It was the first properly cold morning of autumn when we set about making this deeply comforting dish. Layers of potato and cheap, bone-in meat for a night when the chestnut leaves are piling up in the lane outside the house. The hands-on cooking time here is minimal, involving little more than the slicing of onions and Maris Pipers, but the unattended cooking time, when the recipe gets on with things itself, is a good two hours. The dish is all the better for that, the flavours deepen and the separate elements – the meat, stock and potatoes – become, deliciously, as one.
During the layering of meat and potatoes I like to tuck in the stripped rib bones, and in so doing extracting every last bit of goodness and savour from them. On the side, a crisp white cabbage salad, perhaps (olive oil, white wine vinegar, dill), and some bread with which to sponge up the herb-stippled juices.
Serves 6
beef short ribs 1.4kg
olive oil 4 tbsp
onions 3 medium
thyme 8 sprigs
rosemary 4 bushy sprigs
bay leaves 4
black peppercorns 8
beef stock 2 litres
large potatoes 1kg
Cut the beef into ribs. Warm the oil in a large, deep-sided pan, then brown the ribs all over, taking care as they may spit and pop. Turn the ribs over with kitchen tongs as they colour, removing them to a plate when their fat is golden.
Peel and thinly slice the onions then put them into the pan in which you have just browned the beef, adding the thyme, rosemary, bay and peppercorns, and lower the heat to moderate. Let the onions cook, giving them the occasional stir, for about 20 minutes, until they are soft and light gold.
Return the beef ribs to the pan, together with any juices from the plate, then pour over the beef stock and bring to the boil. Lower the heat so the liquid quietly putters, partially cover with a lid, and leave for 1 hour or until the meat can easily be cut from the bones.
Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4. Remove the ribs from the pan and pull the meat from the bones. Slice the potatoes thinly, using a mandoline if you have one, a large cook’s knife if not. In a large, shallow baking dish or roasting tin, layer the potatoes and the meat and onions, seasoning each layer as you go with salt and black pepper, then pour over the stock from the pan.
Bake for an hour to 90 minutes, until the potatoes are soft and giving.
