Korean-Inspired Soy-Braised Beef Short Ribs

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg beef short ribs or beef cheeks, cut into large portions
• 400 ml beef stock
• Steamed jasmine rice, to serve
• 1 Asian pear or conference pear, peeled, cored, and grated
• Pickled cucumber, to serve
• 30 g fresh ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks
• 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 3 spring onions, sliced, to serve
• 80 ml soy sauce
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp gochujang paste
• 3 tbsp mirin
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted, to serve
• Fresh coriander, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150°C / 130°C fan / Gas 2. Pat the short ribs properly dry with kitchen paper — water on the surface means steam, and steam means no crust. Season generously with salt and plenty of black pepper before they hit the pan.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a large, oven-safe casserole over a high heat until it shimmers. Brown the beef in two or three batches, 3–4 minutes per side, until a deep mahogany crust forms on every surface and the kitchen smells properly beefy. Don't crowd the pan — all at once and the meat steams in its own juices instead of browning. Set the seared ribs aside on a plate.
3. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the sliced garlic and ginger matchsticks to the fat remaining in the pan and cook for 30–60 seconds, just until fragrant and pale gold at the edges. Watch it — burnt garlic turns the whole braise bitter. Stir in the gochujang and brown sugar and cook for another minute, until the paste darkens and loosens and smells toasty rather than raw.
4. Pour in the soy sauce, mirin, and beef stock, stirring hard and scraping up every sticky brown bit from the base of the pan — that's where the depth lives. Stir in the grated pear; it melts into the sauce, tenderising the meat and lending a subtle sweetness that balances the chilli paste.
5. Return the browned beef to the casserole, nestling each piece so it sits at least half-submerged in the braising liquor. Bring to a gentle simmer, then cover tightly with the lid.
6. Transfer to the oven and cook for 2 hours 30 minutes, turning the meat once halfway through. It's ready when the beef yields to gentle pressure from the back of a spoon and pulls away from any bone without resistance.
7. Lift the lid and tilt the pan — if there's a thick layer of fat on top, spoon some off. Drizzle in the toasted sesame oil and stir it gently through the sauce. Taste the sauce now: most of the salt comes from the soy, but a final pinch ties it together. Adjust now — at the end, not at the table.
8. Spoon the glossy mahogany beef and its sauce over bowls of steamed jasmine rice, scatter with the diagonal-sliced spring onions, and shower over the toasted sesame seeds. Any leftovers freeze beautifully in their sauce for up to 3 months.