Slow-cooked beef short ribs

Short ribs are the cut that convinces people this way of eating is sustainable. They are cheap because they are awkward, they are forgiving because they are fatty, and they taste like something that took more effort than it did.

What to buy

Beef short ribs, cut as a block of three or four bones, around 1.5kg. Ask the butcher to cut across the bone into 5cm pieces if they are not already; a supermarket pack is usually fine as it comes.

Beef shin works the same way and is often cheaper. So does ox cheek, which needs an extra half hour.

Look for fat that is firm and white rather than soft and yellow, and meat that is a deep red rather than brown at the edges.

The method

Salt the meat the night before if you can, and leave it uncovered in the fridge on a plate. A dry surface browns properly, and the salt has time to work through. An hour ahead is fine if you forgot.

Pat it dry. Heat a heavy ovenproof pot or a large frying pan over a high heat with two tablespoons of beef dripping, and brown the ribs on every side, in batches, without crowding. This takes ten to twelve minutes and cannot be rushed. Take them out as they are done.

Put the ribs back in the pot, bone side down, and add 150ml of water or bone broth. Not stock cubes, which are mostly salt and yeast extract. A tablespoon of butter on top of each piece.

Cover with a lid and put it in a 150°C fan oven for 2.5 hours, then take the lid off and give it another 30 minutes. If you are using a slow cooker, 7 hours on low with a lid on, then 20 minutes with the lid off and the setting on high.

They are done when a fork twists in the meat and the bone slides out clean. The internal temperature will be around 92 to 96°C, which is well past the point where the meat is safe and into the range where the collagen has turned to gelatine.

The sauce that is not a sauce

Pour the liquid from the pot into a jug and leave it for five minutes. The fat will rise. Spoon off two tablespoons of it, keep the rest for another day, and reduce the liquid in a pan over a high heat until it coats the back of a spoon. Whisk in a knob of cold butter off the heat, taste for salt, and pour it over.

That is a two-ingredient sauce that tastes like it took a day.

Serving

Two ribs per person with the sauce, and a fried egg on top if you want the meal to go further. Nothing else is needed.

Cold leftovers are excellent the next day, eaten with fingers, or shredded into eggs.

Food safety and keeping

Cool the leftovers within two hours of cooking and keep them in the fridge for up to three days, or freeze in portions for two months. Reheat until piping hot rather than warming through.

The cost of getting this right

Short ribs run somewhere between 8 and 12 pounds a kilo, which makes this the cheapest genuinely good meal on this site. One 1.5kg pack feeds two people twice, or two people once with leftovers for lunch.