I have recently discovered braised short ribs. How I lived on earth for 40 years without discovering this culinary delight is beyond me. And I call myself a foodie… ANYWAY.
Every time I eat out, if braised short ribs are on the menu, then they are on my plate. I absolutely love them. These flavorful, tender, succulent beefy morsels are the way straight to my heart, I’m telling you.
So when I was visiting my local butcher earlier this week and I noticed boneless short ribs in the meat case, I inquired. How hard are they to make? What do you DO with them? It sounded easy enough, and I figured anything my butcher couldn’t tell me, I could find with The Google.
I brought home my prize and immediately started searching online for the proper way to cook boneless short ribs. It sounds like bone-in short ribs are preferred, but I had to use what I had and I didn’t want to ruin them so I found a recipe for braised boneless short ribs at America’s Test Kitchen. Then I doctored them up a bit with my favorite condiment — bacon!
Here’s how it went down. I chopped a few slices of bacon and fried ’em up till they were nice and crispy.
While they were getting happy, I dried the meat with a paper towel and then rolled each piece in a mixture of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
And I sliced a couple of small onions.
Once the bacon was removed from the pan, I increased the heat to medium-high seared the meat on all sides. This only takes a few minutes. Then I removed the meat from the pan onto a plate to rest while I caramelized the onions. After they were nice and tender and lightly browned, I mixed in a tablespoon of tomato paste.
I keep tomato paste in a tube on hand for such occasions so I don’t have to open a whole jar.
Then it was time to add the red wine and a few cloves of garlic (leave them whole).
Oh, if you could only have smelled my kitchen when this concoction was simmering on my stovetop!! Utterly divine.
I let that simmer for a few minutes until the liquid was reduced by about half and it was getting all syrupy, and then I added beef broth and a bay leaf. If I’d had fresh thyme, I would have put a few sprigs of that in too. I had to settle for a teaspoon of dried thyme instead.
This is my favorite beef broth. I keep it in my pantry at all times.
Then I returned the meat to the pan along with the juices on the plate. I added some carrots around it, covered it and put it in a 300-degree oven to cook slowly for the next couple of hours.
The idea is to let it cook until it is almost falling apart. I don’t think mine quite got there. We were anxious to have dinner, and they had shrunk up quite a bit, but when I cut into them, I knew that I probably should have given them a little bit more time. Still, everyone thought they were divine. I skipped the advice to use a gelatin to restore suppleness, I just used the juices from the pan as is, but I think if I do it again, I would at least go so far as to simmer the juices until they are reduced for a richer flavor when poured over the meat, as advised.
I served the braised short ribs on a bed of rice with a side of carrots (from the pan), fresh steamed green beans, corn on the cob and a glass of good Cabernet Sauvignon. My family was very happy that night at the dinner table!
Here is a printable for you in case you feel like giving this a try!
- 2 lbs boneless short ribs
- sea salt and pepper
- 4 slices bacon, diced
- 1 large or 2 small onions, sliced
- 4 cloves whole cloves garlic, no skin
- 2 tsp tomato paste
- 1 cup dry red wine such as Cabernet Sauvignon
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 4-6 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- In an oven-safe saute pan, brown diced bacon over medium-low heat until crispy; remove to paper towels.
- Dry the meat with paper towels and salt and pepper on all sides.
- Increase heat in saute pan to medium-high, and brown the meat in remaining bacon grease on all sides.
- Remove the meat from the pan to a dish while you caramelize the onions in the same pan over low heat for 10-20 minutes.
- When the onions are soft and slightly browned, stir in 1 TBSP tomato paste; cook for a minute and add the garlic, stirring, and cook for another minute.
- Increase the heat to medium high and add the wine to the pan; stir and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by half.
- Add beef broth, garlic cloves, bay leaf and thyme; stir to combine.
- Return meat to the pan along with carrots; cover and cook for 2.5 hours in a 300-degree oven until the meat is tender and almost falls apart when you insert a fork. Turn the meat twice during cooking time.
- When the meat is done, remove it from the oven, plate it with the carrots, and cover with tin foil to keep warm.
- Strain the remaining liquid into a fresh pan. (You can allow the fat to rise and skim it off if you desire.) Heat the liquid over medium heat and simmer for about 5 minutes, until it is reduced down to about a cup.
- Pour the sauce over the meat and carrots, sprinkle with reserved bacon and serve with potatoes or rice or pasta!
All my friends who buy cow shares are always complaining about how impossible short ribs are to cook. Maybe because they are just so fatty? I don’t mind eating around the fat if it’s a tasty cut. These look awesome. Yummmm.
Looks (and sounds) delicious!
I just made braised short ribs for the first time this year. I cooked them in salsa-style diced tomatoes until they were falling apart, shredded them, and served them as the meat for tacos, over brown rice, and over pasta. Truly heavenly.
All I can say is YUM YUM 🙂 And aren’t ATK’s recipes great? I love their videos — we have one season of them. I think their techniques really work, and you can spot a few of them in this recipe you used.
That looks delicious! I see “Anniversary Dinner” for the hubs in the works… it’s our 10 year in a few weeks!
Yes, these are perfect for an anniversary dinner!
I’ve started making short ribs within the past year as well! Soooo goooood!!! Your recipe looks yummy–I’ll have to try it sometime. Here’s the one I’ve used–from Anne Burell (whom I adore): http://www.shellywildman.net/2013/01/fabulous-friday-food-braised-short-ribs.html. Delish!!
Heading to the butcher this week to make these as a surprise for my fiancee. I can not WAIT to see his face when I serve him something other than chicken or vegetarian meals! LOL! Thanks for the detailed recipe, Jo-Lynne!
I’m in the process of cooking this right now. It looks and smells wonderful! However, do you add the bacon back to the dish at some point after cooking it, or was it just to render the fat?
Oh, I’m sure I added it back in! 🙂 Towards the end, or as garnish.