Nope, we can’t do anything about our crazy weather, at least according to a handful of climate scientists employed by the oil industry, but what we can do something about, is what we’re going to eat while we watch the snow pile up.
When it comes to stick-to-your-ribs stews, it doesn’t get
any better than shank. There’s so much gelatin-producing
connective tissue, that it makes an especially satisfying sauce for your
meat and grain.
By the way, with recipes like this be sure to have some
extra broth or stock on hand, in case your stew gets too thick at the end. And
yes, you can add extra liquid and easily turn this into a stellar soup. If you
can find some fresh horseradish root, I highly recommend trying my snowy
garnish. It really adds a nice, little sharp counterpoint to the sticky stew. I
hope you give it a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for four servings:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 pounds beef shank (2 thick slices), seasoned generously
with salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 cups chicken broth, plus more if needed
2/3 cup diced celery
2/3 cup diced carrots
2/3 cup diced celery
2/3 cup diced carrots
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 cup pearl or naked barley
salt to taste (if it tastes bland, you need more salt)
freshly grated horseradish root
- Cook beef shank until tender, then remove, and cook the
barley in the stewing liquid until tender. Heat beef in cooked barley. That's it.
35 comments:
Great recipe, Mr. Chef John, as always... what do you think about spelt (emmer?) instead of barley? And can i use flanken cut ribs (with a lot of bone marrow exposed) from pork? Thanks...
ooops... i wrote pork instead of beef. very sorry
Haha! - When I saw that baton of horseradish root on your video I thought it was just like the ridiculously, giant staves of the root that my nearby grocery probably wonders why they can't sell. Then your hand moves into view for perspective -- How I wish they would stock carrot-sized horseradish roots here! Seriously, the only ones available here are the size of my forearm.
This recipe does look delicious Chef John; can't wait to try it. ^^
What other cuts of meat would work If I can't find shank. Or say If I wanted something I could cube up a bit rather than keep it chunky?
The fact that you only said "Around the outside" twice really threw me for a loop.
I do love a good beef and barley stew, so I'm going to give this one a shot! :)
Dear Chef John,
I have come to love this blog since discovering it -- may you always love sharing your love of good food! Just to let you know, on the version of Food Wishes I access and save on newsXpresso, the carrots and celery, with amounts, were missing from the printed recipe. Since this is a stew leaving out the aromatic flavor enhancers would not be something I would do, but there are probably some who would because they wouldn't know it would be a quartet instead of a symphony without them! Thanks for the great ideas and inspiration and beautiful film work!
Dear Chef John,
I can't believe this is the first time writing to you in over 5 years of watching your show, but rest assured, I always use lots of garlic and cayenne in (nearly) everything I make. :) I made your Philly bites for the Superbowl party and they were amazing! I did want to let you know that Youtube is doing a weird thing to your videos right now - after one gets done playing it plays a loop of your buffalo dip and your turkey toms, and then the buffalo dip again, etc! Don't get me wrong, I love buffalo dip ( I personally just make mine in the crock pot so I can keep it hot) but wanted to let you know that we fans like watching all your videos, not just 2 of them. Thanks a million for all the amazing delicious recipes and the laughs! :) - Valerie
I'll check it out! Thanks!
Any stewing meat will work, like shoulder.
Dear CJ;
Do you have any more interesting marrow recipes?
Once I saw the little thumbnail pop up on youtube for this recipe, I knew I had to make this. I got all the ingredients yesterday, cooking it today and will be serving it tomorrow :) I can't wait!
Chef John - I hope you write more recipes that include fresh horseradish. The one I bought last night was $5.99 a lb! It would be a shame to only use it for this one dish.
Why oh why dont you use your dutch oven for this? i have an oval le creuset that i would love to use, and i know you have one aswell!
Also living way up in Norway we can -barely- get arborio rice here. is there any widely available (yes, my neighbour is the arctic circle itself) substitute for barely?
Could you use spent barley from brewing to make this, or would it be too soft at that point?
I don't think that would work. ;)
Could you please provide some pointers for those of us that are (1) time constrained and (2) have a pressure cooker available? Looks to me like you could probably do this recipe in 1/3 the time at high pressure. I'd guess 45 min. Not sure if you could even toss the barely right into the pot with the meat and be done with it. Do you feel there is a taste/texture penalty one pays if you take the pressure cooker shortcut?
Sorry, I not a pressure cooker guy!
I hope whoever you served this too didn't forget to shank you!
Hello Chef!
I have a ton of quinoa left in my pantry, would that work too in this recipe? There would be the extra step of washing the quinoa thoroughly, but other than that, is the procedure the same (though it may not have to cook for 45min)? Thank you!
Loved it! Made it for dinner and sooo tasty
Quinoa is pretty tiny, so I would just serve it on top!
"Hulled barley is barley where the outer shell was removed, but still retains all the bran. This is the most nutritious type of barley, because it has kept all its nutrients. Before cooking, you should soak it for several hours. You just have to drain it and let it simmer gently for 1 hour in 3 to 4 times its amount in liquid.
Pearl barley, which looks like little white pearls (hence its name), is much less nutritious. They also removed its seed and lost some of its vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein and fat it once contained. To prepare, you do not need to soak it. It cooks in 30 minutes." (Ricardocuisine.com)
I made the thing mostly. http://imgur.com/ikoOtsb
can I use buckwheat instead?
Loved this sooo much, made it twice already! Thanks for all your work and yummy videos
A friend gave me some Tibetan yak's tail for Chinese New Year. I had no idea what to do with it, so I just made this, and I gotta say, it was pretty dang satisfying. Thanks Chef John!
This turned out to be absolutely amazing. An incredible flavor and just the right texture. Thanks, Chef John, this one will be a Winter staple!
Beef shank wasn't on sale (although the paper said it was... geez...) so I will use some beef neck and some of those those marrowbones you use for soup, and I'm really optimistic it will be as delicious as it sounds!
Also, am I the only one who had to think of Game of Thrones? Reading the books atm and have the feeling I've read of Beef-and-Barley-Soup/Stew quite a few times...
I made this last week and it was delicious. We are lucky to know a farmer (we're in the midwest) who butchers a cow every year at a meat locker, and we buy a quarter of that cow. So, we get shank in our annual purchase and this is a beautiful use for it! I make a lot of recipes and should comment more because we like them all!
Matthiu -
I attempted this last night in my pressure cooker and can tell you it came out really well. I followed Chef John's ingredient amounts pretty faithfully except that I used 2 bay leaves and 1/2 tsp rosemary (as pressure cooking sometimes mutes spice).
I cooked the beef shanks for 25 minutes using a natural pressure release, then removed meat/added the barley and cooked for 16 minutes with a second natural pressure release.
The resulting product was more soup-like than stew-like so in future I will probably limit the liquid to 3 cups rather than 4 for this recipe. I also have a sneaking suspicion that I could have cooked the beef shanks for 10 minutes at pressure, quick released, then added the barley and cooked for the remaining 16 minutes all together without an issue, but that will require a second experiment and stew season is almost over.
Altogether a great recipe, Chef John! My hat's off to you, as always. Thank you for doing what you do. :)
Making this today. Chef John, over the last 2 years you have taught me cook. Your attitude and humor are an absolute blessing. Thank you. -Larry W
I just made this tonight, it was AMAZING! Had to go without the horseradish however since the store only sold a huge log of it for 6.00 a pound. Seemed a bit expensive for a garnish. It was good without it. The barley was sooo good, why don't I cook barley more often? Going to try the sherry braised short ribs tomorrow served with farro. Never made either before so we'll see how it goes. Thank you so much!! LOVE you recipes and videos.
Tried it and the meat in the soup turned out super tender and full of flavor!
Hey John,
In normal hulled barley the outer parts of the barley flower (pales) are ‘glued’ to the grain as it develops. In naked barley the gene that controls the production of the ‘glue’ is mutated and so the pales are only loosely wrapped around the grain, so they fall off easily.
I get absolutely giddy when I see a recipe using fresh horseradish root. I tried for about 3 years to buy some locally and finally said screw it, I'll grow my own. I ordered a root and a crown from Amazon of all places, and now have a beautiful patch in my flower beds. Now I have a recipe to use it in rather than just using it raw, which is technically what this recipe does. Haha! This looks like an amazing stew and I can't wait to try it. Thanks for all you do!
HOLY MACKEREL this was good! This was my first experience using beef shanks and I loved the flavor that the marrow lent to this, and the texture was almost impossibly tender! I brought some for lunch today and I can't wait until noon rolls around. This was the most delicious thing I've made all season and I'm telling everyone about your recipe, Chef John!
I decided to use my Instant Pot because I was pressed for time, and adapted it as follows (thanks to Jeanette Tucker's review, above): Increased the dried rosemary, cut back to 3 cups of broth. Put the barley in with the meat, locked the lid, and cooked at high pressure for 33 minutes, with a natural release. Otherwise, followed all of CJ's ingredient amounts and methods to a "T".
The barley was the perfect texture, and the meat just melted off the bones (so did the marrow!). Unbelievable! Don't even think about skipping the "snow" for the top, either, that was something really special!
Thank you for another great recipe, CJ! We love you!
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