A slow brown makes for a better flavor....not burned but just browned. The secret is to keep the heat high enough so the juice doesn't ooze out and simmer the meat....but not so hot that it burns even a little bit.
I take easily 45 minutes to brown a pot roast....on 6 sides. makes for lovely brown gravy!!
Have patience!!
Linda c

Pat the meat dry with paper towels first. ANY water on the surface will cause the meat to steam (turning gray) rather than brown, and all those yummy Maillard reactions won't occur. The Maillard reaction, simplified, is amino acids + carbs + heat, makes things tasty, from toasts to roasts to why Guinness has a slight coffee-like bitterness. (They roast unmalted barley and add it to the mix.)

You might also up the heat to high and just watch it a little more carefully, pulling the meat out as soon as it starts to brown.

From my experiences, enameled cast iron and non stick have slight differences when browning. In enameled cast iron, (and I have 7 dutch ovens from seven manufacturers) the fond sticks to the pan and not the meat. Eventually the meat browns but it takes awhile and the heat must be carefully monitored so the fond stuck to the pan doesn't burn.
In a non stick pan, the food itself develops the fond and nothing (or little) is on the pan. The heat may be turned up higher and the food will brown much quicker.

Of course, these two differing methods have positives and negatives!

With cast iron: after browning and deglazing, the pot can be put in the oven. Generally the pot is aesthetically pleasing (for later serving if desired and for the cook!) and will probably last a long time. Downside, it takes more time to brown the meat and it can be hard to judge when it's brown enough.

Non Stick: All (or most, for older non sticks) of the fond sticks to the meat. Overall browning time is shorter and it's easier to gauge when the meat (or onions, etc.) is brown enough.
Downside: usually not aesthetically pleasing pot, non stick pans have legitimate heath concerns, and the non stick will release poisonous gases for birds ( although I don't want to be around those gases either!), relatively short lifespan.

I don't use my non-stick pans over heat high enough to brown much of anything but eggs. And I have no trouble with the fond sticking to the pan with a enamel cast iron. Do you dredge your roast with flour? Perhaps that's why.
Any "stuff" that may stick to an iron pot will cook out when you add the liquid and put it into the oven...making that wonderful gravy!

No, all meat and onions, etc. are unadorned and I didn't say high heat either. I think there are pros and cons to both types of cookware.

What arley said.

Jim

"-------When I brown meat for braising, I like the outside to have a seared look to it, not just brown. That is how it is supposed to be, right?---"

That's a personal preference.

To get a seared look (that's the way I like it too), just because the oil is smoking hot is not going to do it, you need:

1. A pan that has a lot of weight to retain a lot of heat, such as a cast iron pan or a thick clad frying pan.
2. A metal pan that can conduct heat fast ( clad pan) so that the pan can recover heat fast.
3. A stove fire that is very hot to keep the pan very hot.
4. Shut off your kitchen smoke detector.

You should be able to sear beef each side in less than two minutes. Once juice starts to come out of the meat, you have lost the battle. Your stove cannot keep up with the lost of heat due to vaporization.

Here is a way that might help if you don't have a stove that has hot enough burners. Use two frying pans, alternate between the two.

dcarch

And be sure that your meat is not just dry, but also at room temp, not just immediately out of the fridge.

LeCrueset is good, heavy enough to store a lot of heat. I wouldn't use medium, as I like to get my meat seared as quickly as possible, before the interior cooks. Although this habit may not matter for short ribs, it's a . . . habit.

So: heat dry pan on highest flame for at least 5 minutes, add 1 or 2 tbsp oil, keep heating until oil smokes, add a couple pieces of meat that you've patted dry with paper towels, leave an inch between pieces, go read CF or prep other food for 2 minutes, come back and check browning, go read CF some more if needed. Do your meat in batches, heat stays on high, if the kitchen gets smoky and the canaries die, that's a good sign.

(I may just be kidding about the last part, as I haven't any, though the cats wish I did.)

It isn't difficult to sear meat in any pan. The secret as mentioned first by Arley is that the meat has to be dry and the pan has to be hot. I heat the pan first before adding the oil. Also, it is very important to do just a few pieces at a time. Crowding will cause the meat to sweat rather than brown. Although I brown meat in dutch ovens, I do find that a shallow pan is better for browning. My favourite skillet and my favourite Dutch Oven are both vintage Griswold Cast Iron. Like Linda, I don't have the problem that Bumblebeezed mentioned having.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Based on what you told me, I think my problem is two fold. The first is that I do not dry my meat unless it looks very wet. This meat was not obviously wet but I am sure there was moisture on the surface.

And two, I see a lot of what bumblebeez was describing re: the enameled cast iron. I've always thought that when the meat is properly brown it will release from the pan easily, but with the LeCreuset it always seems to need some coaxing, even when it is obviously ready.

Drying the meat before browning is easy enough, but using something besides my LeCreuset is a challenge. I really hate the idea of dirtying another pan just to brown the meat.

Nicole

This thread got me to thinking about all the problems I have getting meat to brown.

Today, I had a large pork roast that I had purchased out of the quick sale meat bin. It was one of those premarinated (4% marinade) ones that I ordinarily wouldn't buy except for it being reduced $5.

Problems in the past was getting the pan to recover heat fast enough to evaporate the liquids very quickly so the browning could start to happen.

So, today I grabbed the big carbon steel wok--cranked the burner up to high and let the pan get realllly hot. Splashed in some oil which immediately began to smoke and plopped the big (7 lbs.) roast, wet and cold out of the refrig into the wok. Kept the burner on high.

And, whadda ya' know but that roast browned beautifully and did it lickity split. I think maybe the secret is having a thinner pan that, although it cools quickly, it regains heat just a fast??

The house is a tad smokey but smelling yum w/ the aroma of browned meat... the new range hood is across the room waiting for the range top to get installed. Having a range hood is a wonderful thing even if you don't have a cooker underneath it. Came in handy earlier today to help extract the fumes from subfloor adhesive. (Yay, I have some new plywood floors!)

Anyway, I thought I'd pass this along in case someone else wants to try it. Please report back w/ the results if you try it.

ci

Also be sure that the meat has space around each piece. Do not crowd your short ribs for browning.

Have you thought about browning with a blow torch? ;-)
That's what they did in the article originally linked by johnliu (see below). If I remember correctly, the text of the article mentioned also using the small torches used to caramelize the sugar on top of creme brulee.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sorcerer's Apprentice Hosts a Dinner

That article was interesting! The sous vide technique using plastic bags intrigues me and I need to read the linked article when I have more leisure time.
But I've been using partially frozen steaks for decades to get a great steak and no one has ever seemed remotely piqued.