Brisket: Lore and Recipies

[Macabre]

Eating chopped brisket right now. With fried okra (and ranch for dipping okra).

Knowing that there were Dickey's restaurants here allowed me to move here. The originsl Dickey's is on Central Expressway. Members of the Dickey family were donors to a Dallas nonprofit I worked for.

[GoingNuts]

Home from work a little while ago and exhausted, so I'll post my recipe and my theory on how brisket became a Passover thing.  But I think it's hilarious that we are on a second page of discussing brisket!

[GoingNuts]

OK, here is my completely unofficial theory on how Brisket became associated with Passover (and Rosh Hashana and Hanukah) among Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jews.  (Sephardic Jews have completely different dietary traditions.):

Getting their hands on an entire piece of meat was such a rare and wondrous thing, it was reserved for major holidays.  That's it.  Seriously, no religious significance whatsoever AFAIK (other than laws of kashrut saying that you should only eat the foreshank of an animal, never the back end).   Sephardic Jews eat lamb on Passover, maybe for the same reason, IDK, because I'm really not all that familiar with their traditions.  On Rosh Hashana, brisket is often combined with prunes, apricots, carrots or winter squash to make Tzimmes, for a sweet new year.  It's heavenly, but my husband's totally assimilated family hates it so I never make it anymore. 

That said, here's my favorite holiday brisket recipe.  I have another that is much more involved and also just as delicious, but I rarely have the time to deal with it!

Brisket Amy's Way

3 onions, sliced thinly
4- 5 lbs.  first cut beef brisket
2 cloves of garlic, sliced thin
1 cup red wine (I use something dry, that I would like to drink)
2 cups OJ
Box of Pomi tomato sauce (or whatever you like to use)
Lawry's season salt
Garlic Powder
Paprika
1 tsp. sugar

If possible, the night before you are going to cook the brisket, place it fat side up and place small slits in the meat.  Place thin slices of garlic in the slits.  Season to taste with the season salt and garlic powder.

The next day, heat a dutch oven over medium heat, and place the brisket in the pan fat side down, to sear it.  When lightly browned, turn over and repeat on other side. 

Preheat oven to 325.

Remove from pan.  Place sliced onions in the pan, and place the brisket fat side up on top of the onions.

Mix the wine, OJ, tomato sauce, sugar, and a generous dash of paprika.  Pour over the brisket, and bring to a gentle simmer. 

Cover tightly, and place in the warmed oven for 2 1/2 - 3 hours.  Raise heat to 350, remove cover, and cook for another 1/2 hour - 45 minutes.

Remove meat, and refrigerate until next day, when you will allow it to come up to room temp and then slice thinly across the grain.  Allow the gravy to separate in the fridge, and the following day skim off the fat.  Then place the sliced meat in a large baking dish, pour the skimmed gravy over and re-heat (covered very loosely and vented) until hot and the meat starts browning again.

The original recipe calls for 1/2 the liquid, but my family loves gravy, and with this amount I never have to add water because the pan is burning.  If it seems like too much liquid and it is boiling instead of braising, just cook uncovered for longer; the liquid will evaporate.  Enjoy!

[Macabre]

That sounds good GN!

Okay the plum thing--wow.  So does that.

I tell you--I never knew brisket could be prepared any other way other than bbq.  When folks posted about it here, I assumed they were eating bbq brisket. 

[GoingNuts]

And I had never heard of BBQ brisket until 10 years ago or do. Maybe this should be the "cross cultural brisket thread".

[Macabre]

Oh, but it is!!

[krasota]

If you want a bigger brisket in this part of VA, Mac, you just have to ask the butcher.  It's best to ask in advance and inquire as to how much advance notice they'll need.  It's not hard to have a butcher reserve one for you--even at a Food Lion with a butcher doorbell and no customer counter. 

I typically buy smaller ones and braise them tightly covered in a low oven.  I've also put them in the crockpot.  And smoked them.

[Macabre]

Actually, DH tried on a number of occasions at both Food Lion and Kroger (Kroger was our best store).  There was a butcher--an amazing butcher--very small but amazing (as far as I know about such things--we did get the best turkey I've ever had--free range).  He tried to get one of some size there, but it was $$$$$$. 

[krasota]

Wow!  It's not hard at all up here!  I've done it at our standard supermarkets!  Maybe it was something weird about that city down there.   Or maybe it just takes having a butcher packaging in house who is willing to order outside of the usual flat order the store makes.  Or maybe customers here are pickier and make more requests, so it's more common?

It's definitely super pricey at the independent butchers here, but our independent butchers are also organic/freerange/local/craft butchers.

Barbecue is still pretty important down here, but it's often pork rather than beef.  That could be an issue, too.  It's also super hard to find cured beef here, particularly if one needs to avoid certain additives.  Easy to find cured beef in the northeast, but often contains soy or other things I can't have.  Super easy to find cured beef in the midwest.  All I want is beef salami I can eat, y'know?

[Macabre]

Pork --yes a big deal.  BBQ=pork there. BBQ=brisket in Texas (but places will also serve pork). 

But I really am not a fan of pork, so that works for me.

[GoingNuts]

Re-raising for Mary.

[MaryM]

Thank you!!