Three hours, one pot, and almost none of it is work. Twenty minutes at the stove and then the oven takes over.
Eight bone-in short ribs browned in flour, deglazed with red wine, and braised in beef broth with thyme and rosemary until the meat gives up and slides off the bone.
Two temperatures, not one
350F for the first two hours, then down to 325F for another thirty to forty five minutes.
The drop matters. Collagen in short ribs breaks down into gelatin over time, and that conversion happens best in a fairly narrow range. Two hours at 350F gets the meat there. Dropping to 325F for the last stretch lets it finish without the liquid reducing too far or the exterior drying out.
Held at 350F the whole way, the braise tightens and you lose sauce. The lower final stage is the difference between meat that shreds and meat that has gone stringy.
Flour the ribs, and it does two jobs
Seasoned with salt and pepper first, then coated on all sides with a quarter cup of flour.
The flour helps a crust form during searing, since it dries the surface and browns readily. It also thickens the braising liquid over three hours, so you end up with a proper gravy rather than thin broth.
Season before flouring. Salt applied over a flour coating sits on the outside and comes off in the pot.
Forty five seconds a side, in a hot pot
High heat, two tablespoons of oil, and the ribs browned on all sides.
Forty five seconds is short and deliberate. You are building colour, not cooking anything through. Three hours in the oven handles that.
Do not crowd them. Eight ribs in a Dutch oven at once will drop the temperature and steam rather than sear. Work in two batches if your pot is not large.
Deglaze properly
A cup of dry red wine into the hot pot, scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon, brought to a boil and cooked two minutes.
Everything stuck to the base is browned meat and flour, and it is the deepest flavour in the dish. Wine dissolves it and the two minutes of boiling cooks off the raw alcohol while concentrating what is left.
Cote du Rhone or Pinot Noir are the suggestions and any dry red works. Nothing sweet, since the sugars concentrate over three hours into something cloying.
Whole sprigs, not stripped leaves
Two sprigs each of thyme and rosemary, going in whole.
This is the opposite of what a quick soup wants. Over three hours, woody stems release their oils slowly and steadily, and you fish them out at the end. Stripped leaves would break down completely and you would find rosemary needles in every bite.
Rosemary especially is assertive. Two sprigs across four servings is enough, and stripped leaves would be too much.
Rest twenty minutes with the lid on
Out of the oven, lid stays on, twenty minutes before serving.
The meat reabsorbs some of the liquid it released, which is the same reason you rest a steak. Carving straight away means more of it stays in the pot.
Then skim the fat off the top. Short ribs are fatty and a considerable amount renders out over three hours. It rises and sits on the surface, and a spoon takes most of it off in under a minute.
About the nutrition
The figures published with the original list 347 calories and 15 grams of protein per serving, and those numbers do not hold up.
Eight bone-in short ribs across four people is roughly a pound of fatty beef each. That lands closer to 700 or more calories and well over 40 grams of protein. The serving field also reads as a headcount rather than a portion, which is what a miscalculated entry usually looks like.
So the nutrition is left blank here rather than published wrong.
Serving
Over mashed potatoes with a spoonful of the gravy, which is what the sauce becomes after three hours with flour in it.
Three to four days refrigerated. It also freezes well either before cooking, assembled up to the point it goes in the oven, or after, cooled completely.
Slow cooker and pressure cooker
For a slow cooker, do everything through the deglazing and the broth, then transfer it all and cook on low six to eight hours.
For a pressure cooker, use the saute function for the same first steps, then cook on high pressure forty five minutes and let the pressure release naturally for fifteen. Natural release matters here; a quick release drops the pressure fast and the meat seizes.
Making it ahead
This is a dish that wants to be made hours before you eat it, and there is no downside to that. Assemble to the point it goes into the oven and freeze for four to five months, then thaw twenty four hours in the fridge and cook as written.
Braised Short Ribs
Description
One pot braised beef short ribs cooked in red wine and beef broth with thyme and rosemary, served over mashed potatoes.
Ingredients:
Instructions
-
Preheat the oven to 350F.
-
In a large Dutch oven or oven safe pot with a lid, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high. Add the onion and carrots and cook a few minutes, stirring constantly. Remove to a plate.
-
Season the ribs with salt and pepper then coat on all sides with flour. Add 2 more tablespoons of oil and turn the heat to high. Brown the ribs on all sides, about 45 seconds per side, working in batches so the pot is not crowded. Remove to a plate.
-
Add the wine to deglaze, scraping the bottom to release the browned bits. Bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes.
-
Add the beef broth, salt and freshly ground black pepper, then stir in the tomato paste. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
-
Return the ribs and vegetables to the pot and add the whole sprigs of thyme and rosemary.
-
Cover with the lid and cook in the oven at 350F for 2 hours, then reduce to 325F and cook a further 30 to 45 minutes, until the ribs are very tender and nearly falling off the bone.
-
Remove from the oven and rest 20 minutes with the lid on. Skim any fat from the surface, remove the herb sprigs and serve over mashed potatoes with a spoonful of the gravy..
Note
The nutrition published with the original source lists 347 calories and 15g protein per serving, which is not plausible for roughly a pound of bone-in short ribs per person, and the serving field reads as a headcount rather than a portion. It is not reproduced here. Oven runs two stages: 350F for 2 hours then 325F for a further 30 to 45 minutes. Season the ribs before flouring. Do not crowd the pot when searing; work in batches. Use whole herb sprigs and remove them at the end. Rest 20 minutes with the lid on and skim the fat before serving. Keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated.
