THE CHEF FROM HELL

This is a mighty fine recipe that has journeyed with me from place to place.  I got it from my Mom years ago and, as is the usual story with family recipes, it has a tangled story of how it came to become part of our family food legacy.  The story goes like this:  sometime during the 1950's, my granma gave my mom a recipe for Tuscan soup (the only thing I remember about this soup is that it had tiny meatballs in it... whee!).  In 1966, while our family was stationed in Verdun, France (my dad being in the army n' all of that), my mom swaps the Tuscan soup recipe for a recipe for short ribs which came from another army housewife who used to live in Kentucky.  In 1987, my mom swaps me this short rib recipe for a crawfish recipe of mine.  Then in the early 90's, while putting together my Put Some South In Yer Mouth Cookbook, I tinker around with this short rib recipe, make a few changes in it and come up with a name for it--- Shorty's BLuegrass Ribs.  At some point in time, I'll probably swap this recipe for one my daughter has and this short ribs recipe will continue it's journey through time.  Whew!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Peach Preserves

1/4 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce (homemade or otherwise)

2 TBS Jack Daniels Whiskey

1/2 cup Beef Stock or Broth

Note:  For my stock recipe, go to Homestyle Beef Stock

5 lb Short Ribs

1 cup Corn Flour (if unavailable, substitute 3/4 cup White Flour & 1/4 cup fine Yellow Corn Meal)

2 large Carrots, peeled & diced

2 large Red Potatoes,, peeled & diced

Dry Spice Mix:

1/2 tsp Basil

1/2 tsp Thyme

1/4 tsp Cilantro

1/4 tsp Kosher Salt

1/8 tsp Ground Black Pepper

Cooking Procedure:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees

Combine all of the ingredients for the dry spice mix in a small bowl

Mix well & set this aside

Combine the peach preserves, bbq sauce, whiskey & beef stock in a food processor

Process this for 30 seconds & then set this peach bbq sauce aside

Combine the corn flour & the dry spice mix

Using your fingers, mix this together until completely blended

Dredge the short ribs in this seasoned flour & then place the ribs in a heavy roasting pan that's been lightly greased with olive oil

Place the ribs in the oven

Cook the ribs until they begin to brown slightly, about 20 minutes

Remove pan from oven & pour the peach bbq sauce over the top of the ribs

Cover the pan snugly with aluminum foil

Bake the ribs for 1 hour

Remove the pan from the oven once more

Scatter the diced carrots & potatoes around the ribs in the pan

Cover the pan once more with foil & return the pan to the oven

Bake the ribs for an additonal 30 minutes

When serving up the ribs,  spoon a generous amount of pan drippings, carrots & potatoes over each portion of ribs