On top of the stove, heat the dutch oven to medium, melt some tallow or lard and gently brown all side of the short ribs.

You may have to do this in sections until all the meat is browned. Hold the meat aside in a large bowl.

There should be plenty of fat in the pan — add all the vegetables except the garlic and saute until somewhat soft
At the end, for a minute or two, add the garlic and let it warm up.

Add the meat back in on top of the vegetables. Add the beef stock, the water and the bay leaf and any other herbs you may like.

Cover the dutch oven and put inside the stove at 325 degrees F for 3 — 4 hours. Remove from oven and eat immediately or refrigerate for the next day.

Instructions for the gravy: Remove all the meat from the dutch oven. Put a strainer over a large pot.

Pour the gravy into the pot through the strainer.

Take about half the vegetables (I usually pick out the pepper corns and the celery and discard them) and put back in the pot.

Using an immersion blender, blend the vegetables with the liquid gravy. This will thicken the gravy without using any starches or flours and it tastes great.

Put the vegetables that you saved, back into the gravy.

You now have a thick and savory gravy with vegetable pieces (you may want to add salt to the gravy or at the table).

When refrigerated, this gravy will gel due to all the collagen and gelatin in the bones and the meat