Pick up two bottles of Pinot Noir for these Pinot Braised Short Ribs – you’ll need one for braising and the other for pouring at the table. Red wine, beef broth, salty pancetta, a splash of Cognac and stems of woody herbs flavor the braising liquid that coddles this tough cut of meat until it literally slips off the bone. The broth then becomes a sauce – and what a sauce – to spoon over the top.
Short ribs are in a category with pot roast and beef stew, cuts of beef that are meant for long, slow cooking until the connective tissue breaks down and the meat falls apart. There’s none of the chewy juiciness of a steak here. Instead they become so silky after hours in the oven that you could almost eat the meat with a spoon.
Of all of these cuts, short ribs are my go-to, the only beef I choose to braise. They have better flavor and texture than a large pot roast, and I like their manageable size and all the surface area for browning. (And I have to confess, I kinda hate beef stew. No matter how well seasoned or slow-cooked, it always disappoints. The sodden, overcooked carrots and potatoes are the final insult. Nope.)
So even though these short ribs cook in a deep pot of beef broth, red wine and herbs, this is decidedly not a stew. The vegetables are diced small so they melt into the broth to flavor it, and then are strained out at the end so the broth becomes a smooth, glossy, deeply concentrated, intensely flavored sauce, almost a demi-glace.
Make these Pinot Braised Short Ribs ahead – early in the day or the day before. This is convenient, and the resting time does improve the flavor of the beef, but the real reason for making this ahead is the sauce. When you first take the cooked ribs out of the braising liquid, the liquid will have a pool of fat floating on top. After straining, chill the broth for several hours or overnight. The fat will rise to the top where you can easily scoop it off and discard it.
If you can’t plan ahead and allow for resting/chilling time, then do your best to spoon as much fat as you can off the hot braising liquid before making it into the sauce – or use a gravy separator for the job.
A couple of other notes on this recipe:
- Don’t open a can of tomato paste for the 1 tablespoon needed for this recipe – the tomato paste that comes in a tube is a lifesaver for recipes like this one.
- I’m a fan of Pinot Noir but any red wine will do. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but as always, choose a wine that you like to drink – a dish cooked with wine will only be as good as the wine itself. (If you don’t drink wine, then sadly this is not the recipe for you – there’s really no substitute. You could try replacing the wine with more beef broth I suppose, maybe with a little red wine vinegar added for acidity.)
- The recipe begins with browning some pancetta. Everything that goes into the pot from that point on is added to the salty fat that has rendered from the pancetta. You’ll notice that the recipe does not include instructions to salt the meat – which is very unusual for me – nor do I add salt to the vegetables in the sautéing step as I normally would. If you add salt at those points, you run the risk of ending up with a finished dish that will be drastically over-salted. Take my advice and wait until the last step, the finishing of the sauce, to taste and add salt if needed. I never do.
- Serve a brightly-colored vegetable side with these short ribs. I like brilliant orange Whipped Butternut Squash for contrast, but if you’re serving a starchy side like Mashed Potatoes, then go green with green beans, spinach or broccoli.
Making this ahead and what to do with leftovers:
- As I mentioned above, Pinot Braised Short Ribs are improved by being made ahead, by at least a few hours or one day. The beef and sauce, stored separately, will keep for up to 5 days, so make it ahead or keep leftovers within that timeframe.
- Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave or on the stovetop, depending on how you plan to use them. I usually tear the meat off the bone for serving leftovers – reheating the bone seems unnecessary. Serve the meat topped with sauce as in the original, or try one of these other ideas:
- Reheat leftover sauce over medium low heat on the stovetop, and add the shredded leftover meat. Once the meat and sauce are warmed through, serve the mixture on a soft sandwich roll with melted cheese (Swiss or Cheddar) and caramelized onions. This is fun to make on dinner-sized rolls for sliders.
- Use just the meat, not the sauce, to make short rib hash: Brown diced onions, potatoes (peeled, diced, and briefly steamed first to soften) and red bell pepper in oil in a cast iron skillet and season generously with salt and pepper. Add the shredded beef and cook until the potatoes are crusty, the onion and pepper are soft, and the meat is heated through. Serve with a fried egg on top.
- If you’re using the meat alone, freeze the sauce in a small zip-lock freezer bag for up to a couple of months. Thaw, then reheat it gently on the stovetop over medium-low heat, giving it a quick whisk if it starts to separate. Pour the sauce over steak, burgers or meatloaf for an elegant meal in an instant.
To see this recipe combined with other dishes in a special autumn menu, see my post for Saturday November 7, 2020.
Pinot Braised Short Ribs
Start early in the day or the day before.
Ingredients
- 4 ounces diced pancetta
- 3 pounds bone-in beef short ribs cut in thick, meaty pieces
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 medium onion
- 1 large or 2 medium carrots
- 1 celery stalk
- 3 medium cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- ¼ cup Cognac or brandy
- One 750-ml bottle Pinot Noir or other red wine
- 4 cups unsalted beef broth
- Two 6-inch sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 4 springs of fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- Kosher salt (optional)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- Minced fresh parsley for garnish
Directions
- Step 1 Put the diced pancetta in a large Dutch oven or other stove-to-oven, lidded pot that will be large enough to hold all the beef ribs in a single layer later. Put the cold pot on the stove and turn on the burner to medium heat. Cook the pancetta, stirring occasionally, until the fat is rendered out and the pancetta is browned and crisp, 15 to 20 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the pancetta to a plate and set it aside.
- Step 2 Sprinkle all sides of each piece of beef with pepper, but do not salt them. Add half of the beef to the pancetta fat in the pot. Brown the beef on all sides except the bone side, including both ends, turning carefully with tongs. Give this time, letting the meat develop a deep brown crust. When the first batch is done, remove the ribs to the plate with the pancetta and brown the remaining ribs. Browning both batches should take between 10 and 15 minutes. While the beef browns, dice the onion, carrots and celery into ¼-inch dice, and mince the garlic.
- Step 3 Remove the second batch of ribs to the plate, and add the onion, carrot and celery to the pot. Season the vegetables with pepper (no salt). Cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables begin to brown and soften, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the minced garlic and the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, until the tomato paste is fully incorporated into the vegetable mixture.
- Step 4 Pour in the Cognac and cook until the liquid is almost completely evaporated, about a minute, stirring to scrape up any brown bits clinging to the bottom of the pot.
- Step 5 Pour in the Pinot Noir, raise the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium high and boil gently but steadily until the wine is reduced by about ¾ of its original volume, 20 to 25 minutes. The liquid will look thick and dark and chunky with the vegetables, no longer thin and brothy.
- Step 6 Add the beef broth to the pot and return the mixture to a simmer. Tie the rosemary and thyme sprigs together into a bundle using kitchen twine and toss the bundle into the pot along with the bay leaf. Nestle the ribs into the pot in a single layer with the meaty side down, bone side up. Add the pancetta and any juices that collected on the plate under the ribs. Return the mixture to a simmer.
- Step 7 Cover the pot and transfer it to the oven. Braise the ribs for 3 hours.
- Step 8 When the ribs are done the meat will likely be falling off the bone, so lift the ribs carefully with tongs and transfer them to a plate or storage container. Carefully strain the sauce through a sieve into a bowl or other container with at least 2 cup capacity. Press on the solids to get as much of the liquid as you can, then discard the solids. Chill the ribs and sauce separately for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Step 9 About one hour before serving, remove and discard the layer of fat from the top of the sauce, then pour the sauce into a pot just big enough to hold the ribs in a single layer – you should be able to use a smaller pot now that the ribs have cooked down. Bring the sauce to a simmer over medium heat. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings, only now adding salt if needed. Nestle the ribs into the sauce and simmer, partially covered, until the ribs are heated through, 20 to 30 minutes.
- Step 10 Put the cornstarch in a small bowl with 1 tablespoon of water and whisk to form a thin paste. Carefully remove the ribs to a plate using tongs. Add the cornstarch slurry to the simmering sauce and whisk for 2 or 3 minutes until the sauce thickens and turns glossy. Serve the ribs with the sauce ladled over the top and a sprinkle of minced parsley for a garnish.
