Slow Roast Short Ribs with Red Wine
A Rich, Flavorful, Satisfying Dinner
Grass fed beef short ribs are among the most flavorful cuts of beef. They contain quite a bit of bone and collagen, which means getting the most out of them requires long, slow cooking. This preparation intensifies flavors. In the course of cooking the broth becomes a delicious sauce, balanced by the complexity and mild acidity of red wine. With tender chunks of carrot and onion it resembles a beef stew concentrated to its essence.
A Recipe Without Shortcuts
While I mainly focus on developing quick recipes suitable for a weeknight, I don’t ever want to compromise on the quality of the finished dish. With something like beef short ribs, similar to baby back ribs, there is simply no substitute for time. While a slow cooker or instapot could be used for the actual cooking, I believe roasting in a dutch oven results in a deeper flavor. There are other finicky parts, like separating the short rib meat from the bones and chilling the sauce.
But much of this can be done ahead of time, and most of the cooking is passive, waiting for the ribs to slow roast. Once the meat is cooked and separated and the sauce is prepared, the dish comes together quickly. So it could be mostly prepared on a weekend and quickly finished at dinnertime.
The Result is Worth the Effort
Maybe you don’t want to put this much time into cooking every day, but it’s very much doing on occasion. As the weather cools this sort of dish naturally becomes more appealing, and having the oven on all afternoon changes from a liability to a benefit. Served with crispy potato wedges and a simple greens salad, slow roasted short ribs are hard to beat.
Short Ribs with Red Wine
Ingredients
- 5 lbs beef short ribs preferably grass fed
- 1 tsp butter
- 1 cup dry red wine light to medium bodied (see note)
- 4 carrots
- 2 medium onions
- 1 tsp gelatin
- 1 ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250°. Heat a dutch oven over a burner set to medium. Once hot, add just enough butter to cover the bottom, about a teaspoon. This is just to get things started, since the short ribs will release plenty of fat as the cook. Add the ribs and brown them for about ten minutes, turning regularly. Don't worry about searing every side.
- Add wine, then cover. Bake for three hours. Then move the lid so that it is still on the dutch oven, but has a roughly 1" gap, and bake for another hour.
- Check to make sure the meat is quite tender, then use tongs to remove it to a platter. Pour the broth from the dutch oven into a heat proof measuring cup or dish, and place it in the fridge.
- Dice carrots and onion, then saute them in the dutch oven. There should be enough residual fat in it, but feel free to add some more butter if you're worried. Saute over medium low heat until the onion is translucent and the carrot has started to soften, about twenty minutes. Turn off heat.
- Separate the short rib meat from the bones and fat. Place it in the dutch oven with the carrots and onions.
- Check to see if the fat has solidified on the container of broth you put in the fridge. If it hasn't, place in the freezer for twenty minutes or so, then remove the fat from the top of the broth. Discard the fat.
- Sprinkle salt and gelatin over the meat and veggies, then add the broth. Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook on low for 30 minutes, or until carrots are tender.
- Serve with crispy potato wedges and a greens salad.
