Recipe: Pressure Cooker Short Rib Ragù

I've wanted to try The Food Lab's pressure cooker ragù bolognese for a long time, but also wanted to have pasta with the short ribs that have been hanging out in our freezer. I made a couple of adjustments and it worked really well, so here's the modified recipe! Some notes from my own process:

  • We use an Instant Pot, which is really just an English-labeled North American version of a Chinese electric pressure cooker we'd had since 2009 (the button layout and colors are exactly the same). The Chinese one required the usage of a large and heavy transformer because of the lower household voltage here and my spouse couldn't read the buttons, so now we happily use everybody's favorite Instant Pot. If you haven't used the sauté function before, you'll get good use out of it now.
  • If you boil your pasta in the same pot you use to sauce it (a non-stick chef's pan works great for this), this whole endeavor only needs two pots.
  • I mostly guestimated amounts as I was cooking, which works out fine. This isn't really precision work, though you can't go wrong with trusting J. Kenji López-Alt all the way.
  • I use Better Than Bouillon for most chicken stock applications, so instead of mixing that into water and sprinkling the gelatin over that, I just sprinkled gelatin over a cup of water and added the bouillon paste in with the crushed tomatoes, etc.
  • I was extremely lazy slash running late yesterday so I used pre-diced pancetta and mirepoix (onion/carrots/celery). It was great.
  • We believe in the wisdom of cooking with wine you'd drink, so we used a well-rated $15 bottle of Chianti. Don't get the $7 stuff.
  • I let said wine reduce separately before adding the rest of the liquid ingredients. It's not strictly necessary, but I thought the concentrated flavor came out nicely and there was more than plenty of liquid for the pressure cooking part.
  • I apparently need a new bottle of fish sauce so I used soy sauce instead. Worcestershire would also work fine – it's that glutamate life you're after. I may also have thrown in a little bit of straight up MSG.
  • Buying fresh pasta from a local maker: always worth it.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup low-sodium chicken stock
  • 4 packets (1 ounce) powdered gelatin
  • 1/2 pound finely diced pancetta
  • 1 large onion, finely minced
  • 2 large carrots, finely chopped
  • 2 large stalks celery, finely chopped
  • 4 medium cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup fresh sage leaves, minced
  • 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves, minced, divided
  • 3 pounds bone-in beef short ribs
  • 2 cups dry red wine
  • 1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, divided
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 3 ounces finely grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons Vietnamese or Thai fish sauce
  • 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, minced
  • 1 1/2 pounds pappardelle or tagliatelle

Directions

  1. Place stock in a 1-cup liquid measure and sprinkle with gelatin. Set aside.
  2. Heat olive oil in a pressure cooker over medium-high heat until shimmering. Brown short ribs on all sides, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
  3. Add pancetta to pot and cook, stirring frequently, until pancetta is browned and crisp, about 12 minutes. Add onions, carrots, celery, garlic, sage, and half of parsley and cook, stirring, until softened but not browned, about 8 minutes.
  4. Increase heat to high. Add wine and let reduce by half, about 10 minutes. Add stock and gelatin mixture, tomatoes, 1 cup heavy cream, and bay leaves. Nestle short ribs in the liquid. Seal and cook at high pressure (12 to 15 psi) for 30-45 minutes. Let pressure come down naturally before releasing pressure and removing lid. Remove short ribs to a cutting board.
  5. Simmer sauce over moderate heat until thick and emulsified, about 30 minutes longer. While sauce is simmering, cut the meat from the bones and any connective tissue and shred it. Add the meat back to the pot and let it finish simmering.
  6. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup heavy cream, Parmesan, fish sauce, basil, and remaining parsley. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly to emulsify. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  7. To Serve: If sauce isn't hot, heat to a simmer and set aside. Cook pasta in a large pot of well-salted water until just barely al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of cooking liquid. Transfer to a large skillet or sauteuse and add 3/4 of sauce, along with cooking water. Cook over high heat, tossing and stirring gently, until sauce is thick and pasta is coated, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a serving bowl and top with remaining sauce. Serve immediately, passing extra Parmesan at the table.

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