Several years ago, when my husband and I were still dating, I bought some beef ribs. I hadn't ever made beef ribs but I knew they were best when marinated. We had recently bought a bottle of mead, which if you don't know, is booze made with fermented honey. It was really popular in Beowulf. Anyway, I thought the honey would be good with the ribs so I put six ribs and about two cups of mead in a Ziploc bag and threw it in the refrigerator.
Then I forgot about them for three days...
When I found them, I was like "Well, the longer it's marinated the better, right?" Totally, because that's how marinating works. I threw them in the oven and roasted for I don't remember how long, made a couple of sides, and served dinner.
We took one bite and drove to Burger King to get some not disgusting food. That was my experience with marinating beef in booze so I had some reservations about this one.
The ingredients
1 4 lbs beef round. Mine was 2 lbs.
2 quarts beer. The recipe didn't state what kind of beer and the only beer we had in the house was super hoppy so I went out and bought some tall boys of the National Beer of Texas. I also halved all the ingredients since my roast was half the recommended size.
2 cups cider vinegar.
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp whole peppercorns. I thought I'd be able to remove the top from my pepper grinder to pull out the peppercorns but I couldn't so I just used A LOT of ground pepper.
1/2 tsp ground or 1 tsp whole allspice
1 1/2 inch piece of ginger root or 1/2 tsp ground ginger. I used fresh ginger and minced it.
1 1/2 inch piece fresh horseradish or 2 tsps bottled horseradish
12 juniper berries, crushed. I thought I might have some trouble finding juniper berries so I looked up alternatives. You can use 1 tsp of gin for every 2 berries, 1 rosemary sprig for every 4 berries, or a single crushed bay leaf for every 6 berries. We had some gin so I used that. Also, now that I don't need the damn things, I see them everywhere. Just yesterday I saw three flippin' juniper trees WITH BERRIES and in the past week I've found juniper berries at two different grocery stores.
Trim beef of excess fat. Combine all the ingredients. Place the meat in a deep bowl, do not use an aluminum bowl, and pour the marinade over the meat. Let stand in the refrigerator for FIVE DAYS. Rinse, dry, and pot-roast in the usual manner. I roasted it in my Dutch Oven at 325 for an hour and a half.
I also made a Turnip Casserole. I had some cauliflower left over from the soup so I added that in as well. We invited some friends over for dinner so I also sauteed some green beans and carrots in like a pound of butter. Paula Deen would be so proud.
So the pot roast was sour BUT it was a billion times better than the mead-ribs. One of our friends suggested making a gravy with it next time and I agree, it would have been better with a gravy. The turnip casserole was amazing! I think it would be a great alternative to mashed potatoes and will save it for Thanksgiving. They were pretty sweet and made the turnip super interesting. Bet that hasn't ever been said about a turnip.
I'm glad Finnish week is over. The soup and fish stood out as my favorites but the rest, with the exception of the liver, didn't leave much of an impression on me. I'm sure there are much more flavorful and more "Finnish" recipes out there but I'll have to save them for another time.
This week we are eating Nepali food. Total 180. I'm excited!
I think Lars tried jumping out the window when he sniffed the Mead ribs.
ReplyDeleteThat looks tasty!
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