Short rib ragu with black peppercorns from Six Seasons of Pasta: A New Way with Everyone's Favorite Food (page 90) by Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg

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Always check the publication for a full list of ingredients. An Eat Your Books index lists the main ingredients and does not include 'store-cupboard ingredients' (salt, pepper, oil, flour, etc.) - unless called for in significant quantity.

Notes about this recipe

  • Eat Your Books

    Salted beef rests at least 2 hours.

  • Lottabooks on March 22, 2026

    Made with recommended rotini; used the technique for saucing (p. 64) and the parm-romano cheese mix (p. 39) - great technique using mini-food processor. For the browning stage, the short ribs barely fit in the 7-1/2 quart Le Creuset Dutch oven. COOKING TIME: Salted overnight. Although the simmering time was supposed to be 2-4 hours, mine took five. I continued to take small pieces out and they were stringy and tough until I hit the 5 hour mark. Started the dish at noon, finished at 7:30. Definitely something you want to make a day or so in advance. This was really delicious although 16 oz. pasta for four light eaters was WAY too much - suggest 1/2 that much. Followed the saucing instructions and it worked very well (including cooking time for the pasta). For the final stage, I used a large Le Creuset braising pan, had the pasta water next to it on the stove to add ladles per the recipe, then served it in that pan with sprinkled cheese on individual servings. Served with What Goes With What Italian Salad and roasted carrots.

  • SheilaS on January 28, 2026

    This recipe calls for 2 Tbsp of black peppercorns for a 5 cup batch and that seems very pleasant to me. I might add some additional cracked peppercorns next time. The peppercorns are softened during the long cook but still give a nice little tongue-tingling pop when you bite into them. The header notes recommend a curled shape like gemelli or rotini to capture the short rib bits. I chose the reginette (little queens) shape. I’m looking forward to trying this on polenta.

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