embarrassing for the rest of you. These ribs fall off the bone with the BREATH of a fork. You don't cut them. You look at them sternly and they surrender.
Most people make short ribs wrong. They rush. They braise hot, they pull early, the meat fights back, you end up gnawing on a chewy little bone like a sad raccoon at a campsite. A disgrace to the cow. The cow gave its life for this and you treated it like a chew toy. Embarrassing. Short ribs need TIME. Three hours. Maybe four. LOW AND SLOW — older than France, older than Italy, older than time itself, this is how the cattle ranchers used to do it on the long drives, they'd put the pot on the wagon and the wagon would do the rest. Could be a coincidence. Probably not.
My grandmother — and she was a tough woman, ran a kitchen the way a battleship runs a war, I once watched her debone a chicken in 90 seconds with one hand while answering the door with the other — she taught me the trick. You sear hard. You build a sauce on the fond. You braise until the meat is BARELY hanging on. Then you skim the fat. Then you reduce. The other so-called chefs skip the skim. They serve you a greasy puddle and call it sophisticated. Cheap. An insult. We don't do that here. We do it right. Hands down.
Ingredients
- 5 lbbone-in beef short ribs(English-cut, 2-3 inches thick)
- 1 tbspkosher salt
- 1 tspblack pepper
- 3 tbspneutral oil
- 2 largeyellow onions, diced
- 3carrots, diced
- 3celery stalks, diced
- 8 clovesgarlic, smashed
- 3 tbsptomato paste(cook it dark, don't be timid)
- 2 tbspall-purpose flour
- 2 cupsdry red wine(something you'd actually drink)
- 3 cupsbeef stock
- 6fresh thyme sprigs
- 2bay leaves
- 1fresh rosemary sprig
- to finishflaky sea salt
Steps
- 1
Pat the short ribs completely dry with paper towels. Season generously on all sides with kosher salt and pepper. Let sit at room temperature 30 minutes.
- 2
Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Working in batches, sear the ribs on all sides until deeply browned, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.
- 3
Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat. Reduce heat to medium. Add onions, carrots, and celery with a pinch of salt. Cook 8-10 minutes until softened and beginning to brown.
- 4
Stir in the garlic and cook 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, 2-3 minutes until it darkens to a brick-red color. Sprinkle in the flour and stir 1 minute more.
- 5
Pour in the red wine, scraping up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Simmer until reduced by half, about 5 minutes.
- 6
Add the beef stock, thyme, bay leaves, and rosemary. Return the ribs to the pot, nestling them into the liquid (they should be mostly submerged). Bring to a gentle simmer.
- 7
Cover and transfer to a 325°F oven. Braise 2.5 to 3 hours, turning the ribs once halfway through, until the meat is fork-tender and pulling away from the bone.
- 8
Carefully transfer the ribs to a platter and tent with foil. Strain the braising liquid through a fine-mesh sieve into a saucepan, pressing on the solids.
- 9
Skim the fat from the surface of the strained liquid. Bring to a boil and reduce until it coats the back of a spoon, 8-12 minutes. Taste and adjust salt.
- 10
Spoon the sauce generously over the ribs. Finish with flaky sea salt and serve over creamy polenta or buttered mashed potatoes.
One more thing
You serve this over a pile of soft polenta, you spoon that dark glossy sauce over everything, and the room goes quiet. People stop talking. Forks slow down. A guest will say 'oh my god' under their breath and they won't even realize they said it out loud. That's how you know you did it right. Save me a piece.
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