Braised Low and Slow, Glazed Sticky With Chilli

It is Sunday morning. The pot is on. The kitchen smells of garlic and thyme, and the beef short ribs have been sitting in the oven since before anybody else in the house was awake. Nobody touches the lid. That is the rule.

When I was a boy in Guadeloupe, my mother never bought the expensive cuts. With seven children at the table, she could not, and to be honest she did not want to. She went to the butcher on Saturday and came home with the pieces other people walked past: the bony ones, the ones with fat running through them, the ones that are tough as old boots if you rush them. Then on Sunday she gave them time. Three hours, four hours, the pot ticking on the stove while we went to church and came back hungry.

What came out of that pot was better than any steak. Meat so soft you could cut it with the side of a spoon. A sauce dark and shining from all the bones that had given themselves to it.

Short ribs are exactly that kind of meat. In England the butcher may call the whole rack Jacob’s ladder, because it looks like a ladder before he cuts it into single ribs. Each one is a thick block of beef sitting on a flat bone, with fat and muscle in layers. Cook it fast and it fights you. Cook it slow and it surrenders.

So I braise them the way my mother would, with thyme, allspice, garlic and spring onion. Then I do the thing she never did: I lift them out, paint them with my Flaming BBQ Sauce, and put them back in a hot oven until the outside turns dark, glossy and sticky. Soft inside. Lacquered outside. A little fire on the lips.

This is my beef short ribs recipe. It asks for patience, not skill.

Recipe at a glance

• Cuisine: Caribbean fusion (Guadeloupe Sunday braise, a BBQ finish)
• Prep: 20 minutes • Cook: 3 hours 40 minutes • Total: 4 hours
• Serves: 4
• Featured sauce: Flaming BBQ Sauce
• Heat level: 8/10, a real chilli kick wrapped in sweet, tangy glaze
• Diet: Gluten free (with gluten free stock), dairy free

What you’ll need

Ask your butcher for bone-in beef short ribs cut into single ribs, each one about 5 to 7cm thick. Four big ribs feed four hungry people. If he only has the whole Jacob’s ladder, ask him to cut it between the bones for you. A good butcher will do it in a minute.

You also need a heavy casserole dish with a lid, big enough to hold the ribs in one layer. Cast iron is perfect. The rest is simple.

For the ribs

• 4 bone-in beef short ribs, single ribs, about 1.6 to 2kg in total
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 tsp fine salt, plus a little more to taste
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

For the braise

• 2 onions, thickly sliced
• 2 carrots, cut into chunks
• 6 garlic cloves, crushed
• 4 spring onions, whites chopped, greens sliced and kept for the end
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 6 allspice berries, lightly crushed
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 500ml gluten free beef stock
• 200ml water
• 4 tbsp Flaming BBQ Sauce

For the glaze

• 6 tbsp Flaming BBQ Sauce
• 4 tbsp of the reduced braising liquid
• 1 lime, cut into wedges, to serve

How I make it

1. Wash and season the ribs. Back home we always wash meat with lime, and I still do. Rub the lime juice all over the ribs, leave them ten minutes, then pat them very dry with kitchen paper. Season with the salt and pepper on every side. If you have time, do this the night before and leave them uncovered in the fridge. If not, thirty minutes on the counter is fine.

2. Heat the oven. Set it to 160°C (140°C fan). Low and steady, that is the whole secret of this dish.

3. Brown the beef. Heat the oil in your casserole over a medium-high heat until it shimmers. Put in two ribs, never more, and let them sit. Do not move them. Listen to them sizzle. After three or four minutes turn them, and keep going until every side is deep brown, about 8 to 10 minutes per batch. Lift them onto a plate and do the rest. This colour is flavour, so you don’t rush this part.

4. Build the pot. Turn the heat down to medium. Pour off all but a spoonful of the fat. Add the onions, carrots and spring onion whites and stir, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom. After five minutes, when the onions are soft and golden, add the garlic, allspice, thyme and bay leaves. One minute more, until the kitchen smells like my mother’s on a Sunday. Stir in the tomato purée and cook it for a minute so it darkens.

5. Add the liquid. Pour in the stock and water and stir in the 4 tbsp of Flaming BBQ Sauce. Bring it to a gentle bubble. Put the ribs back in, bone side up, in one layer. The liquid should come about two thirds of the way up the meat. Add a splash more water if it doesn’t.

6. Braise. Put the lid on and slide the pot into the oven. Leave it for 3 hours. Halfway through, turn the ribs over so the top half gets its turn in the liquid, then lid back on. That is the only time you open it.

7. Test them. After three hours, push a fork into the thickest rib. It should slide in with no fight at all, and the bone should wiggle loose when you nudge it. If there is any resistance, give it another 30 minutes. Short ribs are ready when they are ready, not when the clock says.

8. Reduce the sauce. Carefully lift the ribs onto a lined baking tray, meat side up. They are fragile now, so use a fish slice and a spoon. Strain the braising liquid into a saucepan, press the vegetables to get every drop, then spoon off the fat that rises to the top. Boil it hard for 10 to 15 minutes until you have about 250ml of dark, glossy sauce that coats a spoon. Taste it, and only then add salt if it needs it.

9. Glaze. Turn the oven up to 220°C (200°C fan). Mix the 6 tbsp of Flaming BBQ Sauce with 4 tbsp of the reduced sauce. Brush a thick coat over the ribs and roast for 10 minutes. Brush again and give them another 8 to 10 minutes, until the glaze is bubbling, sticky and dark at the edges. Watch them in the last few minutes. There is sugar in the glaze, and you want it caramelised, not burnt.

10. Rest and serve. Let them rest for 5 minutes. Scatter the spring onion greens over the top, put the lime wedges on the side, and pour the rest of the sauce into a warm jug for the table.

The role of Flaming BBQ Sauce in this dish

Flaming BBQ Sauce does two jobs here, and they are very different jobs.

In the braise, four spoonfuls disappear into the stock. You will not taste them as BBQ. What you get is depth: the tomato, the balsamic and the rum melt into the beef juices, the garlic and mustard round them out, and the chilli sits underneath everything as a slow warmth. After three hours in the oven it tastes like a sauce you worked on all day, because in a way you did.

On the outside, it is the opposite. Thick, shining, sweet and tangy, catching in the hot oven and turning to a sticky coat that clings to the meat. The brown sugar caramelises. The chilli wakes up. The first bite is sweet, the second one is warm, and the third one has you reaching for the lime. With a meat as rich as short ribs, that heat and that acidity are what keep you coming back for more instead of feeling heavy after two mouthfuls.

If you are cooking for children or for somebody who doesn’t like heat, make the same dish with my BBQ Sauce. Same sticky finish, no fire.

How to cook beef short ribs in the oven or slow cooker

The oven is my favourite, because the steady heat all around the pot cooks the meat evenly. But a slow cooker works too: brown the ribs and soften the vegetables in a pan exactly as above, then put everything in the slow cooker with only 350ml of stock and no extra water, because the lid traps the moisture. Cook on low for 8 hours, then reduce and glaze as in steps 8 and 9.

For BBQ short ribs on the grill, braise them the day before, chill them in their liquid, then glaze them over medium coals, turning and brushing until sticky.

Tips from my kitchen

• Make them the day before. Like every braise, these are better tomorrow. Cool the ribs in their liquid and refrigerate overnight. The fat sets in a white layer on top and lifts off in one piece. Then you reduce, glaze and serve. Perfect for a Sunday when you have guests.
• Do not crowd the pan when browning. Two at a time. If you squeeze in four, the meat steams instead of browning, and you lose the deep colour that makes the sauce.
• Low oven, closed lid. If the liquid is boiling hard, your oven runs hot. Turn it down 10 degrees, or the meat goes stringy even sitting in liquid.
• Glaze at the end, never at the start. The sugar in the sauce will burn over three hours. The braise makes the ribs tender; the glaze makes them beautiful.
• If you love slow beef from the bone, my Caribbean oxtail uses the same patience and the same Sunday rhythm. It is a dish I could eat every week.

What to serve it with

Something soft to catch the sauce, something fresh to cut the richness. That is all you need.

• Rice and peas, the coconut and thyme rice I grew up on. It drinks up the sauce, and that is the point.
• Caribbean coleslaw, crunchy and sharp with lime, to wake up your mouth between bites.
• Sweet potato fries if you want to make it a BBQ feast, all crisp edges and soft middles.
• Mash or soft polenta for an English Sunday table (made with olive oil to keep it dairy free).

FAQ

Why are my short ribs tough?

Nine times in ten, they need more time. Short ribs go through a tough stage before they go tender. The meat tightens first, and only after a few hours does all that connective tissue melt into something soft. If they fight your fork, put the lid back on and give them another 30 to 45 minutes. The other reason is heat: a pot boiling hard instead of gently simmering will make them stringy.

How long do beef short ribs take in the oven?

At 160°C (140°C fan), bone-in short ribs take about 3 to 3 and a half hours with the lid on, plus around 20 minutes to glaze at the end. Thicker ribs can take closer to 4 hours. Go by the fork and the bone, not the clock.

Can you cook beef short ribs in a slow cooker?

Yes. Brown them first, use less liquid (about 350ml of stock), and cook on low for 8 hours. Then reduce the sauce in a pan and glaze them in a hot oven for 15 to 20 minutes. The slow cooker gives you the tenderness; the oven gives you the sticky finish.

Can you freeze short ribs?

Yes, and they freeze very well. Freeze them after braising but before glazing, covered in their reduced sauce, for up to three months. Defrost overnight in the fridge, warm them gently in the sauce until piping hot, then brush with Flaming BBQ Sauce and glaze in the hot oven as normal.

Are these beef short ribs gluten free, and what allergens do they contain?

The dish is gluten free as long as you use a gluten free stock. All my sauces have been lab tested gluten free, under 20 parts per million. Flaming BBQ Sauce does contain mustard and sulphites (from the balsamic vinegar), and the English mustard in it is made with wheat, so check the label if you are cooking for someone with a wheat allergy rather than a gluten intolerance. Celery is often in stock, so check that too. There is no dairy in the recipe.

Final word from me

My mother taught me that the cheap cuts are the generous ones, if you are generous with your time. Short ribs are the proof. Put the pot on in the morning, go and live your day, and come back to a kitchen that smells like a Sunday in Guadeloupe. Then the glaze, the fire, the lime, and everybody around the table with sticky fingers. That is a proper meal.

JP