Braised Beef Ragù

braised beef ragù plated with fresh gnocchi and garnished with chopped parsley.

Get the Recipe: Braised Beef Ragù

If you are looking for the ultimate Italian comfort meal, look no further. This Braised Beef Ragù packs all the flavor, in a low-and-slow cooked saucy, savory package.

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Yield8 servings

Prep45

Cook6

Total6 45

Ingredients

2-3 lbs chuck roast or boneless short ribs
1 sweet onion , small diced
4-5 celery stalks, small diced
2 carrots, small diced
3 tablespoons tomato paste
½ tablespoon red miso paste
6 cloves garlic, mashed into a paste or roasted
1 teaspoon marmite
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon mushroom powder
2 tablespoons neutral cooking oil
½ cup dry red wine
2-4 cups beef stock
1, 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes
1, 3in x 1in chunk parmesan rind, optional
2 bay leaves
4-5 whole cloves
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
1, 3in x 1in strip orange peel
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, (about 2-3 sprigs)
½ tablespoon fresh thyme, (about 4 sprigs)
Kosher salt or beef bouillon to taste, see notes

Equipment

measuring Cups
Measuring spoons
1 chef knife
1 cutting board
small bowl
1 Whisk or fork
1 dutch oven or stock pot
tongs
1 reusable or one-use tea bag (optional, see Notes/FAQ)

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Instructions

Ingredient Disclaimer

This recipe assumes you have pre-made or store-bought beef stock. If you want home-made beef stock but haven’t made it yet add another 7+ hours to the cook time. I recommend making beef stock up to 1 month beforehand and freezing it. Trying to do all of this on the same day is A LOT. Make it easier on yourself.

First, prep everything you will need to build the ragù up to the point of deglazing the Dutch oven or pot. Take the beef out of the fridge and break it down into good sized chunks, roughly 4in x 4in or 10cm x 10cm in size. Then, set them aside.
Small dice the carrots, celery, and onions (mirepoix), but make sure to keep each in separate bowls or plates. I like to chop them into ¼ in (.65cm) cubes. (See FAQs for knife skills/how to for veggies prep). Once done, set the vegetables aside next to the meat and start the umami paste.
For the umami paste, thin slice and fine mince garlic. Add it to a small bowl along with the tomato and miso paste. Then, mix in the marmite, cocoa powder, and mushroom powder with a whisk or fork, until the paste is uniform. Set the paste aside as well.
Now, prepare the wet ingredients. Open the can of whole peeled tomatoes and use an immersion blender, stand blender, or your hands to break them down. (See FAQs for detailed instructions and substitutions.). Set the tomatoes aside and measure the wine, beef stock, and oil. Lastly, fill a small bowl or cup with some water, in case you need some minimal deglazing while you sear the beef.
Now that everything is prepared, set up your cooking station around your stove top, with all of the readied ingredients and mixes within reach (mis en place).
Place an enameled Dutch oven or oven safe pot on your stove top and turn the heat to medium high. While the pot gets hot, pat the pieces of meat dry with some paper towel. Once the pot is hot, add in the oil and let it heat up as well. Then, sear each side of the beef building up a nice crust around their outsides. (See FAQs for more detailed instructions) If any browned bits develop on the bottom of the pot and look or smell like they are getting close to burning, pour some of the water 1 tbsp (15ml) at a time into the pot where it’s getting dark. Scrape the fond (browned bits) up or move the meat around to collect it.
Once all of the meat is cooked, turn the pot down to medium, add in the umami paste, and scrape it around the pot with your flat-bottomed spatula for 1-2 minutes. The paste should cook and darken a bit before it also begins to stick to the pot. Toss in the diced onion and sprinkle about ½ tsp (1.2g) of kosher salt over them while stirring and scraping. Once the onions begin to soften, add in the carrots and celery and stir those around for another 5 minutes or so. At any point, if the bottom is in jeopardy of burning, even with the aromatics added, pour a little bit of water where it’s too dark and scrape.
Once, the veggies have softened a tad around the edges, let the bottom of the pot develop a fond again. When there is some nice browning built up, fully deglaze the pot with the wine. Pour in all of the wine and scrape the bottom of the pot until ALL of the fond built up there comes up and incorporates into a pan sauce. (Any food left stuck to the bottom of the pot will burn over the course of braising, even with liquid in the pot, so make sure you are thorough.) Pour in the crushed or blended tomatoes and the beef stock. Then, add in the seared meat and any liquid that escaped the beef during resting.
At this point things slow down considerably. Turn the burner down to low/med-low so the braised beef ragù builds to a low simmer and heat your oven to 325°F (163°C). While the oven is heating and the ragù is coming up to temperature, cut and add the parmesan rind and make the sachet.
For the sachet, add the bay leaves, peppercorns, cloves, orange peel, oregano, and thyme into a disposable tea bag and submerge it in the sauce. (See notes for non-bagged options). By, now the braised beef ragù should have come up to a simmer and the oven should be pre-heated.
Place the pot onto a baking sheet to catch any drips and cover it with a lid. Place the tray and pot into the oven for 3-4 hours. Around 2 hours into the cooking time, take the pot out, flip the beef over, and then cover and return the pot to the oven. The chuck or short rib pieces should be fork-tender when they are done.
When ready, take the braised beef ragù out of the oven and let the meat cool down in the braising liquid for about 30 minutes, to maintain moisture. Fish out the sachet and the parmesan rind. Then, add the ragù to any prepared starch: pasta, potatoes, rice, etc. Either keep the beef in chunks and top with sauce or shred it into the sauce. I leave that decision up to you!

Notes

When the braised beef ragù is finished in the oven, make sure to give the sauce a taste. If it needs a little bit more brightness add salt or maybe a squeeze of lemon. If you think it needs more beef flavor and salt, spoon in a bit of Better than Beef Boullion. If just savoriness is a little lacking, consider adding a pinch of MSG or fine grating in some more parmesan.
The larger the pieces of veggies and tomatoes are at the beginning of cooking the braised beef ragù, the more rustic the final product will be. I leave the dice size up to you.
The same goes for the whole tomatoes. You can substitute cans of crushed tomatoes for the whole peeled tomatoes, just make sure they aren't salted and flavored.
The more beef stock you use the more sauce you'll have. 2 cups give you a thick tomato sauce consistency and 4 cups gives you the viscosity of stew.
If you don't have a disposable teabag, consider cheesecloth (spices + herbs) or a tea ball (herbs only). You can tie the herbs together with cotton twine. If you have none of these, no worries. Add ½ tsp (1.2g) ground black peppercorns and a small pinch worth of ground cloves to the umami paste. Then, toss the herbs and peel in the sauce loose and fish them out later.
Leftover stew can be refrigerated for 2-3 days or frozen for 1-2 months.

Nutrition