You know those berries and fruits you just infused some booze with? Well, the leftover fruit is not always just trash, it's a wonderful way to amp up your next entree!
A while back I had made a few bottles of Homemade Berry Liqueurs and, after straining the beautiful vodka infused liquids, I had almost 2 cups of boozy berries left over. It's not in my nature to throw things away if I can figure out another use for them so I tossed them in the freezer. I will often make a puree later or use them in a sauce, however this time I decided to toss them in with my pork ribs and go for a sweet, Asian style recipe.
Whenever pork ribs are on sale I always buy several packages. I like ribs and they're easy to toss in a crock pot for a great no fuss meal at the end of a long working day. Most of the time I just use BBQ sauce and some simple aromatics but that gets boring after a while and I need to change up the flavors occasionally. When I remembered those frozen booze berries they got a new home, in my crock pot with a few additional ingredients and a little creativity.
Hell yes, I added more booze! I thought they could use a little kick and some extra sweetness so I added some maple bourbon. Don't worry, it cooks off, so you can still have a cocktail before dinner.
Throw everything except the cornstarch slurry in the Crock-Pot and cook on low for 7-3/4 hours.
** Mix one tablespoon of cornstarch with two tablespoons of cold water to form a thickening slurry. Add this to the crock pot and turn up to high for the last 15 minutes of cooking. Not only does this thicken your liquid into a sauce, but it puts on beautiful shiny glaze on your pork.
Serve with cilantro infused Basmati rice. Spoon some of the thickened sauce over each portion of ribs and rice.
If you're wondering about the small amount of vodka from the berries mixing with a bourbon, don't worry. There wasn't enough vodka left in those berries to mess with my bourbon, not the way I strained the liqueurs.
