Braised Beef Short Ribs

Updated 2021 and 2022 with refinements over the years.

I have been refining my version of BBS for quite some time.  The infatuation started a few years ago when Olives Café in Edmonds regularly had short ribs on their menu and that is all Jeannine would ever order (for good reason).  As is true of all cooking, starting with good ingredients is essential for for the end result.  Good meat is really important.  Slow cooked low quality meat in cheap wine will taste like slow cooked low quality meat in cheap wine,.

After doing my requisite research I settled on this recipe.  I have to say that the picture had a lot to do with it, showing the syrupy nature of the reduction sauce.  I have made a number of refinements over the years, and logistical clarifications from that original recipe for my personal preferences.

Be forewarned that the aroma that fills the house for hours as you brown, braise and reduce is quite tantalizing.  Serves 4-6, or half the recipe for 2 people plus awesome leftovers.

Ingredients:

• 12 beef short ribs, bone-in, 3” meaty, about 3 – 4 lbs.
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup high temp oil like avocado or grapeseed
• 1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped
• 2-3 stalks celery, chopped
• 2-3 carrots, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tsp anchovy paste
• 1 750-ml bottle good full bodied red wine.
• 6 +/- cups beef stock and/or veal stock if you can find it - preferably low salt (see notes on quantity)
• Gelatin packet
• 1/8 cup dried porcini mushrooms (optional)
• 1-2 packets of Savory Choice Beef Broth concentrate (optional)
• A couple cloves chopped garlic (optional)
• 1 slice of smoked bacon chopped (optional)

Directions:

Season ribs with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large, heavy bottomed ovenproof pot over medium high heat (read Le Creuset). Add ribs and brown on all sides. Work in batches so that the ribs don't get crowded  and start to stew.  Regulate heat so fond doesn’t burn.  Take it slow so much of the fat renders. Transfer ribs to a plate or bowl. Pour off the excess fat to only what is necessary for sautéing the vegetables.

At this point start the oven preheating to 285.  Lower heat on pan and add the onions, celery, and carrots to the pan and sauté slowly, stirring often, until soft and lightly browned, about 15-20 minutes.  If your are using the optional bacon, add it with the veggies or to the pot right before the veggies go in.  A little bacon goes a long way and can overpower everything, err on the side of less is more.  If you are using the optional garlic, add it at the very end and only sauté it for about 30-45 seconds before adding the wine.

Turn heat back up and add the wine to the vegetables.  If the moisture from sautéing the veggies didn’t deglaze the pan, then deglaze and scrape off any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Reduce the wine to about 1/4 its original volume until thick and almost syrupy, not smelling like alcohol anymore, about 15 - 20 minutes.

Add the stock, anchovy paste, bay leaf, dried porcinis, and broth concentrate if using, mix well, then add back the short ribs in a single layer and bring to a simmer. Cover with the lid, and place in the oven. Braise, cooking in the 285 degree oven, until the meat is fall apart tender, 3+ hours. 

Pull the pot from the oven and allow it to cool a bit, then remove the ribs to a plate, and strain the liquid into a separate container, discarding the vegetables, return the ribs to the pot, and add back the strained liquid.  By this time the meat has probably separated from the bones.  Don’t be tempted to discard the bones, they contain collagen that will help thicken and flavor the sauce in the next phase.  I put the bones on the bottom of the pot with the meat on top to prevent any possible scorching.

Medium simmer on the cooktop uncovered until the liquid has reduced to about 1/4 of its original volume, while spooning the sauce over the ribs basting every ~5 minutes, until the sauce is thick and ribs are glazed. Yes this takes constant attention for about 1 hour.

(If the liquid doesn’t thicken, even after reducing, you can add unflavored gelatin as required to thicken.)

Serve with mashed potatoes or pasta or rice. The meat and sauce can be held covered in a 200 degree oven for an hour or more until ready to serve.

In the original pictures below, I made a mash of boiled red potatoes, roasted carrots, parsnips and garlic. 

Footnotes and Tips:

• To eliminate having to scrub the inside of the lid clean later, put foil on the bottom of the lid before putting the lid on.
• The optional dried porcinis add a nice umami to the broth, complimenting the anchovy paste
• Technically, for a braise, the braising liquid should not completely cover the meat.  If so it is a stew. So adjust the liquid quantity appropriately.  It will cook down, even covered though, so don’t skimp.
• Braising time can be 3-4 hours.  3 hours usually is sufficient. Figure an hour for browning the meat, chopping the veggies, sautéing, etc. before putting it in the oven.  And an hour for reducing and glazing.  So allow 5 hours.
• You can also do this in two days, by taking it to the end of the braise and strain and then wrapping the meat tightly and the broth separate in a container and refrigerating over night.  This does two things:  The fat will separate and you can easily take it off solidified; and now you only have 1 hour total cooking time before you eat.
• I used to add some tomato paste to the broth, but it seemed to make the final sauce cloudy, and added a little too much acidity for what I was going for.
• Make sure to NOT use California Bay Leaves.  They have a much stronger and in my opinion bitter taste.  There is also some debate on whether bay leaves do anything, which I haven’t signed up for.  But feel free to leave them out.
• Since the veggies are being strained out, I roughly chop them, and I never peel the carrots.
• If you have ever gone to a restaurant and had sub-par BBS, tough, dry, not flavorful, etc., most likely they were held too long and dried out and/or the beef was not optimal and didn’t have enough fat.
• Go easy on the salt.  With all the reduction of the sauce, it intensifies the salt ratio.

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Some of the seasoned ribs waiting to be browned:

Ribs starting to brown:

Browned ribs set aside:

Sautéing vegetables:

Combined ingredients after braising:

Ribs and sauce reducing after straining

Plated goodness:

Brussels Sprout Gratin

Nothing like oven roasting Brussels sprouts to fill the house with a rich food aroma.  I needed to come up with a recipe that would feed 25 as a side dish, and survive a 1 hour trip down the freeway.  I decided to make a gratin out of roasted Brussels sprouts and cover them with a Béchamel sauce, since sauce will cover a multitude of sins.

I have adjusted quantities by 1/4th, so the following should be plenty to serve 6 –8 as a side dish.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs Brussels sprouts, washed, trimmed, outer leaves removed and cut in half.
• 1 medium sized onion roughly cut into 3/4” pieces
• 4 pieces of thick cut bacon, cut into 1/2” strips
• 1 TBs butter
• 1 TBs flour
• 1 cup of milk
• Heavy cream
• Salt and pepper
• Dried Thyme
• Cayenne pepper
• Truffle oil (optional)
• Grated parmesan
• Panko bread crumbs                                       
• Olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar

Spread out halved sprouts on a foil covered baking sheet with the cut sides up.   Whisk together a 1/4 cup olive oil and 1 TBs balsamic vinegar and drizzle over sprouts.  Salt and pepper and sprinkle by hand with a little thyme (go easy on the thyme).  Add cut onions to the pan.  Drizzle with some more oil and vinegar.

Roast in a preheated 400 degree oven on the center rack for about 40 minutes turning every 10- -15 minutes until caramelized but not burned.

Meanwhile, in a heavy bottom dutch oven, fry bacon strips in a little oil until slightly crispy.  Remove to a plate with paper towels.  Wipe out excess oil from dutch oven.

Start the béchamel sauce before the sprouts go in the oven since it takes about an hour to complete.  Using two heavy bottom sauce pans, make a roux from the butter and flour and cook gently for about 10 minutes.  Make sure it doesn’t brown.  While the roux is cooking, heat the milk in the other sauce pan until steaming.  Pour the milk into the hot roux and whisk briskly until smooth.  Simmer the sauce on low , skim and stir frequently to keep it from scalding.  Stir in a couple ounces of cream at the very end to finish and simmer for another 5 minutes or so.  Adding a couple drops of truffle oil at a time and a pinch of cayenne, season to taste.

Remove sprout and onion mixture from the oven. Spread bacon pieces over the pan and sprinkle liberally with grated parmesan cheese.  Spoon gently into the dutch oven, pour the sauce over.  Sprinkle the top with a combination of Panko and parmesan.  Bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven until bubbling and topping is slightly browned.

Roux ready for the hot milk

8 lbs of sprouts and onions starting to roast

Finished sprouts, onions, bacon, parmesan (melted now) before adding sauce and topping

Shepherd’s Pie

I’ll start off with a disclaimer.  My goal was to end up with a dish that tasted like beef pot pie (of the genre of my chicken pot pie), but was topped with mashed potatoes instead of pastry.  It didn’t turn out that way, but it was critically acclaimed by the eaters and I continue to make it again and again.

Note that this is pot and pan intensive. I usually try to limit dirty dishes to as minimalist as possible, but there really isn’t a decent way to cut corners on this dish. All I can say is, it’s worth it. (*see note below for shortcut version)

Serves 6+

Takes close to 2 hours from clean counter start to getting it in the oven if cooking at a “measured pace”.  So allow ~3 hours after baking and resting until eating. (*see note below for shortcut version)

[Updated 12/2023 and 3/2024 and 11/2025]

Ingredients:

• 1+ lbs ground lamb (my preference) <OR> about 1.5 lbs of lamb or beef stew meat trimmed well and 3/4” cubed
• 1 qt beef broth
• 2 celery stalks chopped
• 1 medium onion roughly chopped
• 2 carrots cut into 1/2” pieces
• 3/4 cup of green beans cut into 1” pieces (frozen peas could be substituted)
• 1/2 medium parsnip cut into 1/2” pieces
• 1/3 rutabega cut up into 1/2” pieces
• 3 large russet potatoes
• ~ 6 cremini mushrooms chopped
• 5-6 cloves of garlic - 3 chopped for vegetable mix and 2 for mashed potatoes
• salt and pepper
• thyme
• curry
• cayenne pepper
• butter
• milk
• flour ** See below for GF method
• corn starch
• olive or avacado oil
• Panko (regular or GF)
• grated parmesan

In a heavy bottom dutch oven like a le creuset, brown cubed meat salt and peppered in batches in light oil .  Keep heat high enough not to stew but not high enough to burn fond.  <OR> if using ground meat, don’t brown, just cook and fully render fat. Remove meat to a plate or bowl with paper towels to absorb grease.

Remove excess grease from pot, and sauté onions and celery.  Add garlic at end for about 30 seconds.

Add back meat and any juices, add other vegetables (except for potatoes).  Add enough broth to just cover.  Add seasonings to taste *.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and simmer uncovered for about 1 hour or until vegetables are soft.  (* I don’t usually measure seasonings since they are so variable to the underlying food and to individual taste.  I’ll add what feels like maybe 75% of what will be needed, then taste several times as it cooks, adding more if necessary.)

Meanwhile, peel potatoes and cut for boiling.  Boil with a couple cloves of garlic, and mash* and reserve in covered pot to stay warm.  (A normal mash, with butter and salt and pepper and milk to taste, etc.)

Prepare a roux of flour and butter**, about 3 TBs each when meat and vegetables are done simmering.  Strain broth into a sauce pan and bring to a simmer.  Reserve beef and vegetable mixture in baking dish or Dutch oven and keep warm in oven.  Separately whisk together 1TBs cornstarch and 1/4 cup of milk.

Pour hot broth slowly into roux and whisk into a gravy.  Be judicious as to how much of the broth you use, you may not need all of it.  Simmer to thicken about 10 minutes while stirring.  Add cornstarch mixture slowly while whisking until consistency is pretty thick. (Note I use both thickening techniques to get it as thick as needed so the end result is not soupy.)

Preheat oven to 325.  Pour gravy over beef and vegetable mix in a baking pan.  Add mashed potatoes to top in a thick layer.  Sprinkle some Panko and then some grated Parmesan over the top and some fresh ground pepper.  Bake in oven until bubbling and Panko is lightly browned - about 30 minutes (turn on broiler last couple minutes to brown if needed)

Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes then serve.

* Shortcut, GF, and fewer pan version:

While I like the end result of the original method above, you can cut off an hour, and multiple pans by doing it a little differently.  Use a very large cast iron skillet to brown the meat, sauté aromatics, and simmer vegetables and meat in broth. Instead of making a roux and using cornstarch, add potato starch slowly to simmering mixture (after it has cooked) while stirring to mix until consistency is correct.  Put mashed potatoes, panko and parmeson directly on top of mixture in the skillet and bake in oven per above.

Shortcut version pictures:

 

 

Chicken with Red Wine and Rice

Kind of boring title, but that is where I started with this recipe.  I wanted to make something similar to chicken marsala but different.  I bought some chicken thighs at the store this week and needed to use them before Thanksgiving.  So I synthesized a couple recipes into what follows. Served it with steamed broccoli.  No pictures, since I didn’t anticipate blogging it, but I needed to remember what I did since it was so good.

Ingredients:

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs  (The local QFC was very low on chicken, all the refer case space being taken up by various forms of Turkey and ham for the holiday.  So I actually deboned and skinned some regular thighs.  Added 20 minutes to the deal.)
• Basmati rice (about 1 cup dry would work well for 3-4 servings)
• 1 whole regular onion thinly sliced
• about 1/3 bottle decent red wine  (Gascon Malbec was wine of choice tonight)
• 1 Qt chicken broth
• Thyme (about 1/2 + tsp)
• Salt and pepper
• Minced garlic (about 2 cloves worth)
• Olive oil

Brown chicken in a heavy bottom dutch oven over medium to medium high heat in olive oil in batches.  Remove to a plate.

Sauté onions on medium to medium low heat in same pot.  When soft and slightly browned (about 10 minutes), add garlic and sauté for another one to two minutes.  Add chicken on top of onions and garlic and any juices from the plate.  Add red wine and bring to low simmer, add enough chicken stock to just barely cover the chicken.  Cover and simmer for about 30 – 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, prep rice and any side dishes so they will finish about 5-10 minutes after chicken is done.  I used basmati rice cooked with chicken broth.

When chicken is done, and about 10 minutes before side dishes are done, remove chicken and most of the onions to a platter with a slotted spoon, cover with foil and keep warm in a 175 degree preheated oven.

With lid removed, simmer liquid in pot to reduce to about 1/2 original.

Serve on warm plates by putting chicken and onions on bed of rice with reduced liquid on top.

Turned out so good that Jeannine, Nicole and I devoured all six chicken thighs with no leftovers.

Pork Tenderloin “make it up as you go” Clay Pot

Have done pork tenderloin in a clay pot several times, but this time was the most successful by far in the taste department.  Just kind of made it up as I went.  Clay Pot cooking for the uninitiated uses a 2 part clay pot that you soak in water, put the food in, place in a cold even and then cook so that the food steams and cooks.   While the clay pot produces wonderfully tender food, this recipe could be done in a Le Creuset or other dutch oven.  Serves 2-4 depending upon size.  Prep time 30 minutes, cook time 60 minutes.  If using a clay pot, soak per manufacturers instructions first.

Ingredients:

• One large or two small pork tenderloins cut into halves and trimmed of silverskin and other “goobers”.
• 4-5 red potatoes sliced thinly
• 1 large or 2 medium onions sliced thinly
• 2 tart (like granny smith) apples peeled and sliced
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• thyme
• parsley flakes or fresh italian parsley

Sauté onion in olive oil until translucent and soft in a heavy bottom pot.  If not using a clay pot, use the dutch oven you are going to finish in.  Remove onion to a plate or dish.
Turn up heat and brown pieces of salt and peppered pork tenderloin.  Only do one or two pieces at a time to prevent them from stewing.  Remove to a plate or dish.  (these should be browned but not cooked, use high enough heat to brown well, but not burn.)

In clay pot (or dutch oven) assemble as follows:

• about half the onions on the bottom of the pot
• about 1/3 the apple slices
• pork with a sprinkling of thyme and parsley
• the rest of the onions
• then layer apples, potatoes, salt and pepper, thyme, parsley and repeat
• carefully pour in chicken broth on the side to keep from washing away seasoning and add the apple cider vinegar

Cook at 425 for 50 – 60 minutes until done.  (Note:  clay pots go in a cold oven.)

Clay pot out of the oven after cooking with lid removed.  Pork, onions and apples are buried underneath the potatoes.


Plated food.  Steamed broccoli was accompaniment:

Indiana Jones and the Grains of Paradise

Well it could have been a movie…
I wanted to make a lentil soup, so I checked out one of my favorite sources for reliable recipes, Alton Brown of the Food Network.  He had what looked like a great basic recipe that had good reviews here.  It had an interesting ingredient however: grains of paradise.  After doing quite a bit of online research to see where I could find this mysterious and exotic sounding spice locally (vs. going to Pike Place Market Spice Merchants), I found it at the Sea Salt Superstore in Lynnwood which has lots of specialty salts, peppers and spices.
Long story short, the soup was wonderful and easy to make.  The GOP’s, frankly were a non-event.  Since the minimum quantity I ordered far exceeded what the recipe called for, I kept adding and adding to see if I could actually taste the spice.  Pretty much like mild pepper if you ask me though freshly ground it has a very interesting and intriguing aroma.  Good thing is, you don’t need it for this recipe. Variations could include curry for sure.

• 2 TBs olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 lb lentils picked and rinsed ( I used multi-colored to add interest)
• 1 cup peeled and chopped tomatoes (I used canned)
• 2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground coriander (I used the pre-ground spice)
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground toasted cumin (I used the pre-ground spice and didn’t toast it)
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground grains of paradise (see notes above)

Sweat onions, carrots, celery in the olive oil with the salt in heavy bottom stock pot until translucent and soft.   Add lentils, tomatoes, broth, spices and stir to combine.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cover until lentils are tender, around 30-40 minutes.  Using a stick blender, puree to your preferred consistency.  Serve immediately.
[Made this tonight sans the tomatoes (since I had none), using 1/2 the broth and lentil ratio to full quantities of veggies.  Added some red pepper to the finely chopped veggies at the beginning and used the following spice ratio:  1/4 tsp each of coriander, cumin, curry.  Was quite good ]

Updated Go To Lentil Soup March 2020

• Avocado oil 
• 1lb ground mild italian sausage - either bulk or remove casings.  Can use chicken sausage too
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• salt to taste
• 1 cup+ lentils picked and rinsed - current fav is small green lentils from PCC bulk food section
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes
• 2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
• Cumin to taste (~ 2 TSP)
• Curry powder to taste (~2 TSP)
• Harrissa paste to taste (1/2 TSP depending on heat level)

Brown sausage, remove to bowl
Saute veggies
Add everything back to pot
Simmer 30-45 minutes
Stick blend to desired consistency

Can add Kale too

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Had this rough idea in the brain for a long time and finally got around to trying it out.  Basically made it up as I went, aided by what I had on hand.  The end result was quite tasty and I would definitely make again.  Can be adapted for vegetarian by switching the broth.  When all was said and done, it was really pretty easy.  45 – 60 minutes to roast the squash and about 15 more minutes to finish it off.  Serves 4 first course.

• 1 medium 2-3 lb butternut squash
• 1/2 large onion finely chopped
• 1-2 stalks celery finely chopped
• 1 Tbs minced fresh ginger root
• olive oil
• 1 Qt  Chicken (or Vegetable broth)
• Curry
• Chinese Five spice
• Salt and Pepper
• 3 TBs cream or half and half to finish

Cut squash in half, remove seeds, coat lightly with olive oil and put on a foil covered pan.  Roast loosely covered with foil at 425 for 30 minutes.  Remove cover and roast another 15 – 30 minutes until fork tender.

Meanwhile…  finely chop vegetables and sauté in heavy bottom soup pot on medium low heat in olive oil until translucent and tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.  Add about 3/4 of the broth and bring to a simmer for another 15 minutes or so while squash is cooking.

Remove squash from oven when done, let cool a little for easier handling, and scoop out flesh from skin.  Add roasted squash flesh to simmering broth.

With stick blender, puree soup until smooth.  Add some of the remaining broth if necessary to get desired consistency.  Season with Curry (1-2 tsp to taste), Chinese Five spice (1/4 tsp + to taste), salt and pepper.  Let sit for 5 – 10 minutes on low heat until flavors meld, then finish with the cream and serve immediately.