Week 5: Beer/Wine/Liquor - Slow-Cooked Bourbon Shredded Beef

This week's theme is cooking with alcohol. Generally, alcohol comes into the kitchen in the form of deglazing a pan or creating a sauce. I wanted to make something where the alcohol contributed more to the flavor. I also wanted to use whiskey. After scouring the internet for something that wasn't a desert and used whiskey in a way that contributed to the food's flavor, I decided on Slow-Cooked Bourbon Shredded Beef.

Makers, meet beef. Beef, meet Makers.

One for the beef, and one for me. Mmmm.

 I used a much smaller roast, about half the size the recipe called for. I did adjust the amount of braising liquid down a little, but not in half. I also substituted some quality beer for the beef broth.

Browning the roast.

Used the crock pot for this one. I don't pull it out as often as I should.

 I thought that the recipe was lacking in some ingredients that I would include in a barbeque sauce, so I added about 1.5 tsp ground mustard, 2 tsp hot paprika, and 2 tbsp honey. As the recipe calls for, you place the onions on the bottom to prop up the roast. This helps create some "bark" on the outside.

After several hours, shredding the meat is easy.

 After removing the beef from the crock pot, I removed the onions from the cooking liquid and reserved them. I then defatted the cooking liquid. I took that liquid and put in in a small sauce pan with some additional honey and about 1/8 c of prepared barbeque sauce. I brought this to a boil and then simmered until the liquid had thickened, about 15-20 minutes. I then mixed this sauce with the shredded beef, adding salt as needed.

Toasted bun, topped with bourbon beef, Swiss cheese, and bourbon onions.

My ever-ready taste tester thought that the unsauced beef was good, but that the flavor of the bourbon wasn't extremely powerful unless you had an outside piece. Once the sauce was on, though, it was great! I will add this to the recipe box, especially for a game day dish.

The Super Bowl kickoff is tonight at 6:29 PM EST.  I will be rooting loud for the NY Giants. I hope that you all enjoy the game! Go Big Blue!

Recipe is available from the source.