Braise
by: Brooke Bass | Chocolate + Marrow
October6,2015
5
3 Ratings
- Serves 6-8
Jump to Recipe
Author Notes
This typical dessert gets a savory makeover with braised short ribs and chanterelles. The recipe uses a blend of Columbia Winery's Cabernet Sauvignon and beef stock to braise the boneless short ribs in, which is then topped with fluffy thyme biscuits. A true fall comfort classic. Note: If chanterelles are hard to come by, you can substitute with porcini or shiitake mushrooms. —Brooke Bass | Chocolate + Marrow
- Test Kitchen-Approved
What You'll Need
Ingredients
- For the braised short ribs:
- 2 poundsthick-cut short rib meat, bones removed
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 4 tablespoonsextra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 tablespoonall-purpose flour
- 4 carrots, roughly chopped
- 3 celery stalks, roughly chopped
- 1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 3/4 poundfresh chanterelle mushrooms, roughly chopped
- 1 cupCabernet Sauvignon
- 1 tablespoontomato paste
- 2 cupsbeef stock, plus more as needed
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 fresh thyme sprigs, plus more for garnish
- For the thyme biscuit topping:
- 1 1/2 cupsall-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoonsbaking powder
- 1/2 teaspoonbaking soda
- 1/2 teaspooncream of tartar
- 1 teaspoonkosher salt
- 6 tablespoonsfrozen butter
- 3/4 cupmilk, plus more if necessary
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme leaves, plus more for garnish
Directions
- For the braised short ribs:
- Pat the short ribs dry with a paper towel and season liberally with salt and pepper on all sides. In a 3 to 4 quart dutch oven over medium-high heat, pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil and add the short ribs a few at a time. Brown on all sides, taking care not to overcrowd the meat. If the bottom of the pan looks like it's getting too dry while the short ribs are browning, add more oil, one tablespoon at a time.
- Transfer the browned short ribs to a plate and sprinkle them with 1 tablespoon of flour. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees°F.
- In the same dutch oven over medium-high heat, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Working in batches, cook carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and mushrooms until soft and translucent, and slightly browned. Set aside the cooked vegetables with the short ribs as you work through the batches. Deglaze the pan with Cabernet Sauvignon and cook until reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, beef stock, the bay leaf, and thyme sprigs and return short ribs and vegetables to the pan. Cover and cook in the preheated oven for 2 1/2 hours.
- Meanwhile, begin work on preparing the topping (recipe below).
- After 2 1/2 hours, the dutch oven from the oven and set lid aside. If you notice the liquid has mostly evaporated, add more beef stock, about 1 cup, and stir. Form the biscuit dough into balls, about the size of a golf ball, as best you can. The dough will be sticky, so they will likely be more like dollops. Place each ball of dough on top of the short ribs until they are covered. Return the dutch oven to the oven and cook, uncovered, for another 30 to 45 minutes, or until the topping turns golden.
- Spoon the cobbler into shallow bowls and garnish with fresh thyme.
- For the thyme biscuit topping:
- Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, and kosher salt into a large mixing bowl. Use a box grater to grate the frozen butter into the flour mixture. Toss gently with your hands, making sure not to over mix the butter into the flour (it should resemble small pebbles or gravel).
- Add the milk and thyme and mix until a sticky dough forms. Cover bowl and set it in the refrigerator until you are ready to add to the short ribs.Note: The amount of topping needed to cover the braised meat will vary based on the diameter of your dutch oven. If your dutch oven is wider than 8 inches and you want the topping to cover the entire thing, double the topping ingredients above.
Tags:
- Cobbler/Crumble
- Beef
- Carrot
- Celery
- Milk/Cream
- Rib
- Thyme
- One-Pot Wonders
- Serves a Crowd
- Braise
- Fall
- Winter
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30 Reviews
Kelsey F. February 12, 2021
My husband and I are making this dish for the third time. Every time we've used a 7-bone chuck roast from a local farmer and it has turned out amazing (even that one time I forgot about it and it turned out more like jerky instead of a braise...shockingly still delicious). We've both wondered, what is the purpose of flouring the meat after browning in step 2? I've heard of flouring the meat pre-browning, in order to develop a roux with the fat and also to cook the flour instead of adding uncooked flour to thicken the dish later. But why flour the meat afterwards?
Brooke B. February 12, 2021
Hi Kelsey, Glad to hear y'all like the recipe! Even the jerkified version of it ;) I don't flour the meat before browning because it would, potentially at the high heat that you need to really get a good sear on the meat, burn the flour. I add it after as a thickener for the sauce.
Jess January 18, 2021
i love the cobbler element of this recipe! i've made this for birthday dinners and long weekends, always a success
Steven S. March 8, 2019
I would like to cook this while a guest at friends ski house, can I make in a large / deep cast iron skillet as they don't have a dutch oven?
Brooke B. March 9, 2019
Hi Steven: I think it really depends. Can the cast iron hold at least 3 quarts? Does it have a tight fitting lid that you can use? If the answers to both of those are yes, I think this could definitely work! But if you don't have a good lid for braising or the skillet is too small to fit all of the contents, I'm afraid this won't work out. Hope that helps!
Lisa November 25, 2018
This is outstanding! I like the cobbler idea, and I think now I want to try it with some other dishes. Really, really enjoyed it.
Brooke B. March 9, 2019
So glad to hear it! Thanks for the feedback, Lisa :)
jenny October 16, 2016
can't wait to try this recipe! However, unfortunately I have a friend who can't eat mushrooms - is there anything I could sub in to replace the mushrooms? I know that alters the flavor profile, but I'd love to serve this at my next dinner party!
Brooke B. October 17, 2016
Hi Jenny! I hope you try it and love it as much as we have over the years. It's funny you ask about the mushrooms--I made this for a dinner party a few weeks ago and had the SAME situation of feeing a non-mushroom eater. I ended up just omitting the mushrooms and doubling up on the carrots and celery. I think, though, you could also substitute some kind of denser veggies instead--I'm born and raised in Louisiana so my head is going to something like okra, though, that's also a veg that's not exactly loved by all. I say play with it! And keep me posted...would love to hear how it turns out :)
Carmen September 21, 2016
I have made this recipe several times. Absolutely fabulous! And I have frozen the ribs with a biscuit or 2 on top and works great for frozen leftovers when there is no time to cook. Making this again today.
Brooke B. September 21, 2016
So happy to hear you enjoy the recipe, Carmen! It's one of my favorites, especially as we enter this time of year. Thanks for reminding me of this...I'll have to add it to the list of things to cook sometime next week :)
philg February 22, 2016
Remove bay leaf or thyme sprigs
philg February 22, 2016
You never said to remove the bay leaf or before adding the biscuit dough. Shouldn't that be done
Brooke B. September 21, 2016
Yes, nice catch!
Helena |. January 21, 2016
This is by far one of my favorite winter recipes! It's so rich and filling, especially with the buttery biscuit topping! I usually sub-in leftover hunks of lamb for the beef, but it's just a personal preference. Thank you for the delicious recipe!
Brooke B. January 22, 2016
I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Helena! And I absolutely LOVE the idea of substituting lamb! I'm going to have to try that one of these days. Thanks for letting me know and hope to see you over on the blog sometime :)
Helena |. January 22, 2016
Definitely - I've already saved a few recipes from it. :) Beautiful work!
Patricia B. December 23, 2015
Made this for dinner last night, and it was a huge succes! The meat was so tender, and the sauce was really flavorful, unfortunately I forgot to sprinkle the meat with flour, so the sauce was very runny, but still very delicious!
The biscuits was a bit doughy at the bottom because of all the liquid, but once again a user error, and it had nothing to do with the recipe.
I will definitely make this again in the future!
Brooke B. December 23, 2015
So glad you enjoyed it, Patricia! Happiest of holidays to you!
Patricia B. December 16, 2015
can I use another cut of meat instead of short ribs? The reason why I'm asking is because I live in Denmark, and don't know where I can buy short ribs...
Brooke B. December 16, 2015
I don't see why not! The great thing about braising is that it can get even the toughest cuts of meat tender. I'd look for chuck roast or top round roast or even beef for stewing. Just cut any large cuts into smaller pieces before braising. These cuts would also have the added benefit of being slightly less expensive than short ribs, which can be pricey. Let me know how it turns out, if you give it a try with something different!
Patricia B. December 17, 2015
Thank you so much for you answer! Are there any cuts I can't use? I'm thinking if the meat is too lean, so the meat will get to dry?
I will let you how it went! Hopefully it turns out edible :-D
Poodleranch October 31, 2015
Made this the other night, it was really good! I had to buy almost 4 pounds of short ribs to get 2 pounds of meat. It was easy to cut off the bone. I also used regular crimini mushrooms.
After the initial baking and before the dough topping went on, I noticed quite a bit of fat on top. Next time I will try to spoon some of this off. It ended up getting soaked into the "cobbler" and it was tasty, but I think some people might not want to eat that much fat. Tasted even better heated up the next day!
Brooke B. October 31, 2015
I'm so glad you liked it, Poodleranch! And thanks for the tip re the fat! I'll have to look into it next time I cook it but it'll be good for folks to keep an eye on for sure.
Lisa October 27, 2015
The recipe says:
>After 2 1/2 hours, remove ribs from the dutch oven and set lid aside.
Do you mean remove the *bones*? Or did you mean remove the ribs from the oven? It's a little confusing.
Brooke B. October 27, 2015
Hi Lisa, Thanks for pointing that out! You're right, that's confusing. I've edited the recipe to clarify, but basically that's the point where you should take the dish out of the oven to add the biscuit topping directly to it. Ideally, your short ribs would have had the bones already removed. (Most butchers will do this for you; just request "thick cut short ribs with the bones removed".) However, if you braised with the bones in, then yes, this would be a good time to remove them. The reason I suggest buying them boneless is because I didn't want people to have to fuss with cutting around the bones since they'll be eating the dish with the biscuit topping and bones might be hard to see. Hope this helps!
Annie S. October 23, 2015
Could I freeze this? I would like to make it for a gift and I want to keep final prep minimal.
Brooke B. October 24, 2015
Hi Annie,
What a thoughtful gift! I'd be stoked if someone gifted me a big ole pot of braised short ribs. That said, the issue with freezing this is that the biscuit topping has to be added 45 minutes out. I guess you could freeze everything once it's already cooked, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it because I imagine the biscuits and meat would reheat at very different rates.
My recommendation would be cook the short ribs separately (and since you're not going to do the biscuit topping on them, just make sure they're braising for a total of 3 hours) and then freeze that. Your friends can defrost and reheat the short rib portion when ready. For the biscuits, you could probably make the dough balls in advance, freeze them, and then just have your friends bake the biscuits separately on a baking sheet to serve alongside the short ribs.
Hope that helps!
Deborah R. October 23, 2015
How far in advance can you make/refrigerate the biscuit dough before adding to ribs? I'd like to prep in the morning and cook in evening. Thanks!
Brooke B. October 23, 2015
Hi Deborah: Great question! I would aim to put the dough together as close to the time of braising as possible. However, if you're really in a pinch, one thing you could do is to mix all of the dry ingredients for the biscuits in advance, refrigerate them, and then right before you're ready to add the topping you could mix in the milk. Hope you enjoy!
