BETTER Braised Beef Short Ribs (w. Creamy Polenta)

This braised beef short ribs recipe with creamy polenta is succulent, extremely beefy, and just off the charts good. Get 50% off your first order of CookUnity meals — go to https://cookunity.com/brianl50 and use my code BRIANL50 at checkout to try them out for yourself.

For an even easier, but equally delicious braised beef dish, check out my pot roast recipe video: https://youtu.be/eVuXwv1yxo0?si=KgrVYE78aYpM3z7h

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RECIPE
Ingredients:
▪For the Braised Beef Short Ribs:
▪5-6lb (2.5kg) bone-in beef short ribs
▪Neutral oil (for searing)
▪Salt
▪1000g (3-4 large) yellow yellow onions, medium diced
▪20-25g (6-7 cloves) garlic, pressed
▪Olive oil
▪50g (3T) Worcestershire sauce
▪50g (3T) tomato paste
▪1 container of demi-glace (42.5g) – sub with 25 grams beef bouillon paste
▪2 cans (about 900 grams) Guinness Stout (substitute with red wine or 1 can of cola for gluten-free or alcohol-free options)
▪1100g/mL store-bought beef stock
▪4 packets (28g) powdered gelatin
▪4-5 fresh thyme sprigs
▪3 bay leaves

*For the Creamy Parmesan Polenta:*
▪300g (1 3/4c)polenta
▪1200g (5c) whole milk
▪7g (1 1/2t) salt
▪115g (1 stick) unsalted butter
▪100g (1c) grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 500°F (260°C).
2. Rub each beef short rib with neutral oil and season liberally with salt. Allow the meat to cure for 20 minutes.
3. Place the seasoned short ribs on a sheet tray and oven-sear for 10-15 minutes until browned.

4. In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add diced onions, pressed garlic, and a pinch of salt. Stir occasionally and caramelize the onions for about 20 minutes, deglaze the pot with a splash of water every 5-6 minutes to incorporate the browned onion fond.

5. When the onions are softened and starting to take on color, add Worcestershire. Stir and cook for about 30 seconds.
6. Add tomato paste, stir and cook for about a minute.

7. Add demi-glace, beer, beef stock, powdered gelatin, thyme sprigs, and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer.

8. Place oven-seared short ribs into the pot, leaving the lid slightly ajar. Braise in a 275°F (135°C) oven for 3 to 3.5 hours.

9. Cool the braised beef for 90 minutes, then refrigerate to cool completely.
Once cooled, skim off coagulated beef fat from the top of the pot.

10. Bring the pot to a low simmer to melt the gelatin.

11. Once the gelatinous stock has become fully liquid, remove the short ribs from the liquid then ladle off any excessive fat from the top of the liquid. Continue to reduce the braising liquid by 75% over medium-high heat, about 20-30 minutes. note: This is a good time to make the polenta.

12. Once the beef liquid is reduced, place the short ribs back into the reduced braising liquid to reheat for about 5 minutes over low heat while basting the short ribs.

*For the Creamy Parmesan Polenta:*
1. Toast polenta in a nonstick saucepan for 3 minutes over medium high heat.
2. Add milk and salt, whisking until thickened (3-4 minutes). Reduce heat to low and cook for an additional 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Stir in butter and grated Parmesan cheese until melted.

CHAPTERS:
0:00 Curing and roasting the short ribs
0:57 preparing the braise
5:38 Compounding the flavors and reducing the liquid
6:58 Creamy parmesan polenta
9:02 Finishing the short ribs and plating up

#shortribs #braisedshortribs #braisedbeef

🎧MUSIC:
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Today I’m going to show you how to make perfect braze beef short ribs with creamy Parmesan palenta to get started I’ll grab 5 to 6 lbs of short ribs I’m going with bone in here because in my experience those are a lot more widely available than bone less and I want you

Guys to be able to recreate this recipe exactly like I am here if you don’t have access to short ribs you can still play along just Sub in 12 3 to 4 oz chunks of beef chuck now to prep these up I’ll hit each short rib with a little Ziggy of

Neutral oil to help grabb the salt and transfer heat to the meat then I’ll liberally see seon each piece of beef with salt like a lot of salt I’m going for a strong three finger pinch per piece and once I’ve got all this meat salted up I’ll let it cure on the

Counter for 20 minutes to help the beef hold on to its moisture when we cook it and to make it taste more beefy next I’ll throw my sheet tray into a preheated 500 F oven and give it an oven sear for about 10 to 15 minutes now

While those brown up I’ll bust out my knife work for that I’ll grab three to four large onions and give them a medium dice I’m using yellow sweet onions here because they they caramelize quickly more on why that’s important in just a second in total we need 1,000 G of

Medium diced yellow onions that’s a lot now the only other aromatic that we’re going to be using in this dish is garlic in total I need 20 to 25 G broken down through my garlic press which is usually about 6 to seven large cloves from here

I’m going to grab a large heavy bottom pot specifically one that can hold about 6 quarts of liquid or more then drop it on my stove over medium heat first thing in is a long squiggle of olive oil then in goes my onions the garlic of very

Strong pinch of salt and then a stir to combine I’m going for a french onion soup Vibe with this brace because beef and sweet roasty onions is like an S tier combination up there with peanut butter and jelly so to get these lightly caramelized I’m going to stir them every

2 minutes or so over medium heat for about 20 minutes I’ll check back here in five to see if we’re getting any color back in my oven the short ribs are looking really nicely Brown so I’ll pull them out ooh also you can see the fat on

The outside of this beef is rendered fully that’s actually really hard to achieve with a stove top sear because rendering takes several minutes of direct heat when you’re searing on the stove the meat is really only in contact with the pan for like 60 or 90 seconds

And that’s just not enough time to properly melt the fat for now I’m going to let this short rib chill and then check back on my onions after 5 minutes you can see there is quite a bit of caramelized Brown bits stuck to the

Bottom of the pot so to get that off the pot and into my onions I’ll deglaze it with a couple tablespoons of water and then scrape with my wooden spoon now to get these onions as caramelized as I want I’m going to repeat this brown and Del glaze maneuver three or four more

Times over the course of the next 20 minutes until the onions are about a 6 out of 10 caramelized next I’ll deglaze that last little bit of onion stuff with 50 g of worch then I’ll use my spoon to scrape up the pot and cook down this

Worch for about 30 seconds from here I’ll add in 50 g of tomato paste and I’ll stir fry that with the onions and worch for about a minute or so next I’ll add in one container or 42 1/2 G of pre-made demi gloss if you’re not familiar demi gloss is essentially a

Very Gela roasted meat stock that’s been reduced into a meat syrup it’s super useful but also very very impractical to make at home luckily you can buy passible demi gloss off the internet or you can get it at most mid to high-end grocery stores I’ll link to this product

Specifically down in the description below if you want to buy it and I think you should because it’s super useful not just for brazes like this one or for my beef berken Yun recipe but also for pan sauces like Borday if you don’t have or aren’t going to get Demi Sub in beef

Buan paste just use 25 G in out of 50 because buan be salty behind Demi or buan I’ll add in two beers worth of Guinness Stout that’s about 900 G I really like the dark malty sweetness that Stout brings to a braze and I think it’s particularly excellent with short

Rib but if you’re gluten-free I’d say Sub in red wine or if you’re alcohol free I’d say Sub in one can of cocacola and make up the rest of the liquid with beef stock speaking of that I’ll add an 1,00 G of store-bought beef stock into the pot then to help mimic restaurant

Quality stock I’ll add in four envelopes or 28 G of powdered gelatin this is going to give the brazing liquid a really velvety full body texture that’s going to glaze up the meat in a really beautiful way once it’s reduced lastly I’ll add in a few sprigs of thyme a few

Bay leaves and then I’ll bring it up to a simmer and then snuggle in my oven seared short ribs once everything’s in the pot I’ll pop on a lid leaving it slightly a jar then I’ll move it to a preheated 275f oven and braze for 3 to 3

And 1/2 hourss by the way I’m leaving the lid a jar here to allow for some evaporation and it’s going to keep this braze from getting too hot lower temperatures lead to more unctuous juicy beef while that cooks I’m going to thank cook Unity for sponsoring this video cook Unity delivers fresh prepared

Restaurant quality food from award-winning chefs to your door every week the chefs at Cook Unity make meals in small batches and use humanely raised meat organic ingredients when possible and fresh seasonal products to maximize flavor and nutrition cookie n meals are created by a roster of Allstar chefs including Food Network alumni James

Beard award winners and acclaimed restaurant tours I loved this Adobe boo flank stick with paika potatoes and broccoli from cookbook author James Beard Award nominee and all-around culinary badir a not adman from New York City since I’m in the middle of filming today lunch is going to be this cook

Unity kale salad with chili roasted shrimp from Chef Chris retel overall I’m very impressed with the quality of cook Unity not just the recipes but also the ingredients themselves they look and taste better than a lot of the other prepared meal services that I’ve seen to

Give cook Unity a try go to cook unity.com Brian l50 or click the link in my description below and use my code Brian l50 to get 50% off your first order of cook Unity 3 hours and 15 minutes later I’m going to pull out this brace to see if it’s tender texturally I

Do want the beef to easily pull apart but I definitely don’t want it to fall apart keep in mind that this beef is going to continue to cook for a little bit longer and it’s going to get even more tender from here and after 90 minutes of cool down I’m going to throw

This pot into the fridge to further cool overnight this step allows the flavor compounds to consolidate making everything I think 25% more flavorful while also allowing the beef to reabsorb some of the liquid that it lost during the cooking process so it gives you juicier meat the next day or 45 minutes

Before dinner I’ll pull this pot out of the fridge and get rid of all of that coagulated fat on top I’ll just do that with the spoon the best I can don’t stress about getting every single bit here the gelatinous nature of the stock underneath is going to make that kind of

Hard just get what you can once defatted over medium heat I’ll bring this pot up to a low simmer to melt the gel then I’ll move all 12 of my tender short ribs over to a plate so I can reduce this brazing liquid without overcooking

And drying out the meat I’ll drop my pot back over medium high heat and then use a little Ladle to skim off any fat that’s left behind the move here is to swirl the simmering liquid with the bottom of a ladle this pushes the fat to the outer rim where it’s all

Consolidated and that makes it much easier to capture from here I’m going to reduce this sauce by about 75% that’s going to take about 20 to 30 minutes so while that finishes I’m going to make the creamy velvety Penta to serve the short ribs on to make it I’ll scoot this

Reduction to my back burner then drop a deep non-stick pan over medium high heat in goes 300 G of palenta and then I’ll toast it stirring often for about 3 minutes and when I say planta I mean cornmeal but a specific grind of cornmeal planta is generally uniform has

A medium-sized grain and most of the powdery stuff has been sifted out this allows the grains to cook more evenly and saves you from having the large hard and sharp kernell stuff in your final dish if you can’t find this specific palenta or something like I would say

Medium grind cornmeal can work but you’ll need 20% more water and 20 to 40% more cook time and after 3 minutes of stirring this Penta is toasted up and smells like popcorn so it’s good to go next I’ll add in 1,200 G of whole milk

And 7 G of salt next I’ll jump in with a knot metal whisk and stir this to evenly hydrate the penta and after about 3 to 4 minutes the milk will be up at a simmer and the penta will have started to thicken so I’ll stir it to keep from

Sticking to the bottom of the pot and spitting hot ploppy Penta all over my sandal feet and then I’ll turn the heat down to low and cook this Penta stirring every 2 to 3 minutes for about 10 more minutes when the penta is looking kind of like thick scrambled eggs and the

Grains appear to be swollen I’ll taste it for dness texturally this is perfect every single grain of cornmeal is swollen and tender like just pastel Dente it’s got a little bit of a chew but it’s not husky or tough or grainy and it’s not getting stuck in your teeth to finish I’ll add

In 115 G or a whole stick of butter and I’ll stir that in to melt it and once it is I’ll add in 100 G of grated parm and then over low heat I’ll stir that into melt don’t go too high with the heat because that’ll overcook this age cheese

And make your Penta kind of greasy you guys Penta is very underrated in my opinion most people don’t make it or don’t even know that it’s a thing and that’s a shame because it’s fluffy creamy buttery and is as good or better than any mashed potato back of the stove

My oniony beef liquid has reduced by about 75% and the bubbles are about a/2 in wide that’s how I know the viscosity is good to go next I’ll move my short ribs back over into the pot making sure to get them all submerged in a little

Bit of sauce now the pot goes back over low heat for 5 minutes to finish heating these short ribs through and to allow me time to base them up with the silky Inky beefy cooking liquid now to serve I’ll slide two pieces of my short rib onto my

Creamy cheesy palenta then I’ll spoon over a generous hit of the caramelized onion Stout Sho and that is a 10 out of 10 on the Comfort scale you guys this dish is unbelievably beefy it’s just a little bit sweet and it has a touch of grassy

Malty flavor from the beer this is a restaurant level dish that you can easily make at home please give it a try and report back in the comments so I know how I did if you want an easier but still very delicious bra beef recipe then please check out this video for pot

Roast it’s probably my favorite recipe of 2023 I’ll see you there