
November 27, 2015
Fabulous Friday Flavours: Scrumptious Pulled Beef
People have told me that sometimes, cola is used with meat dishes to tenderise the meat particularly for beef brisket. And I thought I was the crazy one who thought of using Sprite, 7-Up or Cola when I was doing my Monthly Mystery Munchies #7 challenge earlier this month. Turned out, it’s legit! Ok – it’s on meat, not fish.
That then became my sole reason of why I ended up with a Pulled Beef Recipe. After scouring a lot of other meat recipes using Cola (indeed there are plenty!), I adapted from a trove of recipes that were tediously long. I did not have all the time in the world for all of that; I only wanted to see how my food would turn out with cola! So, shortened the process I did, eEspecially with the spices preparation. Also I used shanks instead of briskets. Lots and lots of shanks.
I’ve said it once and I’m saying it again that I am not a professional chef in any way. I experiment a lot with ingredients and processes to make something edible. And sometimes, when the stars are aligned, I managed something just a tad extra-ordinary and then I forget what went into all of that. With this, I remember it all, because what turned out surprised me.
My only mistake with making this dish was that I had forgotten to turn down the fire when I put the kids to bed…and almost burnt it! Goes without saying, right! Luckily, we managed to salvage it in time. The only thing I was unhappy with, thanks to me, was that the sauce was a little too dry. Otherwise, it tasted heavenly…the meat just feel apart and was nicely seasoned. I’m told that it’s definitely a dish worth repeating.
Here goes my first ever dish using Coca Cola! Yes. Really.


- 2 tbsp coriander powder
- 2 tbsp cumin seeds
- 2 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
- 1.5 tbsp black peppercorn
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1.5 tbsp smoked paprika powder
- 1 dried chipotle pepper
- 2kg beef shanks
- 2 cubes of beef stock cubes mixed in 400 ml of water
- 250 ml red vinegar
- 70g dark brown sugar
- 80ml cola
- 250ml tomato ketchup
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- Juices from the beef shanks
- 2 potatoes, peeled and wedged
- 1 carrot, peeled and cut in chunks
- Heat the oven to abot 160 degree celcius
- Using a spice grinder, grind all the dried spices together, including the chipotle pepper
- Once done, roast the powdered marinade over a small fire. be careful not to burn it. Set aside and let it cool
- Score the beef shanks and then rub the cooled, roasted powdered marinade all over the beef evenly.Wrap with a cling film and leave it in the fridge for about an hour.
- On an oven tray, place two long lengths of kitchen foil, one widthways and the other lengthways (forming a rather large “cross”). Place the marinated beef on top of the foil and pour over the beef stock all over the meat.
- Now fold the closest piece upwards and form a pleat where the ends meet above the meat. Then fold the other piece of foil upwards and crimp and fold to create a loose parcel that allows air to circulate around the meat, but make sure that it is sealed enough to prevent moisture from escaping.
- Roast for about 3-4 hours until the meat is tender. Remove from the oven and let it rest for 25 minutes. Keep all the juices.
- While the beef is roasting, to save time, heat up a large non-stick pan over high heat.
- Add in the vinegar and bring it to boil. Then slowly turn down the heat and reduce the volume by half.
- Add sugar, cola, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and juices from the beef together into the pan Mix well and add in the taters and carrots.
- Bring back to boil before turning it down to simmer for at least 30 minutes and make sure that the veg are softened. Add water if it gets dry.
- Add in the roasted beef into the sauce and with the ladle you are using to stir, use a fork to pull the pieces of meat apart. Mix well and add any remaining juices left in the foil
- Simmer and cook over low fire for another 20-25minutes. Watch that the sauce don't get too dry
- Turn off the heat and serve with whatever you like!
- Scrumptious little number! Who would have thought it would work so well with cola in it!
With whatever leftover we had, I thought it would be perfect to stuff into a pie. And I did just that!

The crust looks amazing!
Phyllo!! Always good! 😀
Thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things blog hop
Thanks for stopping by Betty! 🙂