Beef Short Rib Ragu
By Steve DunnPublished on July 17, 2017
Time
3 hours
Yield
Serves 4 to 6 (Makes 5 cups, enough for 1 lb pasta)
Ingredients
Before You Begin
If you can’t find boneless short ribs, don’t substitute bone-in short ribs. Instead, use a 2 1/2-pound chuck-eye roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch chunks. This recipe yields enough to sauce 1 pound of pasta or a batch of Creamy Parmesan Polenta (our favorite way to serve it). This recipe can be doubled, and the sauce can be frozen. Better Than Bouillon Roasted Beef Base is our taste test winner.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Microwave 1/2 cup broth and mushrooms in covered bowl until steaming, about 1 minute. Let sit until softened, about 5 minutes. Drain mushrooms in fine-mesh strainer lined with coffee filter, pressing to extract all liquid; reserve liquid and chop mushrooms fine.
- Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomato paste, anchovies, and five-spice powder and cook, stirring frequently, until mixture has darkened and fond forms on pot bottom, 3 to 4 minutes. Add wine, increase heat to medium-high, and bring to simmer, scraping up any browned bits. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until wine is reduced and pot is almost dry, 2 to 4 minutes. Add tomatoes and reserved juice, remaining 1 cup broth, reserved mushroom soaking liquid, and mushrooms and bring to simmer.
- Toss beef with ¾ teaspoon salt and season with pepper. Add beef to pot, cover, and transfer to oven. Cook for 1 hour.
- Uncover and continue to cook until beef is tender, 1 to 1 1/4 hours longer.
- Remove pot from oven; using slotted spoon, transfer beef to cutting board and let cool for 5 minutes. Using 2 forks, shred beef into bite-size pieces, discarding any large pieces of fat or connective tissue. Using large spoon, skim off any excess fat that has risen to surface of sauce. Return beef to sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste. (Sauce can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.)
Time
3 hoursYield
Serves 4 to 6 (Makes 5 cups, enough for 1 lb pasta)Ingredients
Ingredients
Ingredients
Why This Recipe Works
For this ragu, we chose a rich, beefy cut of meat—boneless short ribs—and paired it with umami-rich ingredients to produce a deeply flavored sauce that required far less time and work. Boneless beef short ribs contributed a velvety texture and robust flavor while porcini mushrooms, tomato paste, and anchovies added savory notes to make this relatively quick sauce taste as though it had taken all day to make. Braising it in the oven made it a largely hands-off proposition, and removing the lid partway through cooking browned the meat, deepening its flavor and eliminating the messy step of browning it before braising.
Before You Begin
If you can’t find boneless short ribs, don’t substitute bone-in short ribs. Instead, use a 2 1/2-pound chuck-eye roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch chunks. This recipe yields enough to sauce 1 pound of pasta or a batch of Creamy Parmesan Polenta (our favorite way to serve it). This recipe can be doubled, and the sauce can be frozen. Better Than Bouillon Roasted Beef Base is our taste test winner.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Microwave 1/2 cup broth and mushrooms in covered bowl until steaming, about 1 minute. Let sit until softened, about 5 minutes. Drain mushrooms in fine-mesh strainer lined with coffee filter, pressing to extract all liquid; reserve liquid and chop mushrooms fine.
- Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomato paste, anchovies, and five-spice powder and cook, stirring frequently, until mixture has darkened and fond forms on pot bottom, 3 to 4 minutes. Add wine, increase heat to medium-high, and bring to simmer, scraping up any browned bits. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until wine is reduced and pot is almost dry, 2 to 4 minutes. Add tomatoes and reserved juice, remaining 1 cup broth, reserved mushroom soaking liquid, and mushrooms and bring to simmer.
- Toss beef with ¾ teaspoon salt and season with pepper. Add beef to pot, cover, and transfer to oven. Cook for 1 hour.
- Uncover and continue to cook until beef is tender, 1 to 1 1/4 hours longer.
- Remove pot from oven; using slotted spoon, transfer beef to cutting board and let cool for 5 minutes. Using 2 forks, shred beef into bite-size pieces, discarding any large pieces of fat or connective tissue. Using large spoon, skim off any excess fat that has risen to surface of sauce. Return beef to sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste. (Sauce can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.)
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