These ale braised beef short rib sandwiches are mighty satisfying. The horseradish adds a nice bite and the crunch of pickled veggies completes the texture.
Ale-Braised Short Rib Sandwich with Horseradish & Pickled Vegetables
Print This Recipe Yield 4Source Adapted from ‘wichcraftPublishedmakes 4 sandwiches.
I used New Belgian ‘Fat Tire’ Brown Ale
Ingredients
- 2 cup white wine vinegar
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 3 whole star anise
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup fennel bulb, cored and sliced into thin slivers
- 1 cup carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
- 1 cup daikon radish peeled cut into matchsticks
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 6 3‑inch short ribs
- ½ carrot, roughly chopped
- ½ onion, roughly chopped
- 2 clove garlic, roughly chopped
- 2 cup brown ale
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly crushed black pepper
- 3 tablespoon prepared horseradish
- 1 baguette
- 4 pieces cheddar cheese thickly sliced, as needed
Directions
In a sauce pan combine vinegar, water, sugar, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, peppercorns, star anise, and salt. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and pour the liquid into a heat proof bowl. Add the fennel bulb, carrots and daikon radish. Stir to combine, let cool uncovered, about 2 hours. Once cool it may be refrigerated and kept in the refrigerator about 2 weeks.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Add the oil to a large cast iron or oven proof skillet set over medium heat. Add the short ribs, meaty side down and sear them well. Remove the meat from the skillet and set aside. Add the chopped carrot, onion and garlic to the same skillet and cook, stirring often until caramelized, about 5 minutes. Add the ale to the pan to deglaze. Place the meat back into the skillet and add the rosemary, salt and pepper. Cover the skillet and transfer to the oven to braise, about 2 ½ hours until fork tender and falling off the bone. Move the meat to a cutting board to cool slightly. Leave the oven on.
Skim the fat from the braising liquid then strain about 1 cup into a small bowl, discarding solids. If there is less than 1 cup add a bit a water. Add the horseradish to the bowl and whisk until well incorporated.
Cut the baguette crosswise into 4 equal pieces, and then slice each in half lengthwise to create tops and bottoms for the sandwiches. Remove some of the bread from the top half “canoe style” if it seems like there is too much bread. Place the tops and bottoms onto a baking sheet cut side up. Brush the bottom halves generously with the horseradish mixture.
Pull the meat from the bones and tear it into big chunks, discarding any connective tissue. Distribute the meat evenly over the four bottoms of the baguette. Place the cheese on top of the meat on all 4 sandwiches. Transfer the tray with the baguette bottoms and tops to the still hot oven. Remove the tray when the cheese begins to melt and the bread get a bit toasted. Brush more horseradish sauce on the tops of the baguettes. Top with the pickled vegetables. Close the sandwich and cut into halves. Serve warm.
Most bars in New Orleans use simple syrup rather than a sugar cube. Though the sugar cube is the recommended ingredient, in a need for speed (as you can see from my link to the picture of the number of sazeracs made at one time) in making this cocktail, they have substituted sugar water. The sugar cube provides a much different and better taste. The cocktail made by most bars in New Orleans (even the Sazerac bar at the Roosevelt Hotel where it all began, tastes different and in my opinion not as good as what you can create at home with the classic recipe.
Great post, and I loved the history of Sazerac and the ingredients. Hope all goes well, I’ve been trying to keep up with all your adventures via Twitter.
Makes me happy. Nothing I like more than going to dinner and saying, “let’s have a cocktail.” I don’t do this so much at home. But, then who drinks cocktails in the suburbs. Get my drift. (They drink merlot, get my further drift). When you do cocktail posts, I get happy and live vicariously through you.
I have long wanted to visit New Orleans — it is on my bucket list. Also have always wanted to try a Sazerac — I now have a recipe to make at home prior to visiting New Orleans. Have a great holiday weekend!! 🙂
These two drinks sound like the perfect way to start off the weekend! And now that I know all the ins and outs of their history, I’ll even have something to chat up a guy at the bar with. Score.
I’m such a lame adult, I haven’t had many cocktails.
Cheers to Gisele and her NOLA roots! And to you for the shout out and enlightening us on the history behind such a storied cocktail. I’d like to sip one of these on a steamy eve in the Big Easy along with some soulful jazz to get the true feeling…
NOLA drinks have been getting a lot of shout outs lately, but this one is definitely the next beverage on our “to drink list”
Cheers,
DIA
@Drinkinamerica
http://bit.ly/DrinkingInAmerica
sadly I live in the home of Angostura bitters so it’s impossible to find anything but that…still I am happy to be introduced to yet another great blog to fuel my by now out of control blog addiction.
That being said, the idea that it was the original ‘cocktail’ has LONG since been disproved.
I’ve definitely been wanting to get more into mixology lately and though I’ve never been a hardcore bitters fan, I always get excited when bars have an array of bitters to choose from. I don’t know that I’ve ever had a Sazerac, but now I definitely want to try one.
I know that all those numbers and curves, and pie charts, and spikes, mean a lot to all of us — we like when people read our posts, we like to be noticed, we like to step out of the anonymity. It is our human nature to revel and bask in the warmth of attention we get once in a while from strangers coming through the Internet.
But your post today is more beautiful than all the numbers in the world.
You show one more time that you are a kind and generous person, who knows how to be a friend, and who is not afraid of giving.
I have never tried Sazerac before (and I have been planning forever:), but the first time it ends up in front of me, I will think of you and Gisele.
The feeling is definitely mutual. I think you are an amazing cook, and am so pleased to call you my friend. Let’s meet in NOLA sometime and raise a Sazerac together.
Cheers!
G.
MMM there is nothing ‑NOTHING- like a perfect Sazerac from the source, on a hot sultry afternoon in the French Quarter.