How to Make the Best Hearty Beef and Vegetable Stew
Julia and Bridget uncover the secrets to the perfect Hearty Beef and Vegetable Stew.
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Braised Beef Short Rib Recipe - Restaurant Style
In depth article and show notes found here:
I remember the first time I tasted perfectly braised beef short ribs with a full reduction glaze. I was an apprentice at a French restaurant, and the sous chef threw me a piece of scrap sauced with a simple reduction made from the braising liquid. I was absolutely blown away. Coming from a family that cooked large beef ribs over a hot grill until charred and chewy, I never understood the incredible flavor and texture possible when a short rib recipe was combined with proper technique.
In it's most basic form, braising consists of a tough cut of meat with a lot of connective tissue, combined with liquid, aromatic vegetables, and fresh herbs, and cooked in a low oven until tender.
The connective tissue responsible for the chewy texture of tough meat is collagen, which is a triple helix of gelatin. When moisture along with slow, steady heat are applied, the triple helix unravels into three individual gelatin strands, leaving gaps in the muscle tissue it used to bind together, giving the impression of tenderness.
Yet for the collagen to break down, the meat must reach an internal temperature of at least 155˚F/68˚C. Just for a reference point, this is well above the internal temperature of a medium steak (140˚F/60˚C), and well into the range in which protein fibers fully contract and coagulate, expelling most of their liquid, causing a dry texture and lack of flavor.
Enter the cold start and the low temperature braise, in which the short ribs are placed in a cold oven, and braised at 200˚F/121˚C. As the short ribs slowly come up to temperature, they spend an extended period of time between 120-130˚F/48-54˚C, a temperature at which the same enzymes responsible for dry aged beef's flavor and tenderness are hyper-activated.
Using the cold start approach means your short ribs will have more flavor, a superior tenderness, and most important, will require less time for the collagen to break down at protein-fiber-drying temperatures (155˚F). Less time at this temperature means more juices are retained, which further enhances the short rib's flavor and texture.
This technique, coupled with a proper reduction sauce, will yield short ribs that are just as good as any restaurant's. And because this approach is universal, it can be applied to any tough cut of meat including shoulder, shank, brisket, belly, cheek, etc.
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Greek-Style Beef Stew - How to Make an Amazing Stifado - Food Wishes
This simple and satisfying dish is truly phenomenal, and might be the best beef stew you’ve never had. This is “old world” comfort food at its finest, and I really do hope you give it a try soon. Enjoy!
For the fully formatted, printable, written recipe, follow this link:
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You can also find more of Chef John’s content on Allrecipes:
Easy big beef stew and roasted garlic mashed potatoes
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Brian Lagerstrom's beef bourguignon recipe that inspired me on this one:
***RECIPE, SERVES EIGHT***
5 pounds thick-cut beef chuck roast (or 4 pounds boneless short ribs)
1 pound carrots
2-3 celery stalks
1 14 oz (400g) bag of frozen peeled pearl onions
5-6 garlic cloves
1/2 oz (14g, two standard packets) unflavored gelatin
red wine (I used about half a bottle)
stock or water (about as much as the wine)
Worcestershire or soy sauce or fish sauce or some such (and/or a couple stock cubes)
tomato paste (buy the stuff in a tube, if you can)
balsamic vinegar
flour (I used about half a cup, 60g)
fresh herbs for garnish (I used the leaves from the celery)
salt
pepper
oil
For the mash...
1 whole head of garlic
5 pounds potatoes (I like a mixture of floury and waxy)
butter (I used a whole pound / 454g, but you could use far less)
milk
salt
pepper
Take a deep roasting pan (at least 9x13 in / 23-33 cm), put it in the oven, and turn on the broiler/grill. While the pan heats up, trim as much of the large, white bands of inter-muscular fat out of the chuck as possible. (No need to trim anything if using boneless short ribs.) Cut the meat into very large chunks, keeping in mind they'll shrink more than half while cooking. Season the meat generously with salt & pepper, and toss it in a thin coating of oil.
Take the hot roasting pan out of the oven and dump in the meat, trying to spread it all into a single layer across the bottom. Put the pan back under the broiler and let the meat brown for about 10 minutes — watch it carefully to make sure nothing burns. Pull the pan out and stir in enough flour to generously coat the meat (I used about half a cup / 60g). Put the pan back under the broiler and let the flour brown for a few minutes. Lay a squeeze or two or tomato paste on top and let that brown for a minute.
Turn off the broiler, take the pan back out, pour in enough wine to come 1/3 of the way up the meat. Pour in enough stock or water so that the liquid comes 2/3 of the way up the meat. Throw in a big glug of Worcestershire or soy sauce or some such, and maybe a couple stock cubes if you used plain water (really not necessary, though). Stir everything up, cover the pan tightly with foil and cook in the oven at 275ºF/135ºC until the meat is almost as soft as you want it, which took me four hours.
For the roasted garlic mash, trim the tips off of all the cloves on a head of garlic, coat it in oil, wrap it in foil and put it in the oven with the meat. At such a low temperature, it should take hours to go soft and golden, so put it in soon after you get the meat going.
While you're waiting you can peel the carrots (or not) and cut them and the celery into large bite-size chunks, and crush and peel 5-6 garlic cloves.
When the beef is almost as fork-tender as you want it, put the carrots, celery and frozen onions in the pan. Get them spread into an even layer and try to get them stirred in with the beef and sauce, but don't stir so hard that you break the beef apart. It's fine if the veg is kinda sitting on top for now. Re-cover the pan with foil, put it back in the oven and cook until the vegetables are as tender as you want them, 1-2 hours.
While you wait, you can peel your potatoes for the mash (I peel floury baking potatoes for mash but I leave the skins of waxy potatoes on), cut them into big chunks and boil them until you can very easily pierce them with a fork, about 20 minutes. Drain out the water, and combine the potatoes in the still-hot pot with the butter, a bunch of pepper, a little splash of milk to start with, and a big pinch of salt to start with. Take the roasted garlic bulb and squeeze its golden guts into the potatoes. Mash or whip the potatoes until they're as smooth as you want them and then taste. Add more salt if needed, and stir in enough additional milk to get you the texture you want, keeping in mind it will stiffen as it cools to eating temperature. Cover and keep warm on a low burner until dinner.
Empty the gelatin packets into a little cup or bowl and stir in just enough cold water to get it dissolved — it'll thicken up (bloom) rapidly.
Take the roasting pan out of the oven when the vegetables are as soft as you want them. Taste the sauce and add more salt and pepper if needed (it should taste a little too salty on its own). I like to add a glug of balsamic vinegar at this point. Drop the bloomed gelatin into the pan in dollops. Use a spatula to gently fold all the ingredients together without breaking up the soft beef chunks. It's ok if the sauce isn't totally homogenous yet.
Put the pan back in the oven uncovered, turn on the broiler and brown the top, which took me 10 minutes. Serve the stew over mash, spoon over extra sauce and garnish with herbs.
The Best Braised Short Ribs | Home Movies with Alison Roman
Short ribs, great for Passover, wonderful for Easter, perfect for literally any day of the week where you feel like tending lovingly to a large pot of meat. These short ribs are not the classic soupy, red wine-y, soft and braised number, more of a spiced (cumin, fennel, coriander), tangy (vinegar, lemon), and even *crispy* (yes, crispy!) version.
If the idea of cooking large hunks of meat terrifies you, please know you are not alone. But also know that short ribs are nearly impossible to overcook and are extremely forgiving. Regardless of how you treat them, they will likely turn out pretty great, because that’s just the kind of meat short ribs are. Short ribs, in many ways, are the Aidan Shaw of meats. Dependable. Classic. Super hot. Would probably fix your sink if you asked them to.
The nice thing here is that while this is, essentially, a pot of “meat and potatoes,” it still feels kind of fresh to me (both literally and figuratively). Literally because of the vinegar and finely chopped lemon (preserved lemon would be a good substitute if you’re looking for ways to use that jar up), figuratively because I’m not asking you to do the classic “make a mirepoix” then add an entire bottle of dry red wine.
Just know before going in that they DO braise for a small eternity. They braise until you think they can’t braise anymore and then you braise them a little longer until they all but fall apart when you so much as look in their direction (if, for some reason, you think your short ribs are too tough and somehow *overcooked*, I would wager to guess they are actually *undercooked* and would like you to keep cooking).
The last step before serving, wherein the perfectly tender and adequately cooked short ribs are uncovered to crisp up the ribs and potatoes and further thicken and reduce the sauce increases cooking time by about 30-ish minutes, which is the best 30-ish minutes you’ll ever spend, I promise. These are a lot, flavor and texture-wise, and but because they are a one-pot meat and potatoes kind of dish, they don’t need much more than a good tangy salad and a light, maybe chilled, red wine.
RECIPE & INGREDIENTS:
VIDEO CHAPTERS:
0:00 Start
0:16 Home Movies with Alison Roman
0:26 Intro to Braised Short Ribs
1:32 Cut and season the short ribs for braising
3:54 Prepare the onions, garlic, and potatoes
5:22 Sear the short ribs
8:29 Transfer the short ribs to a pan and brown the potatoes
9:42 Start the broth with the garlic, onions, and spices
10:45 Add tomato paste, water, white wine vinegar, and beef broth
12:02 Add the short ribs (bone side up) and potatoes back to the pot
13:26 Season the pot with chopped lemon
14:10 Place the pot in the oven to roast
15:34 Plate the braised short ribs and potatoes
16:17 Finish and taste the Braised Short Ribs
#BraisedShortRibs #ShortRibs #BeefShortRibs
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VIDEO CREDITS:
Director: Daniel Hurwitz
Editor: Pierre Coupier
Director of Photography: Dennis Thomas
Sound: Joe Quartararo
Italian braised beef with red wine
Ingredients:
1 stick of celery
2 carrots
1 onion
1 twig of rosemary
4 bay leaves
1 knob of butter
3 spoons of extra virgin olive oil
3/4 pieces of cloves
1 bottle of red wine
3 grains of black pepper
1/2 garlic cloves
round roast beef (1/1,5 KG)
salt (some pinches)
Barolo wine is recommended but not essential.