Step 1

Add two teaspoons of the olive oil to a large Dutch oven and over medium-high heat, sear the beef ribs on all sides for about two minutes. Make sure the pan is hot first! Don’t be tempted to overcrowd the pot. Cook the beef ribs two or three at a time in a single layer. Once seared on all sides, remove from the pot and sear the next batch.

Step 2

Once all of the ribs have been seared, carefully drain the grease out of the pot and wipe out the excess with paper towel.

Step 3

Add the remaining teaspoon of olive oil to the Dutch oven and turn the heat to medium-high. Add in the garlic and stir. Once the garlic begins to sizzle, continue to cook the garlic for exactly one minute, stirring the whole while to prevent it from burning.

Step 4

Next, reduce heat to medium and add the soy sauce, honey, red wine, and ground black pepper. Whisk this mixture and bring it to a low boil. Once the mixture starts to bubble slightly, add the seared beef ribs into the pot. Add them all in and nestle them into the liquid as much as possible. They will not be fully covered in cooking liquid, so don’t worry about that. Boil for 2 minutes.

Step 5

Turn the beef over so that the beef that was previously sitting up out of the liquid is now covered. Boil for another two minutes. Next, pour in the water. Allow the liquid to come to a boil once again. Once boiling, if you see any “meat scum” forming on the surface of the liquid, you can remove it with a skimmer . Boil the beef ribs for 20 minutes uncovered.

Step 6

Finally, reduce heat to simmer and cover the pot with a heavy lid. Let the beef ribs simmer for one hour and twenty minutes. You can remove the lid at the 40 minute mark and skim off more scum if any more has accumulated. But, get the lid back on the pot as soon as you’re done skimming.

Step 7

At this point, the beef ribs are super tender, super moist, and probably falling off the bone. They are completely cooked and ready to eat. You have the option of using the sauce as is, or you can thicken it.

Step 8

Carefully remove the beef ribs from the pot. Try to keep the bones in, because it looks better when presenting the ribs on a plate. I like to use metal tongs to coax the ribs – one at a time! – onto a large slotted spoon. Transfer them to a plate and tent them with aluminum foil. In the meantime, bring the sauce back to a boil over high heat. You can cook the sauce down until it reduces in volume, but the ribs will cool down too much while you wait for this.

Step 9

Instead, stir together one tablespoon of cornstarch with one tablespoon of water. While whisking the boiling sauce, drizzle the cornstarch mixture in and the sauce will instantly thicken. Whisk well and turn off the heat. Ladle the sauce into a gravy boat and place it right on the table so that everyone can help themselves.

Step 10

If you’re new to cooking in a Dutch oven, keep in mind that they can get really hot and will hold the heat steady for a while, even if you turn off the heat. That is why it is important to keep the garlic moving in step It will prevent the garlic from burning. Burnt garlic is bitter and will not taste good at all. If you burn the garlic, let the pot cool, clean it out, and start with fresh garlic again. Don’t risk ruining those beef ribs with bitter garlic!

Step 11

Use a full bodied wine, such as a merlot. But, do not use expensive wine. When braising with wine, you will need an extremely refined palette to tell the difference between beef braised with an expensive wine or a bottle that was less than $10 like I used.

Step 12

If you would like a non-alcoholic version, you can use non-alcoholic wine, or replace the wine completely with an equal amount of beef stock with an added tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.