A nice short rib has basically five to six bones across there and as the short ribs cook, the bone implants flavor and the meat just sort of melts slowly. Start by slicing alongside the bone stray down, you will see that marbling that sort of disappears and disintegrates. Start by placing your roasting tray on the heat until nice and hot. Season the beef short ribs beautifully, add olive oil in the pan and start cooking you beef. Pretty important to give the beef short bibs a really nice sear, if you didn’t brown the meat off it goes in the oven and it looks like boiled meat. So, you really want that nice dark rich coloring, just cut the garlic half, slide that down the side is going to give the beef an amazing flavor.
Add red wine in and you don’t have to use an expensive bottle of red wine, there’s no need. Bring the wine up to boil and reduce it, this burns the alcohol and concentrates the flavor. This makes a big difference when you reduce the red wine down by half because it gives that nice dark intensity. Add in chicken stock, just about an inch underneath the beef short ribs. Bring up the ball to lock in all the flavor as the beef slow cook, cover them so they braised from the bottom and seamed from the top into the oven between half hours. Place in 170 to 180 degrees oven, the great thing about slow cooking is you do most of the work in advance.
Put your feet up around ten minutes before the beef short ribs come out of the oven. Start your garnish, its the light cured pancetta cut thick sticks of crispy bacon, some delicious and chestnut mushrooms along cut them in half. Cook that until all the white raw fat disappears, add mushrooms in beautiful so the mushrooms get seasons from the bacon.
Frying them separately to the beef so they remain crisp another different texture and leave that to cool down. When you unwrap you slow cooked short beef, it feels like heaven, the smell is incredible. Lift your short ribs and place on your tray, to make a fantastic Irish deep sauce, press th stop roasted garlic through the sieve into the cooking juice. Take your sauce and just glaze, do them individually they deserve that respect. Spoon your bacon and mushroom beautiful and generous. You can add freshly cut parsley, you will never be embarrassed with these braised short ribs.
Ingredients;
- Olive oil, for frying
- 6 thick-cut meaty beef short ribs
- 1 large head of garlic, cut in half horizontally
- 1 heaped tbsp tomato purée
- 1 x 750ml bottle red wine
- 1-liter beef stock
- 150g pancetta lardons
- 250g small chestnut mushrooms, trimmed and halved
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Chopped flat leaf parsley, to garnish
Instructions;
- Preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas 3.
- Heat a deep-sided roasting tray on the hob and add a glug of olive oil. Season the short ribs thoroughly, then fry for 10–15 minutes to brown really well on all sides.
- Add the halved garlic head, cut side down, pushing it to the bottom of the pan.
- Add the tomato purée and heat for a minute or two to cook it out. Pour in the wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up the bits at the bottom.
- Bring to the boil and cook for 10–15 minutes until the liquid is reduced by half, then add stock to nearly cover the rib.
- Bring to the boil again, basting the ribs with the juices.
- Cover the roasting tray with foil and cook in the preheated oven for 3–4 hours, basting now and then until the meat is tender and falling away from the bone.
- About 10 minutes before the short ribs are ready to come out, fry the pancetta for 2–3 minutes until crisp and golden.
- Add the mushrooms and cook for 4–5 minutes until tender. Drain off any excess fat.
- When the short ribs are ready, remove from the oven and transfer to a serving dish.
- Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins and pass through a sieve. Spoon off any excess fat from the beef cooking liquid, then strain it through the sieve and mix with the garlic.
- Serve the short ribs topped with the hot pancetta and mushrooms and the sauce poured around. Garnish with chopped flat leaf parsley.
