After posting a photo of my short rib ragu on my Instagram last week, here's a quick "what's that?" and my recipe for it.
Short Rib - Known in German as Querrippe, it is the front section of the beef's ribs below the neck and prime rib. The term short rib comes from the fact that a portion contains only part of the long rib. Depending on the exact cut and slice, it will be a moderately streaky slice with the muscle meat of the serratus and lats. Short rib is ideal for stews such as goulash and can also be prepared as a BBQ. Short ribs are rarely used in Germany and therefore usually have to be ordered in advance.
Ragu – Ragu is a meat-based sauce in Italian cuisine that is commonly served with pasta (gluten-free).
1. Cut about 2kg of short rib into pieces so that each piece contains a bone. Then generously sprinkle each piece with salt – my favorite for this in this case is fleur de sel .
2. In an oven-safe Dutch oven - I use this Cast Iron Dutch oven - cover the bottom with olive oil and heat over medium-high heat.
3. Once the olive oil is hot enough - just put a wooden spoon in the oil, if bubbles form the oil is hot enough - add the individual pieces of short rib to the pot.
4. Fry the short rib on all sides until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Important: do not lift too early.
4. When all sides of the short rib are golden brown, remove all from the pot and set aside
5. Place 150g of pancetta or guanciale, cut into strips, directly into the saucepan and sauté over medium-high heat
6. As soon as the fat from the pancetta/guanciale becomes liquid and spreads out in the pan, add 6 finely diced shallots or 150g frozen onions and fry until golden brown, stirring gently.
7. When the onions are golden brown, add 4 thinly sliced stalks of celery and 4 carrots, diced or grated and continue to sauté over medium-high heat
8. After about 6 to 8 minutes, add 2 tablespoons of tomato paste and stir.
9. Return the short rib to the pot and then deglaze with half a bottle of red wine .
10. Cook on high heat until the liquid in the red wine has almost completely evaporated.
11. Then add 500 to 700ml tomato passata and turn off the heat.
12. Place the casserole with the lid in the oven and let it stew at 100° for 5 hours.
13. Remove the casserole from the oven, allow to cool and then refrigerate overnight, in the fridge or on the balcony/terrace.
14. The next day, put the casserole with the lid back into the oven and let it stew at 100° for another 5 hours.
15. Then remove the casserole from the oven, remove the lid and use two forks to simply remove the bones. After 10 hours of stewing, the bone just falls out of the meat. Then take the meat out of the pot, rip it into small pieces with two forks and put it back into the sauce and stir it in.
16. Allow to cool again and store in a cool place overnight, in the refrigerator or on the balcony/terrace.
17. About 30 minutes before eating, heat the ragu on a low heat and optionally add 200g grated Pecorino to the sauce and boil it down briefly. And salt to taste.
18. Serve with gluten-free pasta or zoodles (shredded zucchini). Bon appetit!
If you want to eat the ragu on Saturday evening, I recommend starting with the ragu on Thursday afternoon.
Cooling and reheating twice makes a big difference in flavor and texture due to the effect it has on the carbs in the ragu. The vegetable base plus the passata in combination with meat creates a great sweet and spicy creamy texture.
Image: The most professional photo of my short rib ragu available.
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