The next superstorm would be the ideal time to serve up this lovely bowl of traditional beef and barley soup. There is no better stew to make your ribs cling together than shank. There is so much connective tissue that produces gelatin that it provides a delicious sauce for your meat and grain.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 3 hrs 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 50 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- 2 thick slices beef shank
- kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 cups chicken broth, or more as needed
- ⅔ cup diced celery
- ⅔ cup diced carrots
- ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ cup pearl barley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated raw horseradish, or to taste
Instructions
- Season beef all over with kosher salt and black pepper.
- Heat oil in a large pot over high heat. Cook beef in hot oil until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer beef to a plate; set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium and stir onion into the same pot with a pinch of salt. Cook and stir until onion is soft and translucent, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic; cook and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomato paste; cook and stir until tomato paste is brick red, 2 to 3 minutes. Pour in broth. Add celery, carrots, rosemary, and bay leaf.
- Return beef with any accumulated juices to the pot; push beef down to cover with cooking liquid. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low. Cover the pot and cook until beef is fork tender, 2 to 3 hours.
- Remove beef to a large bowl. Pour barley into cooking liquid in the pot; bring to a simmer and cook until barley is tender, about 45 minutes.
- Return beef to the pot. Cover the pot and cook until heated through, about 10 minutes. Season with salt. Ladle stew into bowls and garnish with parsley and horseradish.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 339 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 27 g |
| Cholesterol | 57 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Protein | 25 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 1200 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 14 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Awesome! This is a game changer. I followed this recipe almost to the T. However, since I enjoy the compliment that tomatoes can add to many stews, I used the entire 4 oz container of Tomato Paste to produce a thicker body and I doubled the carrot . Initially I questioned the chicken broth at first. Bah! It works works just fine. Important to follow the barley preparation. Enjoy with fresh baked corn bread.
WOW! I’ve made this before but it gets better every time! Loved it! Thank you Chef John!
Used guiness instead broth and doubled the meat and veggies. Probably used 3/4 cup barley. It’s quite good.
Absolutely love this recipe! We don’t change a thing, thank you Chef John! Perfect for a cold, rainy fall day.
I made this soup with leftover prime rib and added a few more ingredients to add more flavor. Prime rib au jus, Worcestershire, and beef better than bouillon. It was amazing!
I wouldn’t change a thing about this because it was the Awesome!!
One word….outstanding!! It will be a weekly menu item during winter months.
So delicious! I made it the day before eating so the flavors had time to grow and added extra barley which soaked up a lot of the liquid. My family wants me to make it again. It’s a win and so easy!
Excellent! One rater thought this was bland. It’s probably because they did not season the beef or the barley enough.
This was great! My husband kept saying “You have outdone yourself!” High praise from a man who usually mumbles “Fine” when I ask how he likes a meal. (BTW, I am not a bad cook…). I was lucky enough to find a bit more shank than was called for, so mine was a little extra meaty. Added lots of broth to get it to the viscosity my family likes. Just had some leftovers for lunch, even better after sitting in the fridge!! Thanks again, Chef John, you have become my go-to when I am looking to tip the scales a little higher.
I made this and my family loved it (2 teenage boys and my husband). It was very filling snd hearty. I made a few changes that worked great: I doubled the recipe, added Worcester sauce (I added about 6-8 hard shakes) to the broth, mixed half part beef broth and half part chicken broth, and used beef chuck (I cubed it into very small pieces). I cooked it on low for 2 hours and the meat was tender. I didn’t remove the beef when I added the barley. I turned the heat up to medium to get a slow simmer and then cooked it on low for 45 minutes. The barley was soft with a little chew. Mine was a stew consistency. I grated fresh horseradish on top and it added a nice flavor that cut through the rich flavor to balance it.
OMG, this was so delicious!! With your instructions, this came out perfect. I like the fact that I used the beef shank the bone marrow gives it so much flavor! No more canned soup for me. Thank you Chef John for your recipe and help. I added more broth to cover the beef shank, that didn’t matter, it still came out delicious!
It was easy to make and super yummy. It was very hearty as well.
Good recipe! I learned some things with this instruction that I will carry forward into some other recipes and that’s the best part! The finished soup was hearty and deeeelish!
Excellent, I would make it again
Absolutely delicious. I added an extra bay leaf and tripled the rosemary. No stores in my area had beef shanks, so I used a chuck roast instead. Followed all initial braising and sautéing instructions, then put everything (minus barley) into an Instant Pot for 25 minutes on high, natural release. Removed the meat, (which came out perfectly fork-tender!) added the pearl barley, and pressure cooked on high for 20 minutes, quick release. Added the meat back and let everything sit on Keep Warm until it was time to eat. Perfect recipe for couples – this provided both of us dinner for two nights, and the servings were large!
I made this on Sunday afternoon, with the desire to have some for work on Monday….. well that didn’t work. my family could not stop eating it. I did add sliced Portobello mushrooms, it was GREAT and now it’s gone.
Easy to make and delicious!
Excellent stew. I used 4 cups of chicken broth and that made a nice stew. Next time, I’ll use 5 or 6 cups of chicken broth for a more soupy texture.
Very good! I’ve made this twice now – once with venison and once with beef. Both times it was a smashing success. I used a flank with the venison and cut pieces with the beef and it worked well. It seems like a lot of fluid but it evaporates and the barely soaks quite a bit of it up. The only thing is that I would maybe double the carrots and add another vegetable. I found that it wasn’t quite enough for me. But my husband didn’t complain!
My family liked it.