The old-fashioned soup that starts with bones and ends with seconds

Before stock came in cartons, soup started like this: meat and bones into the big pot, water over the top, and the stove barely ticking over all afternoon. The rib rack does double duty here — the bones build a broth with real body while the meat turns silky, then gets shredded back through the pot with the barley and winter vegetables. It's the kind of soup that makes the whole house smell like someone's looking after you. With buttered bread, it's not a starter — it's dinner.

3 hrs 15 mins 6 servings Prep 15 minsCook 3 hrsSoupAustralian

Ingredients

  • 1.2kg Your Farmer grass-fed beef ribs (one rack), cut between the bones into individual ribs
  • 2 litres water
  • 500ml beef stock
  • 1 brown onion, diced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 2 sticks celery, sliced
  • 300g swede or parsnip, peeled and diced
  • 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 100g (1/2 cup) pearl barley, rinsed
  • 2 tbsp chopped parsley
  • Salt and pepper to season

Instructions

Put the ribs in your biggest pot with the water, stock, onion and bay leaves.

1.2kg beef ribs2L water500ml beef stock2 bay leaves

Bring it slowly to a bare simmer and skim off the foam that rises in the first 15 minutes — that's the difference between a cloudy pot and a clear one.

Simmer very gently, partly covered, for 2 hours. The bones are building your broth; there's nothing for you to do but the odd skim.

Add the carrots, celery, swede, potatoes and barley and simmer for another 45 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and the barley is plump.

2 carrots2 sticks celery300g swede100g pearl barley

Lift out the ribs, shred the meat off the bones with two forks and discard the bones. Skim any fat from the surface.

Return the meat to the pot, season generously — a big pot takes more salt than you think — and stir through the parsley.

2 tbsp parsley

Ladle into deep bowls and serve steaming, with buttered bread.

Appears in

Pack B & Pack D shares — Ribs (~1.2kg)

Your Farmer CSA grass-fed beef share — vacuum-sealed steaks, roasts, mince and sausages, paddock-to-plate NSW & ACT delivery
CSA Grass Fed Beef Share
From $176.67

Why Soup Loves a Bone-In Cut

A stock cube can make water taste beefy. It cannot give a soup body — that takes bones. As the ribs simmer, the bones and connective tissue release gelatine into the broth, and gelatine is what makes a spoonful feel rich and rounded rather than thin and salty. The rib rack is the perfect soup engine because it does two jobs at once: the bones make the broth while the meat cooks silky in it, ready to shred back through the pot. Your Farmer® beef ribs come as a rack of about 1.2kg in Pack B and Pack D beef shares, and this soup is the strongest argument going that ribs have a life well beyond the barbecue.

Swaps and Variations

Any winter root works — pumpkin, turnip, extra carrot, whatever the crisper offers. Risoni or small pasta can stand in for barley; add it for just the last 15 minutes. A can of crushed tomatoes with the vegetables takes the pot in a redder, minestrone-ish direction, and a parmesan rind dropped in for the simmer is an old trick worth stealing. If broth-building gets its hooks into you, grass-fed beef bones take the same idea further — and our guide to every beef cut shows where the rest of the pack shines.

Storage and Leftovers

Like most soups with bones in their history, it's better on day two. Keep it airtight in the fridge for 3 to 4 days — if it sets to a soft jelly when cold, that's the gelatine, and it's a sign you did everything right. The barley keeps drinking as it sits, so loosen with water when reheating. Freeze for up to 3 months in dinner or lunch-sized portions. Leftover move: simmer a bowlful down until thick and spoon it over a baked potato.

The rack that starts the whole pot arrives with Pack B and Pack D deliveries of the grass-fed beef CSA share — winter soup, sorted at the source.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my broth look cloudy?

Almost always because it boiled instead of simmered. Keep it at a bare murmur and skim early. A cloudy pot still tastes grand — it's a looks thing, not a flavour thing.

Can I make it in a slow cooker?

Yes. Ribs, water, stock, onion and bay on LOW for 8 hours, then add the vegetables and barley on HIGH for the last 1 to 1.5 hours before shredding the meat back through.

How much meat will the rack give the pot?

Roughly 500 to 600g once shredded — plenty across six bowls, with the broth doing the rest of the heavy lifting.

Can I freeze it?

Yes, for up to 3 months. The barley comes back a little softer and the soup thicker — just loosen it with water as it reheats.

0 commentson Hearty Beef Rib and Winter Vegetable Soup

Three Simple Steps

A whole table of real food.

Your Farmers grow grass-fed beef and lamb, pastured eggs and the best eco-grown veggies and produce — every item grown to the same ecological standard, every farmer one you can know by name. One subscription, your whole real-food shop.

01

Reserve your share — or try a pack

Subscribe to a share of the harvest, or start with a one-off fixed pack.

02

Make it your own

Pick your delivery rhythm and what's in the box. Skip or cancel anytime — no lock-in.

03

Cook, savour, know your farmer

We deliver in a reusable esky we collect next time. No couriers, no waste.

5.0
Vendor:Savill Family Pastoral

CSA Grass Fed Beef Share

Price$176.67
Vendor:Savill Family Pastoral

CSA Pastured Lamb Share

Price$183.33
Vendor:Savill Family Pastoral

Grass-Fed Steak Box

Price$158.89
Vendor:Savill Family Pastoral

Grass-Fed Mince, Sausage and Diced Beef Pack

Price$264.44
Vendor:Savill Family Pastoral

Grass-Fed Beef and Lamb BBQ Box

Price$286.67
Vendor:Savill Family Pastoral

Pastured Lamb Roast and Slow-Cook Box

Price$155.56
Vendor:Savill Family Pastoral

Quarter, Half or Whole Cow: Grass-Fed Beef, Cut Your Way

Price$1,145.00
Vendor:Savill Family Pastoral

Whole Pastured Lamb, Cut Your Way

Price$525.00

More Recipes

View all

Tomato and rosemary braised grass-fed lamb shank served over soft parmesan polenta.

Tomato and Rosemary Braised Lamb Shanks with Soft Polenta

Osso buco's lamb cousin, with soft polenta doing the catching

The Milanese figured out long ago that a shin braised on the bone in tomato makes a sauce nothing else can — the marrow sees to that. This is the same idea run through the lamb paddock: shanks browned hard, then braised low with tomato, white wine and rosemary until the meat leans off the bone, all of it served over a pool of soft, buttery parmesan polenta whose entire purpose in life is catching sauce. It's a Sunday sort of pot that happily cooks on a Tuesday, and the polenta takes less minding than most people fear.

Read moreabout Tomato and Rosemary Braised Lamb Shanks with Soft Polenta

Slow-roasted grass-fed lamb pulled into tender shreds in its pan juices in an enamel roasting dish.

Slow-Roasted Lamb with Pan Juices, the Low and Slow Way

The roast that cannot be overcooked — give it half a day and it gives up entirely

Most roast anxiety comes from a five-minute window: pull it too early, it's raw; too late, it's leather. This method deletes the window. You give the lamb a hard blast of colour, then drop the oven right down and walk away for the better part of an afternoon. Somewhere in hour three the meat stops resisting altogether — a spoon will do the carving. There's no thermometer stress, no window to miss, and the pan underneath quietly builds the best juices you'll pour all winter. Patience, rewarded.

Read moreabout Slow-Roasted Lamb with Pan Juices, the Low and Slow Way

Twice-cooked grass-fed lamb ribs, braised until tender then charred and glazed, stacked on a stoneware platter.

Twice-Cooked Lamb Ribs: Braise, Then Char

The restaurant trick: do the hard part yesterday, take the applause tonight

Ever wondered how a restaurant sends out perfect sticky ribs eight minutes after you order them? They cooked the ribs yesterday. The racks get braised in stock and aromatics until tender, then cooled in their own liquid — where they firm up, drink back flavour, and wait as long as you need. Come dinner time, all that's left is a hot grill pan, a honey glaze made from the braising liquid, and about ten minutes of theatre. It's the most reliable rib method there is, and the only one where the night-of cooking fits between guests arriving and the first drink being finished.

Read moreabout Twice-Cooked Lamb Ribs: Braise, Then Char