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If you follow us over on Instagram, then you already know that we recently spent some time visiting Niagara Falls as part of a summer vacation road trip. We spent a few days on the Canadian side of the Falls and absolutely loved our visit!
It was my first time visiting Niagara Falls – and another “first” for me was eating Poutine – a classic Canadian dish of French fries topped with cheese curds and a brown gravy. Yesterday we showed you how to make Perfect French Fries at home. And tomorrow, we’ll be sharing our own Poutine recipe (inspired by our trip!) – but get ready today by making this incredible Beef Short Ribs Gravy!
Beef Short Ribs Gravy is made by cooking short ribs until they are fall-off-the-bone tender! Once cooked, the meat is removed from the bone and shredded – then added back into the cooking stock which has been thickened into a gravy.
Our Beef Short Ribs Gravy is shown here served over mashed potatoes, and tomorrow you’ll see it served as part of the Poutine – but any way you eat it – this is the ultimate comfort food! The gravy has a rich and savory flavor with a just touch of sweetness – thanks to the addition of dark ale in the gravy – and the flavors are incredible.
Although this recipe has a long cooking time – three and a half hours – it’s actually very easy to make. And, this Beef Short Ribs Gravy can be made in advance and reheated just before serving.
Recipe loosely adapted from chow.com
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Beef Short Ribs Gravy
*Note: To make a thinner gravy, just use the ¼ cup of flour and omit the extra two tablespoons listed in the ingredients
Ingredients
- 5 pounds meaty beef short ribs (about 8 ribs)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups thickly sliced shallots (6 ounces in weight)
- 1 1/2 cups thickly sliced onion halves (about one medium to large onion)
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 12–ounce bottle dark ale or stout beer
- 3 large sprigs fresh thyme, left on the stem
- 3 large sprigs flat leaf parsley, left on the stems
- 1 1/2 quarts vegetable stock
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup butter ( 1/2 a stick)
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (*See Note above)
- Additional salt and pepper to taste
- Mashed potatoes (see recipe here) for serving
Instructions
- Season the ribs with the salt and pepper.
- Heat a large oven proof Dutch oven over medium high heat and add oil.
- Once hot, add half the ribs and sear on all sides for 2-3 minutes per side or until browned. Remove to a platter and repeat for rest of ribs. Remove the second batch to the same platter.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Using same pot, turn the heat to medium and add the shallots and onions and cook for about three minutes or until just slightly cooked.
- Add tomato paste and cook and stir for one minute.
- Add the ale and stir and cook until reduced by half.
- Add the sprigs of thyme and parsley, stock and Worcestershire sauce. Add the seared ribs to the pot, bring to a boil, cover and place in oven for three hours with lid slightly ajar. Halfway through cooking, turn ribs, cover again and finish cooking with lid slightly ajar.
- If you are serving with mashed potatoes cook them now.
- With a pair of tongs, remove ribs and bones to a platter to cool.
- Remove and discard the thyme stems. The parsley will have disintegrated into the sauce.
- Pour the liquid into a container and with a ladle, skim off and discard the fat that floats to the top. I removed an entire cup of fat.
- Once the meat has cooled enough to handle, separate the meat from the bones, fat, gristle and sinew. Reserve meat and if not already shredded, shred with two forks. Discard bones and gristle. You should have 1 ½ pounds of cooked meat.
- Place butter in same pot that the ribs were cooked in and melt over medium heat.
- Add flour and stir to form a roux. Note, feel free to omit the two tablespoons of flour and just use the ¼ cup if you like your gravy on the thin side. Cook this mixture for about three minutes. Then one third at a time, add liquid back in whisking at each third.
- Adjust seasoning and add shredded beef back in. If too thick, thin down with a little water.
- Serve over mashed potatoes or rice or use in Poutine (recipe coming tomorrow)
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HS says
So delicious, I made this for poutine and am making it again to go over mashed potatoes. It’s seriously SO.GOOD.
Martha says
Thanks HS!
Kathy P. says
So delicious!
Martha says
Thanks Kathy!
Missy says
These were the most amazing short ribs ever!! I’ll never order them in a restaurant again.
Martha says
Wow Missy – So glad you enjoyed the ribs!
Ashley England says
I used boneless beef rib fingers and reduced the time to 2hr45 and it’s a new family favourite they ask for every week m!
Martha says
Thanks so much Ashley!
E. Montero says
Do I have to use beer or ale? Can I use beef broth or chicken broth?
Martha says
Sure – Beef broth would be ideal, but chicken is oK in a pinch.
Debra Bartlett says
What could I use instead of the stout or beer? My husband has celiacs.
Martha says
Hi Debra – You can use beef stock instead.
Jon says
What changes would need to he maid to cook this in a crockpot. It’s getting hot and dont want to run the oven that long. Thanks
Jack says
Hi Jon
You would still need to follow all of the steps on the stove top before and after the oven time. If you wanted to not run the oven, after following the first steps 1-7, transfer ingredients to your slow cooker and cook on high. Since we did not develop the recipe for a slow cooker, I looked up an on-line calculator that converts oven time to slow cooker time. It states that one hour in a slow cooker equates to 15-30 minutes in an oven. So doing the math for three hours in the oven, the timing for a slow cooker on high according to this calculator, would be 6-8 hours in a slow cooker (which seems like a lot to me). I see other problems though besides trying to get the timing right. Our recipe has you leave the lid slightly ajar to evaporate some of the liquid as it cooks. You can’t do that with a slow cooker so you may want to think about cutting back a little on the stock and beer. Alternatively, you could remove the meat once cooked and reduce the liquid on the stove a little before thickening it.
Again, converting a recipe from stove top to slow cooker or slow cooker to oven, does not always translate precisely.
Hope this helps,
Jack
Jennifer says
Martha, thank you for your reply(I feel silly that I missed that). I made this tonight, my entire family really loved it! I only had beef stock on hand so I substituted it for the vegetable stock and I added chopped carrots, celery and sliced baby Bella mushrooms to the pot at the same time you said to add the onions. I removed the veggies when you said to remove the meat to make the roux, then once the gravy was finished I added the veggies back in. Thanks again, I will be trying more recipes on your site soon!
Martha says
No worries Jennifer! Glad your family enjoyed the recipe!
Jennifer says
Hi Martha,
When do you add the 1.5 quarts of vegetable stock? I don’t any mention of the vegetable stock in the instructions. Thanks!
Martha says
Hi Jennifer – See Step 8: “Add the sprigs of thyme and parsley, stock and Worcestershire sauce.”
Sherry says
This recipe is the bomb I tweaked it a little but
My husband loved it he had is on mashed potatos
I had mine Asian style on Japanese sticky rice
He definitely wants me to make it again
Martha says
Thanks so much Sherry! Glad the recipe was a hit!