Braised short ribs

Which short ribs to buy

Short ribs are cut from the lower part of the rib cage, and they are sold in two very different ways:

• English cut: one bone per piece, 2 to 4 inches long, with a thick block of meat on top. This is the cut for braising, and the one this recipe is written for.
• Flanken cut: sliced thin across several bones, about 1/2 inch thick. It is made for quick grilling, as in Korean galbi. In a braise it falls apart into small pieces.

Allow 12 oz to 1 lb of bone-in short ribs per person. Much of the weight is bone and fat.

Boneless braised beef short ribs

Boneless short ribs work in this recipe. Use about 3 lb in place of the 5 lb bone-in, brown them the same way, and start checking them after 2 hours in the oven, since they cook faster. They make a slightly thinner sauce, because the bones and the tissue around them add gelatin. Boneless short ribs are sometimes cut from the chuck rather than the ribs, which is the same shoulder cut used in our red wine braised beef. Chuck is leaner and cheaper; short ribs are richer, with more fat running through the meat.

Brown them well

Short ribs need a deep brown crust on every side, and that takes time: 3 to 4 minutes a side, in batches, so they do not steam. Pat them dry first, because a wet surface has to stop steaming before it can brown. They release a lot of fat as they brown. Pour most of it off before the vegetables go in, or the sauce will be greasy from the start.

If you can, salt the ribs the night before and leave them uncovered in the fridge. The salt seasons the meat all the way through, and the dry surface browns faster.

How long to braise short ribs

At 325°F, bone-in short ribs take 2 1/2 to 3 hours. They are done when a fork slides into the thickest part with no resistance and the meat is pulling away from the bone. Go by the fork, not the clock.

Short ribs pass the USDA safe temperature for beef, 145°F, within the first hour, but at that point they are tough. They turn tender at around 200 to 205°F inside, after their collagen has had time to turn into gelatin. Taking them out early because they are "cooked" is the most common reason braised short ribs come out chewy.

Get the fat out of the sauce

Short ribs are one of the fattiest cuts of beef, and a lot of that fat ends up in the braising liquid. The easiest way to remove it is to cook the ribs a day ahead. Chill the ribs in their liquid overnight, lift off the hard layer of fat, then reheat them, covered, in a 325°F oven for 45 minutes to an hour, until the sauce bubbles and the meat reads 165°F. They taste better the next day anyway. On the same day, strain the liquid into a tall container or a fat separator and wait 10 minutes for the fat to rise before you spoon or pour it off.

Braised beef short ribs in red wine

Use a dry red you would drink: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or a Côtes du Rhône. Boiling it down by half before the broth goes in cooks off the raw, sharp taste and concentrates it. Not all the alcohol leaves the pot, but USDA data show that after about 2 1/2 hours of cooking, roughly 5 percent of it remains.

Without wine, use 4 cups of beef broth in total and add 2 tbsp balsamic or red wine vinegar with the broth. The vinegar replaces the acidity of the wine, which keeps the sauce from tasting flat.

Short ribs in the slow cooker or Instant Pot

• Slow cooker: brown the ribs and cook the vegetables, tomato paste and wine on the stove as written. Put everything in the slow cooker with only 1 cup of broth, since nothing evaporates. Cook on low for 7 to 8 hours, then skim the fat and boil the liquid down in a saucepan until it coats a spoon.
• Instant Pot: brown the ribs on Sauté in batches, then cook the vegetables and reduce the wine. Add 1 cup of broth, put the ribs back, and cook at high pressure for 45 minutes with a 15-minute natural release. Skim the fat, then reduce the sauce on Sauté for about 10 minutes.

What to serve with them

Something soft to catch the sauce: mashed potatoes, creamy polenta or buttered egg noodles. A sharp green salad or a scatter of parsley, lemon zest and garlic on top cuts through the richness. Leftover braising liquid, strained and with the fat lifted off, makes an excellent base for French onion soup.

Keeping it

Four days in the fridge, stored in their sauce, and three months in the freezer. Reheat them covered, in the sauce, so they do not dry out.

What it is worth nutritionally

A serving, with the sauce and with the fat skimmed off, has about 510 kcal, with 36 g of protein, 36 g of fat and 10 g of carbohydrate. That is an estimate: short ribs vary a lot in how much fat they carry, and how much of it you trim or leave on the plate changes the numbers more than anything else. Chilling the braise overnight and lifting off the fat is the easiest way to bring it down. Beef is one of the best sources of easily absorbed heme iron, along with zinc and vitamin B12; see our guide to iron-rich foods. The dish is gluten-free if the broth is.