--- title: "Lacquered beef short rib with noodles, spring onion and red peppers" description: "Short rib is a tough cut of beef, but one of the most flavourful parts of the animal. Given lots of time, it becomes a delicious meal. In this recipe, Asian ingredients turn it into a sweetly spicy delight." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "WHAT’S COOKING" author: "Tony Jackman" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/tonyjackman/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-07-07-whats-cooking-today-lacquered-beef-short-rib/" published: "2026-07-07T10:00:02" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 599 --- # Lacquered beef short rib with noodles, spring onion and red peppers > Short rib is a tough cut of beef, but one of the most flavourful parts of the animal. Given lots of time, it becomes a delicious meal. In this recipe, Asian ingredients turn it into a sweetly spicy delight. By Tony Jackman · Published 7 July 2026, 12:00 SAST ## Key points - Discover the art of lacquering short ribs, turning a tough cut into a succulent, flavour-packed meal. - Learn how Asian ingredients like brown sugar and Indonesian soy sauce provide a sweet and spicy profile. - This recipe calls for patience: marinate the beef overnight and slow-cook for 3-4 hours for ultimate tenderness. - Pair the tender short ribs with a quick stir-fried noodle dish for a weeknight supper that impresses. ## Content Lacquering, in cuisine, is the technique of cooking meat (chicken, duck or pork, chiefly) in a sauce that includes sugar of some kind, often honey, so that it attains a glossy sheen. When other ingredients that imbue colour are added, the dish gains additional visual appeal, as well as the impact on the palate. Two key things: you need lots of time, and plenty of liquid (or to top it up to prevent it drying out). But the aromatics in the cooking broth, as well as the sweet, wet ingredients, are what turns the dish into something special. In this instance, there’s no honey in it, but I did use brown sugar, molasses and sweet Indonesian soy sauce. That may seem a lot, but to balance the sweetness there’s a hint of dark soy too, as well as fresh ginger, garlic, chilli, a little fish sauce and fresh lime juice. For a weeknight supper, put it on in the morning to cook very gently while you go about your day. It might be best to plan ahead and put the short rib in to marinate in the fridge the night before. I served it with noodles as described below. *(Serves 4)* **Ingredients** 1 kg beef short ribs 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped 1 x 4 cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped 3 Tbsp brown sugar ¼ cup rice wine vinegar ¼ cup hot chilli sauce ¼ cup molasses 3 Tbsp soy sauce 2 Tbsp sweet Indonesian soy sauce ½ tsp fish sauce 2 Tbsp avocado oil Juice of 2 limes Liquid vegetable stock as needed Sea salt and black pepper to taste *For the noodles:* 350 g rice noodles 2 Tbsp wok oil 1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar 1 Tbsp lime juice 6 spring onions / scallions, chopped 1 red pepper, seeded and diced **Method** In a bowl, combine the garlic, ginger, sugar, vinegar, chilli sauce, molasses, the two soys and the fish sauce. Douse the pieces of short rib in this mixture and marinate for several hours or overnight. Remove from the fridge an hour before starting to cook. Season them with sea salt and black pepper. Preheat the oven to 160℃. In a heavy cast-iron oven dish or Dutch oven, sear the ribs in avocado oil on a moderately high heat until well browned. Add 250 ml vegetable stock and bring to a simmer, then cook gently for five minutes. Cover and cook in the slow oven until tender, three to four hours or longer; it’s only ready when the meat is super tender; if not, add a little liquid vegetable stock, but not dissolved from a cube; they’re way too salty for this. Boil a kettle and pour the water over the noodles in a bowl. Leave them to one side. Pour a little oil into a wok and put it on the heat. Chop the red pepper and slice the spring onions. Drain the noodles in a colander and give it a couple of shakes. Add the red pepper and spring onions to the wok, followed immediately by the noodles. Toss the wok and add the rice vinegar and lime juice. Serve with the beef short rib. **DM** ![Image](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/mUgLk20IbiIS28oszGJqoKxS4g0=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/1376/retrokaroo2_614899.jpg) *Buy signed copies of Tony Jackman’s Retro Karoo Food (Penguin Random House) directly from the author. Send an email to [tony@dailymaverick.co.za](mailto:tony@dailymaverick.co.za)* *Mervyn Gers Ceramics supplies dinnerware for the styling of some TGIFood shoots. For more information, click[here](https://mervyngers.com/).* *Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram [@tony\_jackman\_cooks](https://www.instagram.com/tony_jackman_cooks/). Share your versions of his recipes with him on Instagram and he’ll see them and respond.*