Apple Cider Braised Short Ribs
Slow-cooked until the meat falls from the bone — a Canadian Thanksgiving main built on reduced Ontario cider.
By: HF Kitchen
By the time the leaves are fully down, cider stops being something you drink and starts being something you cook with — reduced until it stops tasting like fall and starts tasting like something closer to wine. This is where it goes. Short ribs, seared hard and braised slow, until the sauce is dark enough to coat a spoon and the meat needs no more than a fork to come apart. It takes most of an afternoon, nearly all of it unattended, which is its own kind of luxury on a day already full of other things to do.
Apple Cider Braised Short Ribs
Before You Start
Use a 7-quart Dutch oven — the liquid ratios below are calibrated to that size. Total time runs about four hours fifteen minutes to four hours forty-five minutes, mostly hands-off during the braise. Sear hard, don't rush the first step. Reducing the cider can be done at the same time as the aromatics — no need to do these in strict sequence; it just needs to be finished before the braising liquid goes in.
INGREDIENTS
Serves 6
4 lbs bone-in beef short ribs (English cut, about 6 pieces)
Kosher salt, black pepper
2 tbsp neutral oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
4 cloves garlic, smashed
3 cups Ontario apple cider (unfiltered, true pressed cider)
2 cups beef stock
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cold, cubed
METHOD
Pat short ribs dry, season generously with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a 7-quart Dutch oven over high heat until shimmering and nearly smoking. Sear ribs 3–4 minutes per side, until deeply browned on all faces. Work in batches — don't crowd the pot. Remove ribs, set aside.
Lower heat to medium. Add onion, carrot, celery to the fond. Cook until softened and lightly caramelized, 8–10 minutes. Add garlic and tomato paste; cook 1 minute more until fragrant. While this cooks, reduce the cider at the same time (step 4).
Deglaze with apple cider vinegar, scraping up the fond.
In a separate saucepan, reduce the apple cider by half over medium-high heat, about 15–20 minutes.
Return ribs to the Dutch oven. Add reduced cider, beef stock, thyme, and bay leaves — liquid should come about two-thirds up the ribs.
Bring to a simmer on the stovetop, then cover and transfer to a 300°F oven. Braise 3–3.5 hours, until the meat pulls away from the bone with no resistance.
Remove ribs, tent with foil. Strain the braising liquid, discarding solids, and skim the fat from the surface.
Reduce the strained liquid until it coats the back of a spoon, 10–15 minutes. Take it off the boil and let it come down to a bare simmer before whisking in cold butter a cube at a time, off the heat, swirling constantly — adding it while still boiling will break the sauce.
Return ribs to the sauce to warm through, or spoon sauce over just before serving.
NOTE
Can be braised a day ahead — flavour improves overnight, and fat is easier to skim once chilled. Reheat covered at 300°F until warmed through, then finish the sauce fresh. Bone broth can stand in for beef stock for a richer finish. If the sauce feels thin after reduction, the cider likely wasn't reduced enough in step 4 — cornstarch won't fix it without flattening the flavour.
SERVE WITH
Sage brown butter mash or celery root purée, and something acidic to cut the richness — a shaved fennel and apple salad works well. Carve and serve from a deep platter with a carving fork, linen napkins at each setting.
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