BOURBON AND COKE RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F. Sprinkle both sides of brisket with 1 tablespoon of the salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the pepper. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high. Add brisket, and cook until deeply browned, 5 to 6 minutes on each side. Transfer brisket to a plate.
• Stir together balsamic vinegar ketchup, cola, chicken broth, onion soup mix, and herbes de Provence in a large bowl. Pour slowly into Dutch oven, and stir and scrape to loosen browned bits from bottom of Dutch oven. Return brisket and any juices to Dutch oven. Bring to a boil over medium-high, and cover with foil followed by a tight-fitting lid. Transfer Dutch oven to preheated oven.
• Bake 2 hours. Turn brisket over. Tuck in carrots and parsnips, and sprinkle onion into liquid around edge of brisket. Replace foil and lid, and continue baking until brisket is fork tender, about 1 hour.
• Use a slotted spoon to transfer brisket, carrots, and parsnips to a serving platter. Cover with foil to keep warm. Puree cooking liquid in Dutch oven with an immersion blender to make gravy. Simmer gravy over medium until heated through. Stir in bourbon, and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
• Slice brisket. Spoon some of the hot gravy over brisket and vegetables, and sprinkle with thyme. Serve remaining gravy in serving dish on table.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Season the short ribs with salt and pepper. In a heavy oven-proof dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat and sear each side of the short ribs until they a a nice caramelized brown, about 3 minutes per side. Remove from the dutch oven and set aside.
• In the same dutch oven (do not clean out), add onions, carrots and celery over medium heat and sauté until tender, scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in garlic and sauté another minute. Add bourbon and deglaze pan, making sure to incorporate any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add Coke, bay leaves and beef stock and stir well, cooking until it starts to bubble.
• Lay the seared short ribs on top of the vegetables and cover the dutch oven. Place in oven and cook for about 3-4 hours, until the short ribs are very tender and fall off the bone (I do mine in 3 hours and they’re quite tender). If there is a lot of fat on top, use a baster to remove excess fat. If there is too much liquid, place on range over medium-medium high and reduce liquid. When it's reduced, season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with mashed potatoes.