Mead Braised Beef Short Ribs

A one-pot meal of slow cooked short ribs with dry mead in rosemary and thyme for. Serves 2-3.

Ingredients

  • 1kg short rib or brisket
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic chopped
  • 3 sticks of celery cut into chunky pieces
  • 4 medium peeled potatoes cut into chunks
  • 1 big carrot chopped
  • 8 brown mushrooms, halved
  • 1/2 bottle of dry mead (refrigerated overnight)
  • bunch of fresh rosemary
  • bunch of fresh thyme
  • 1 tsp dried sage
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 tbsp tarragon
  • salt and pepper

Directions

1. Sear the meat on all sides in 1tbsp butter/1tbsp oil in a large non stick sauce pan. Remove from pan.

Toss in onions, garlic, carrot, celery, mushrooms, potatoes and brown a bit on high heat – deglaze with some mead.

Put the vegetables in an overn-proof pot or casserole dish. Heat the pot first on the stove – add the meat and pour in the rest of the mead. Let it boil off the alcohol for a few minutes, adding about the same amount of water. The acidity of the mead should help the meat tenderize, and break down the fat.

Cook for 3 hours at medium.



This recipe uses Tasmanian Mead.

Mead is the oldest alcoholic beverage known to humankind, predating both beer and wine. Throughout history it has been reputed to prolong life, enhance fertility and bestow strength. The Greeks called mead the “nectar of the gods” and claimed it bestowed virility. In the Middle Ages the Anglo-Saxons were convinced it induced creativity. The word “medicine” is derived from the term for spiced meads – Metheglin.