Braised Beef Ribs with Vegetables and Celery

Name: Braised Beef Ribs with Vegetables and Celery
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 1 h 50 min
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Beef (ribs) 0.5 kg; Carrot 1; Garlic 1 head; Celery stalks 2 sprigs, plus 1 for garnish; Olive oil 2-3 tbsp; Water 2-3 tbsp (if needed); Bay leaf 1-2; Coriander, black and red peppercorns, allspice, dried aromatic herbs (savory, oregano, basil) to taste; Salt to taste

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1 h 50 mins

Braised beef is a dish made by cooking meat with vegetables and spices for a long time. Braising means heating food in a small amount of liquid, or with no liquid at all. In the latter case it is said to braise in its own juices. A separate category of braised beef recipes is beef in wine.

Spices and fat are added when braising, and the ingredients are usually browned first. Preserving braised dishes for long storage is important too, but it takes extra steps, such as sterilizing the jars in an autoclave.

Since canned stewed meat (tushonka) was invented in France in the 19th century, it has become enormously popular and in demand. It is a ready-to-eat product that needs no further cooking. Tushonka fed the armies of every war of the last century. It is part of the rations of soldiers, travelers and even people who are simply too lazy to cook. What could be easier than boiling pasta and mixing it with tushonka?

Canned stewed meat, tushonka in everyday speech, is one of the best and most sought-after ready-made meat products. Its very long shelf life makes it a strategically important food. I remember army rations with big tin cans of tushonka packed in a layer of grease. Joking aside, it was tasty, especially with fresh bread.

Besides, braising is a great way to make tough cuts such as beef tender. During braising the meat, or rather its protein, breaks down, and the meat becomes soft, even delicate. Ordinary frying or boiling can hardly achieve this.

To braise meat, beef in particular, you don’t have to use tenderloin or delicate veal. Braising can make even the toughest beef soft.

Braised beef takes a long time to cook, much longer than braised chicken or pork. I’d even say that the longer braised beef cooks, the tastier it gets.

More with beef ribs

Beef Rib and Potato Stew with Vegetables

Bean Borscht with Meat Broth

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Meat Soup with Beef Rib Broth and Garlic

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Ingredients

2 servings

Beef (ribs) 0.5 kg
Carrot 1
Garlic 1 head
Celery stalks 2 sprigs, plus 1 for garnish
Olive oil 2-3 tbsp
Water 2-3 tbsp (if needed)
Bay leaf 1-2
Coriander, black and red peppercorns, allspice, dried aromatic herbs (savory, oregano, basil) to taste
Salt to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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Preparing the meat

Broadly speaking, you can braise any cut: fillet, shoulder, neck and so on. But braised beef ribs are the tastiest, and it’s convenient to eat the meat off the bone.
Cut the meat into large pieces, roughly the size of a chicken egg. Cut the ribs between the bones, and chop the bones across every 4-5 cm.
A kitchen cleaver is the easiest way to chop them, just not on a plastic cutting board: it will crack at the first blow. You can also saw into the bone a little with a large serrated bread knife and snap it, or use a small hacksaw. Or buy the ribs already cut.
Wash the meat thoroughly, paying special attention to bone dust, which must be removed along with any bone fragments. If you bite on it, it’s unpleasant.

Browning

Heat the olive oil in a deep saucepan until very hot. You can fry a crushed garlic clove in the oil and then discard it, but flavoring the oil is optional.
Add the meat to the saucepan and fry over medium heat for 10 minutes until browned, stirring constantly so it browns evenly.
Separate the remaining garlic into cloves and add them unpeeled, along with 1-2 bay leaves. Keep frying for another 10 minutes.

Braising

Add the vegetables to the meat: dice the celery stalks, peel the carrot and dice it. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover the saucepan. If you doubt that the juices of the meat and vegetables will be enough, you can add 2-3 tbsp of water.
Mix the spices. I recommend dried aromatic herbs, coriander, black and red pepper (or a spice blend) and allspice, all as whole peppercorns or seeds. Use equal parts of each spice and grind to a powder. The amount of spices is strictly to taste. You can keep the rest of the mix for next time or for any other meat dish.
Add the spices to the meat, salt it and braise, covered, over low heat for about an hour. The lowest heat is best, so the meat simmers gently. The meat is done when it is tender and comes away from the bone easily.
If there is too little liquid, add 1-2 tbsp of water, but not much, or the beef will overcook and fall apart. It’s better to add liquid in small portions. But experience shows that water is rarely needed, only in extreme cases. The vegetables and meat have plenty of moisture for braising. I think you could even add wine instead of water, but remember that wine slightly firms up the meat and increases the cooking time.

Serving

Put the finished braised beef on a plate. Add the braised carrot, celery and garlic cloves, and pour the resulting sauce over it.
Garnish the meat with a sprig of celery. Braised beef should please the eye, and it is served hot only.

Calories and macros

740 kcal

Serving ≈ 290 g

Protein52 g29% of kcal
Fat54 g66% of kcal
Carbs10 g5% of kcal

100 g256 kcalProtein 17.9 gFat 18.5 gCarbs 3.3 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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