This may be my favorite recipe ever. In the winter when it’s really cold, a hearty stew of beef short ribs simmered with a whole bottle of red wine, a bottle of Guinness, and lots of vegetables, then served over Creamy Blue Cheese Grits or Celery Root & Chickpea Puree, is about the most comforting dinner you can possibly imagine.
— Ina Garten
Reprinted from Cook Like a Pro: Recipes & Tips for Home Cooks. Copyright © 2018 by Ina Garten. Photographs by Quentin Bacon. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
• ON-DEMAND: Listen to Faith and the gang have a blast talking with Ina about recipes from Cook Like a Pro on The Faith Middleton Food Schmooze®. •
- 5 pounds very meaty bone-in beef short ribs, cut into 2-inch chunks (see Ina's Pro tip below))
- Good olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (3 leeks)
- 3 cups chopped celery (5 to 6 ribs)
- 2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
- 2 cups chopped unpeeled carrots (6 carrots)
- 1-1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (5 cloves)
- 1 (750 ml) bottle Burgundy, Côtes du Rhône, Chianti, or other dry red wine
- 4 cups beef stock preferably homemade or College Inn
- 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes, such as San Marzano
- 1 (11.2-ounce) bottle Guinness draught stout
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme tied with kitchen string
- Creamy Blue Cheese Grits or Celery Root & Chickpea Puree (Ina's recipes), for serving
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the short ribs on a sheet pan, brush the tops with olive oil, and sprinkle with 1-½ tablespoons salt and 1-½ teaspoons pepper. Roast for 20 minutes and remove from the oven. Reduce the temperature to 325 degrees.
- Meanwhile, heat ¼ cup olive oil in a large (12-inch) Dutch oven, such as Le Creuset, over medium heat. Add the leeks, celery, onions, and carrots and cook over medium to medium-high heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for one minute. Add the wine, bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the liquid is reduced. Add the stock, tomatoes, Guinness, thyme, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1-½ teaspoons pepper.
- Place the ribs in the pot, along with the juices and seasonings from the sheet pan. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook in the oven for one hour. Uncover and cook for one more hour, until the meat is very tender.
- Remove the short ribs to a plate with a slotted spoon and discard the thyme bundle and any bones that have separated from the meat. Simmer the sauce on the stove for 20 minutes, until reduced. Skim some of the fat off the top and discard.
- Return the ribs to the pot, heat for 5 minutes, and taste for seasonings. Serve hot in shallow bowls spooned over creamy blue cheese grits, with extra sauce on the side.
Pro tip: Short ribs come in many sizes. Be sure you buy 2-inch ribs with lots of meat on them. Browning them on a sheet pan is so much easier—and less messy!— than in a pot on top of the stove.
Pro tip: Because garlic burns very easily, I almost never cook it with the onions; instead I add it one minute before adding the liquid.
Why in item number 1, do I reduce the heat of the oven to 325* ? Do I ever put the short ribs back in the oven?
Hi Linda, yes. See step 3. The short ribs indeed go back into the oven (covered) for an hour. Then uncovered for another hour. If you make this, report back. Thanks!
You brown the ribs on 425 and take them out. They go back in the lower oven 325 degrees in the Dutch oven with all the ingredients for 2 hours. One hour covered and one hour uncovered.
I absolutely love her, but this receipe does not turn out well at all. The low star rating is accurate. I made this from her new book, and it’s a near disaster. Was there a proofreading issue? Sauce is not flavorful, meat is still rubbery. It just doesn’t come together at all. Please look at the reviews for this book on Amazon, many readers are asking what happened with this particular book: https://www.amazon.com/Cook-Like-Pro-Recipes-Cooks/dp/0804187045#customerReviews
This is so surprising to us here on the show, DC. Chris made it for us for a pre-show lunch and it was really, really good. Eyes-roll-back in food-ecstasy good. A week later, Chris, Faith, and the culinary students at Gateway Community College made it for a group of 40+ people for a fundraiser and it was delicious again. I swear! The short rib was beautiful, no knives needed, it was so tender, and many eaters in the group asked for the recipe to make at home. I’m so bummed you didn’t have the same result.
I agree with DC. Sauce only ok, definitely not eyes roll back in head good. And I had to cook it for an additional hour + because the meat was tough and rubbery. I thought it was related to my living at high altitude but maybe not. I’m a seasoned cook and I’m at the point where I only make recipes that are so good you could die…….. and this isn’t one of them.
I agree with you and DC! I’m a major Ina Garten fan and I have all her cookbooks, but this recipe was a bust. The meat was tough, and the meal was way too fatty and salty! It smelled great while cooking, but it was a disappointment.
I agree that this is not a favorite Ina recipe of mine. While it tasted good, it was not worth all the time put into it. I am glad I tried it, but I will probably not make it again.
This is the most amazing recipe I have ever made. 5 stars for sure
I totally don’t get the low star rating. Somebody is doing something wrong because we made it and it was 5 star restaurant quality.
I made this with moose ribs (yes, moose) as more of a ragout and it was absolutely amazing! Very complex flavors, and was even better the next day. I shared it with friends who were in ecstasy over it.
I can’t leave well enough alone so made a few tweeks. Let me just say the meal was awesome and I as well as those I served it to will definitely be doing it again (and again)!
-Used boneless chuck roast, trimmed a little and cut in to 2″ chunks (saved some $$ but the flavor is still there).
-Added 1# cleaned-halved mushrooms (’cause I had them and needed to use them), just tossed them in when the pot went in the oven.
-Followed the recipe until it was time to return all to the oven but refrigerated for a couple of hours then brought it all to a boil and put in the oven (this allowed me to get things done ahead of time). Cooked covered for an hour at 325 as directed then uncovered at 300 for about 1 1/2hours. Removed solids from the pot and thickened the juice a little with Wondra and beef broth then put the meat/vegs back in the pot.
-Served it over the blue cheese grits as suggested (OMG!). Ina’s hint in the cookbook said you could do the grits a few hours ahead of time which I did. It made me nervous cooking the “quick” grits for so long (45 minutes) but I followed the recipe exactly, poured it into a casserole dish and refrigerated for about 6 hours then reheated in the microwave, half power for about 5 minutes, stirring in between. It seemed the grits were too thick at first but they softened after heating and stirring. Perfect compliment to the recipe! We all decided sharp cheddar would work as well.
I’m not big on using beer in recipes but you couldn’t taste the beer (or wine for that matter- I used a Chianti). I didn’t add any other seasoning above the suggested S&P in step 5.
I made this recipe for friends during the Christmas holiday. We all LOVED it. The flavor is wonderful and the beef ribs are so tender. I served it over the blue cheese grits and everyone loved this combination of flavors. One of my friends said she dreamed about this dish. This recipe is a “keeper”.
You know when someone reports back that she dreamed about a meal, it’s definitely a keeper. We’re so glad!
I made the recipe exactly as printed. My concern was I thought the vegetables were over cooked and mushy (not carrots). Short ribs were great. I have now strained the remainder of the sauce and will freeze try again with roasted carrots!
I agree. Anyone who doesn’t find this recipe to be high-end restaurant quality must be doing something wrong. I made this for Christmas dinner and my son-in-law has me making it for his birthday instead of going out. Everyone thought it was incredible. I served it with Tyler Florence’s mashed potatoes (the recipe where you cook the potatoes in cream/milk) I, also, kept the ribs in the oven longer than for the recipe suggested. The sauce was super flavorful
My family asks me to make this recipe again and again…it’s awesome! Because we are avoiding carbs, we serve it over cauliflower puréed with goat cheese or Boursin!
I made this short rib and blue cheese grits recipe and it was the best thing I’ve ever served.. I agree the carrots were mushy, next time I’ll make roasted carrots on the side.
This was a great recipe. I made it for a pot luck and it was very popular. I would recommend it!
Made this recipe today using Chuck roast I had the butcher cut up into 2″pieces & it is amazing! So flavorful, meat so tender it pulls apart with fingers. I’ll never make beef stew any other way. Possibly others didn’t reduce long enough? – just a thought.
I made the meal today and it came out very well. I do not understand all of the posters comments complaining about the flavor and the texture of the meat. I cooked mine until it fell off the bone. It was very tender but it did take longer than the recipe called for. I’m pleased with the recipe