• Yield: 4 to 6 servings

  • Time: 15 minutes prep, 30 minutes active, 6 hours to sear cooking, 6 hours and 45 minutes total


Ingredients

  • 4 pounds bone-in beef short ribs

  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt

  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

  • 2 tablespoons expeller-pressed vegetable oil

  • 1 cup (about 1 ounce) dried porcini mushrooms

  • 1 large yellow onion, cut into quarters

  • 1 head of garlic, unpeeled, cut in half crosswise

  • 1 bunch (about 12 medium) radishes

  • 2 medium carrots, or 1 bunch of baby carrots

  • 1 bunch spring onions, or 1 medium leek

  • Horseradish, mustard, coarse sea salt, and pickles, for serving

Instructions

Trim the silverskin and any excess fat off the short ribs, and season them with the 1 tablespoon salt and the pepper. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.


Preheat the oven to 225° F.


Heat a heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, and add the oil. Sear the ribs on all sides until deep golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove the meat and discard any remaining oil. Put the ribs back in the pot, meat side down. Add enough cold water to cover the ribs by 2 inches (about 3 quarts). Bring the liquid to a simmer and cook, repeatedly skimming off any foam, for 10 to 15 minutes. Add the porcini, onion, garlic, and remaining 1 teaspoon of salt. Bring back to a simmer. Tent the meat with a piece of parchment or aluminum foil by placing it on top and then crimping it snugly around the ribs so that the edges nearly meet the liquid. Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid, transfer it to the oven, and braise for 6 hours.

Trim the radishes, leaving about 3/4 inch of green stem. Unless they are very small, cut them in half. Cut the carrots on the diagonal into 1/2-inch-thick rounds; or, if using baby carrots, peel and trim them, leaving 3/4 inch of the green stem. Trim the spring onions or leak and slice into chunks (wash the leek well). One vegetable at a time, blanch in boiling salted water until just tender.


Remove the ribs and strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve into the saucepan. Skim the fat from the broth; then add the blanched vegetables to the broth and reheat gently. Adjust the seasoning and serve the ribs and the vegetables in the broth with the accompaniments.


Reprinted from the book Cooking in the Moment, copyright © 2011 by Andrea Reusing. Published by Clarkson Potter, a division of Random House, Inc.

Andrea Reusing
Andrea Reusing, the 2011 winner of the James Beard award for Best Chef: Southeast, is the creator of the restaurant Lantern in Chapel Hill, N.C. She is also the author of Cooking in the Moment: A Year of Seasonal Recipes, which was named one of 2011’s most notable cookbooks by The New York Times.