Colm O'Gorman: These cola-braised short ribs are the real thing

"The cola adds a lovely caramel, light sweetness which works wonderfully with the richness of the red wine sauce."

I am often asked where I get my inspiration for recipes, and the answer really is everywhere. 

Some recipes are the result of a dish I have tasted and loved when travelling, some are inspired by ingredients I spot in the shops, or by whatever I happen to have in the fridge when I go to cook dinner at the end of the day. 

Others are the result of whatever my latest food obsession might be — for example, I became more than a little obsessed with Korean food during the covid lockdowns and I came up with lots of new recipes as a result.

This week’s recipe is inspired not by any of the above but by a TV show. 

If you are as big a fan of The Bear as I am, you likely got that as soon as you saw the name of the dish. 

In the first season, one of the central characters, Sydney, spends ages perfecting this dish, and as I watched, I knew I had to try it. 

This is essentially a classic red wine and stock braised beef dish, but with the addition of cola. 

The cola adds a lovely caramel, light sweetness which works wonderfully with the richness of the red wine sauce. 

Use regular cola and not diet or zero-sugar varieties. You need the sugar for this recipe, and I do not think that artificial sweeteners would work at all well in this dish.

As the ribs need anything from three to three and a half hours in the oven, this dish does take some time to cook, but they need little to no attention during that time so you can just leave them there to cook as you get on with your day.

On The Bear, Sydney served her ribs on a bed of risotto, but I serve mine on a bed of creamy mashed potato with some green vegetables on the side. Some steamed tenderstem broccoli tossed in a little butter and fresh black pepper would be perfect.

Cola-Braised Short Ribs

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

The classic, red-wine-braised ribs - with a fizzy twist.

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 30 mins

Cooking Time

 3 hours 30 mins

Total Time

 4 hours 0 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Korean

Ingredients

• 2 kg beef short ribs

• 3 carrots

• 3 stalks celery

• 2 onions

• 5 cloves garlic

• salt and pepper

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• 2 tbsp tomato purée

• 500ml beef stock

• 500ml red wine

• 500ml regular cola

• Sprig of fresh rosemary

• 3 sprigs fresh thyme

• 3 bay leaves

• 20g butter

• 2 tsp balsamic vinegar

• To Serve:

• Creamy mashed potato

• A little roughly chopped flat leaf parsley.

Method

1. Allow the short ribs to sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before you start to cook them. In the meantime, prep the vegetables for the braise. Scrub the carrots, wash the celery, and chop both into two-centimetre chunks. Peel and chop the onions and the garlic.

2. Heat a large heavy based frying pan over a high heat. Season the ribs with some salt and black pepper. Add the olive oil to the pan and sear the ribs all over. Simply cook them for a minute or two on each side to brown the meat all over before removing them from the pan.

3. Reduce the heat to medium and add the chopped onions, carrots, and celery to the pan. Sauté the vegetables for five minutes until they start to soften slightly. Now add the garlic and tomato purée. Stir those in, coating all the vegetables with the tomato purée. Cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to low if the tomato purée and vegetables start to stick to the base of the pan.

4. Add 500ml of red wine to the pan. Bring the wine to a boil, before reducing the heat to medium. Simmer for three to four minutes, stirring occasionally, until the wine reduces just a little.

5. Transfer the contents of the pan to a large casserole dish such as a Dutch oven and pop that on the hob over a high heat. Add the beef stock and the cola. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a medium heat. Tie the rosemary and thyme together in a little bit of kitchen string, this will make it easier to fish them out when the ribs are cooked. Pop the tied herbs and the bay leaves into the casserole dish and add the short ribs. Just settle the ribs down into the braising liquid so that they are almost submerged. Cover the pan and pop it into the oven for 3-3.5 hours; the amount of time needed will somewhat depend upon the size of the short ribs you are using.

6. Check after three hours. The ribs are done when the meat is very tender and falling away from the bone. If they are not quite done, give them another thirty minutes.

7. When the ribs are ready, remove the dish from the oven and take the ribs out of the pan. Place them on a tray and cover with some foil. Use a turkey baster or a spoon to remove that layer of fat from the top of the braising liquid and discard it. Remove and discard the herbs. Blitz the braising liquid into a smooth sauce using a stick blender and pop it back on the hob over a medium heat. Cook for five to ten minutes until the sauce is smooth and quite thick. Add a generous knob of butter, about 20g is perfect, and two teaspoons of balsamic vinegar. Stir until the butter is incorporated into the sauce. Taste and season with a little more salt and pepper if required.

8. Finally, place the cooked short ribs back into the pan, pop on the lid and simmer for a few minutes to warm them through.

9. When you are ready to serve, place a generous dollop of creamy mashed potato onto a warm dinner plate, add a portion of short rib and spoon over lots of the sauce. Garnish with some freshly chopped flat leaf parsley and serve immediately.