So a few weeks ago I made my first brisket. Brisket is a delicious, cheap, and impressive way to feed a large crowd, or feed yourself to the point of considering vegetarianism. On top of all that it is incredibly difficult to screw up. A lot of people barbecue brisket but for a jewish brisket the basic principle is to braze the meat in enough liquid for long enough to get an incredibly flavorful sauce with a delectably tender cut of meat of course infused with the aforementioned incredible flavor of the sauce. The sauce is usually more like a stew, filled with soft pieces of vegetables and infused with the flavor of the meat. For the type of brisket I like the basic flavor platform for the brisket should be sweet, dark, rich, and highly aromatic. In the brisket I made I did this with mushrooms, a little ground coffee (which was in a rub for the meat), worcestershire and wine for richness, coke and brown sugar for sweetness (also in the rub), carrots, onions, bay leaves, and celery as the aromatics. In addition to this I used some homemade pizza sauce to add to the liquid as well as impart more sweetness and tartness to the sauce. None of these ingredients are essential but the idea of their collective flavor I think is. Here is a list of some common ingredients including the ones I just mentioned
Vegetables: Liquid: Spices:
Celery Simple Tomato Sauce Any of your favorite barbecue rub
Carrots Red Wine Salt (you don't need too much maybe 1 or 2 tsp)
Potato Coca-Cola (one can or so) Pepper
Onion Ketchup Bay Leaves (I love this flavor in my brisket)
Mushrooms Chili Sauce Thyme
Tomatoes Coffee
Any combinations of those flavors and a bit of creative discretion should yield a rich and very flavorful brisket, but the preparation is important too. For this brisket I used a crock pot to keep the juices in the pot and ensure the tenderness of the brisket, but a baking pan covered in aluminum foil should get the trick done.
To cook the meat, if you have chosen to use a spice rub, cover the meat with your rub. Whether or not you have a rub I recommend browning the meat in your crock pot or a large pan on each side. Some people think that this seals in the juices of the meat, this is debatable. However what this does is create a chemical reaction on the outside of the meat that yields the deep flavor of seared meat without burning or drying out the meat. After this preheat oven to around 300 F and chop vegetables how you want and put them in the pot with brisket. Add liquid and spices, cover, and bake till fork tender (should be around four hours or more).
Here comes the tough part, waiting. After your brisket is done, you can sample and enjoy but 99% of that brisket (after it has cooled) should go into the fridge overnight to let the connective tissue that has now converted into gelatin solidify because after gelatin has solidified, it is much harder to revert to a liquid state thus making your meat tender yet able stay together when you slice the brisket. After waiting jewish brisket is not pulled like many bbq recipes, it is sliced ACCROSS THE GRAIN of the meat into strips. Serve strips with sauce on the side or ladled on top, make sure you've got some challah around and enjoy. Soooo Gooood...
