Braised Short Ribs

Ingredients

0 of 15 out on the counter

• 3½ lb bone-in beef short ribs, cut in 3-inch pieces, every bit of outside fat trimmed (480 g of lean cooked meat is weighed onto the plates, 80 g each)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• ¾ tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 2 large onions, diced (about 2 cups, 320 g)
• 4 large carrots, peeled, cut in 1-inch chunks (about 1 lb, 450 g)
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 8 oz cremini mushrooms, stems trimmed, quartered
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp dried thyme

All set! Everything is out. Time to bake.

Method

1. 1Heat the oven to 325 °F with a rack in the lower middle. Trim every bit of outside fat off the ribs, then pat them dry and rub them all over with the salt and pepper.
2. 2Heat the oil in a Dutch oven on medium-high. Brown the ribs on every meaty side, 3 to 4 minutes a side, in two batches so they do not steam. Move them to a plate and pour off any fat that has run into the pot.
3. 3Turn the heat to medium and cook the onions, celery and mushrooms for 8 minutes, until the mushrooms give up their water and everything is soft. Stir in the garlic powder, the tomato paste and the flour and cook 2 minutes.
4. 4Pour in the broth and the vinegar, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom. Add the bay and thyme and bring to a boil. Set the ribs back in with their juices. The liquid should come about halfway up the meat.
5. 5Lid on. Braise at 325 °F for 2 hours. Mitt on for the lid: it is as hot as the oven.
6. 6Stir the carrots in around the ribs, lid back on, and braise 1½ to 2 hours more. Here at 5,300 ft the braise runs about a quarter longer than sea-level recipes, so plan 3½ to 4 hours in all. It is done when a fork slides in with no pull and the meat is tender at the bone; by then it reads far above the 145 °F minimum for beef.
7. 7Lift the ribs out and rest them 15 minutes. Skim the fat off the sauce with a wide spoon and throw it out, along with the bay leaves. Cut any fat still clinging to the ribs off the meat and discard it. Pull the lean meat off the bones and weigh 80 g (about 3 oz) onto each of the 6 plates; any lean beyond those 480 g is leftovers, not part of these servings. Taste the sauce; if it wants more, add a splash of vinegar or a grind of pepper rather than salt. Serve the ribs with the carrots, mushrooms and plenty of sauce.
8. 8Cool within 2 hours, no more than 2 hours, then refrigerate. Leftovers keep 4 days. Freeze ribs and sauce together, two servings a bag, up to 3 months. Reheat covered to 165 °F.