English Sweet & Sour Ribs

These are English-cut short ribs, meaning the ribs are cut across the bone into long meaty strips rather than the cross-cut flanken style. The English cut gives you bigger pieces of meat with bone attached, which is what makes for the most dramatic fall-apart braise.

Dredging the ribs in seasoned flour before browning is the technique that thickens the braising liquid as it cooks. The flour comes off into the pan and acts as a natural roux, turning thin pan juices into a glossy sauce that coats the meat at the table.

Brown the beef hard and deep on all sides before anything else goes in the pot. This is where most of the flavor of the finished dish comes from. Skipping or rushing the brown gives you pale, sad braised meat instead of rich mahogany ribs.

The sweet-sour balance comes from brown sugar, ketchup and red wine vinegar working together. The sugar caramelizes during the long bake into sticky depth. The vinegar cuts the richness so the dish doesn’t go cloying. Ketchup adds tomato umami and binding.

Two and a half hours at 350°F (175°C) is the right time for short ribs to break down to fork-tender without falling apart entirely. Less and they’re chewy. More and they shred into stew. Test with a fork at the 2-hour mark.

Serve over egg noodles or buttery mashed potatoes to catch the glossy pan sauce, which is the best part.

Chef Tips

• Trim only excess fat, not all of it. Some fat is what melts during braising and bastes the meat from inside.
• Use a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven. Thin pans scorch the sugars on the bottom during the long bake.
• Brown the onions in the same pan after removing the ribs. The fond they pick up adds layers of flavor.
• Make a day ahead: short ribs taste even better the next day, and the chilled fat is easy to skim off the top.

Variations

• Add 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce for deeper umami flavor.
• Stir in 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard with the sauce for a sharper finish.
• Swap brown sugar for molasses or maple syrup for a different sweet note.