Short Rib Recipe

bone-in deliciousness

If this doesn’t put the comfort in your dinner, just about nothing will.  Get your belly full on this slow-cooked short ribs recipe.  Serve with my Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Candied Carrots for the ultimate meat-and-potatoes kind of meal.  It’s perfect for entertaining guests, and even more special for your family on any given night.

cooking information

• Yield: Dinner Portion for 10
• Prep Time: 30-45 Minutes
• Cooking Time: 4-8 Hours

all ingredients

• 12 Short Ribs
• 1 Large White Onion
• 3 Whole Carrots
• 5 Stalks of Celery (or 1 Heart of Celery)
• 1 Bottle Red Wine
• 1-2 32-oz. Boxes Beef Broth
• 1 Stem of Fresh Rosemary
• 5 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme
• 3 Dried Bay Leaves
• 1 Cup Cool Water
• 3 Tablespoons Cornstarch
• Salt and Pepper
• Olive Oil

recipe instruction

1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

2. Prepare your veggies. First, remove the outer layer of the onion and thinly slice. Peel the carrots and then roughly chop. Finally, clean your celery and roughly chop; set aside.

3. In a large sauce pan, add enough oil to thinly coat the bottom of the pan. Turn to medium high heat.

4. Next, spread out your short ribs in a single layer and season with salt and pepper. Place the seasoned side down in the hot pan and let brown. Season the other side of the meat with salt and pepper.

5. Let the short ribs brown on the first side until the meat has turned a little brown and has gotten a crust on it, approximately 3 minutes. Once this has happened, flip and sear the second side.

6. After the meat is completely seared on both sides, transfer the ribs to a deep roasting pan in a single layer.

7. Reduce the heat of the pan in which you just seared the beef to medium and add your veggies. Sauté the veggies while scraping the bottom of the pan and removing the brown bits.

8. While the veggies are cooking, place your rosemary, fresh thyme, and dried bay leaves randomly over the meat in the roasting pan.

9. When the veggies are tender and have cleaned the bottom of the pan, place them on top of the short ribs in an even layer.

10. Open your bottle of wine; pour over the meat and veggies until covered about halfway.

11. Open your beef broth and add to the roasting pan until meat and veggies are completely covered.

12. Cover the roasting pan with tin foil and place in your oven. Let cook as long as you can — 3-7 hours. The longer the better.

13. Once you have let the meat cook as long as you can, remove from the oven and let cool.

14. About half an hour before serving the ribs, remove them from the cooking liquid and place on a baking sheet. The bones might fall from the meat, but that is great. Place the baking sheet in a 250 degree oven to keep them warm.

15. Next, strain the cooking liquid into a large sauce pot. Discard the veggies and fresh herbs.

16. Turn to high heat a burner with a large pot. Reduce for half an hour, or until the cooking liquid has reduced by half.

17. Once the liquid has reduced, mix your corn starch and cool water in a separate cup. (This is called a slurry and is a thickening mechanism.) Slowly add your slurry to the cooking liquid while continually whisking it. It should begin to thicken up right away.

18. Once the gravy has thickened, the fat will remain on the top; drain it, careful to keep the good stuff in the pan. Return to the burners.

19. Keeping the heat at medium low, thin with a little water if the gravy is too thick. Add only a little water at a time and continually whisk together. Do this until you’ve reached the desired consistency of your gravy.

20. Spoon the gravy on top and enjoy.

cooking tips

• When you first sear the beef, the bones within the hunks are huge; after cooking all day long, the bones shrink. Don’t be alarmed. Because a short rib is a rich piece of meat, one nugget per person is plenty.
• Some of the portions are fattier than others so I always factor a few extra pieces of meat, just in case.
• This is one of those recipes where the longer you can cook it the better. The fat becomes butter and it’s amazing. If you have to leave the house for whatever reason and you can’t leave the oven on, crank up the heat to 400 degrees for 15 minutes and then, when you leave, turn off the oven, but don’t open the oven doors. The residual heat will continue to cook the meat while you are gone. When you return, turn the heat back on until you are finished cooking.
• This is a recipe for impressing somebody. The only hard thing to this recipe is the amount of time you have to wait to eat them. They are delicious, easy, and so worth the wait.