Don’t wait for St. Patrick’s Day to try these Irish Whiskey Short Ribs!
These are so delicious it would be a shame to relegate them to 1 day a year!
You have about 20 minutes of preparation and then your ribs will braise away in the oven for a couple of hours leaving you to attend to other things! The depth of flavour here is amazing. The whiskey lends a savoury sweetness to the sauce.
Use the best quality beef broth you can. I don’t like using boullion cubes because they are too salty and the flavour can get funky if you need a large amount. If you follow me – you know that I am a HUGE fan of making home made broth and preserving or freezing it for recipes just such as this one! Failing that use a good quality beef stock or soup broth.
I love serving this over mashed potatoes to soak up all that lovely sauce. Regular mashed are great but if you are doing the St. Paddy’s thing you might want to make Champ Potatoes or Colcannon. (You won’t need that pool of butter in the Champe Potatoes if you are serving the ribs and sauce with them!)
Wine Pairing for Irish Whiskey Short Ribs
I would look for a medium bodied, low tannin red wine here. Think Cote du Rhone, Barbera or Merlot.
A rich Chardonnay would stand up here and an off-dry Riesling would also be an interesting pairing.
Irish Whiskey Short Ribs
Ingredients
- 3 lbs short ribs
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3 carrots chop in to large chunks
- 3 stalks celery chop in to large chunks
- 2 shallots chop in to large chunks
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 10 Tbsp Irish Whiskey divided 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsps
- 3 1/4 cups beef broth divided 3 cups + 1/4 cup
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Heat oil and butter in a large, oven proof dutch oven over medium high heat.
- Season ribs lightly with salt and pepper. Toss ribs and flour in a bag to coat.
- Sear ribs on all sides. About 10 minutes. Transfer ribs to a platter and set aside.
- Add the carrots, celery and shallots to the pot. Sautee about 10 minutes until they start to caramelize.
- Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes longer. Stir in tomato paste, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Cook for 2 minutes more.
- Deglaze the pot with 1/2 cup Irish whiskey scraping up an brown bits from the bottom. Allow whiskey to boil until reduced by half. Add the beef broth, salt and pepper.
- Return ribs and any juices to the pot and arrange so they are covered. Add the thyme, cover and cook in the oven 2 – 2 1/2 hours. Ribs should be tender but not 'fall off the bone'.
- Take the Dutch oven out of the oven and transfer ribs to a platter. Keep ribs warm. Strain liquid to remove vegetables, reserving the liquid. Remove as much fat as possible from the liquid.
- Add liquid, remaining beef stock and remaining Irish Whiskey in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil until you reach the consistency you want. (Alternatively dissolve 2 Tbsp corn starch in some of the hot liquid and stir the slurry in to the pot to thicken the sauce).
- Sample the sauce and adjust the salt and pepper to taste.
- Pour sauce back over ribs and serve over mashed potatoes or pasta.
Nutrition
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