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Brisket of Beef

Source of Recipe

From "Food52: Genius Recipes" by Kristen Miglore


Recipe Introduction

"By some accounts, this is the most googled of all brisket recipes. There are unverified reports that it was even served in the White House for the Obamas' first Passover Seder—and for good reason. While other recipes mask brisket with prunes or lemon or dozens of garlic cloves, ketchup or Coca-Cola, this one does nothing of the sort. It has precious few ingredients, applied deliberately and memorably. Nach Waxman, co-owner of the New York City cookbook store Kitchen Arts & Letters, wove the best parts of two recipes passed down in his family into one simple treatment. From his mother, he learned to avoid adding liquid to the braise and instead to spearhead the seasoning with what he calls a 'spectacular quantity of onions' for their subtle, supportive (and moisture-delivering) flavor. From his mother-in-law, he borrowed the trick of slicing the hunk of beef thinly halfway through cooking, then leaning it back on itself like a heap of fallen dominos. At this point, it's fully cooked but still firm, so the slices don't fall to shreds. All the surrounding goodness has more avenues to seep in, making each slice a little like an end piece. (The best part? Discuss.) Aside from one other delightful step, in which you paint the top of the seared brisket with tomato paste 'as if you were icing a cake,' that's about it. Then you just cook it, next to one lucky carrot, rather slowly, and for a rather long time."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ One 6-pound first-cut (a.k.a. flat-cut) beef brisket, trimmed so that a thin layer of fat remains
â—¦ 1 to 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour (or matzoh meal)
â—¦ Freshly ground black pepper
â—¦ 3 tablespoons corn oil (or other neutral oil)
â—¦ 8 medium onions, thickly sliced
â—¦ 3 tablespoons tomato paste
â—¦ Kosher salt
â—¦ 2 to 4 cloves garlic
â—¦ 1 carrot, peeled


Recipe

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Lightly dust the brisket with flour, then sprinkle with pepper. Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large ovenproof enameled cast-iron pot or other heavy pot with a lid, just large enough to hold the brisket snugly. Add the brisket to the pot and brown on both sides until crusty brown areas appear on the surface here and there, 5 to 7 minutes per side.

Transfer the brisket to a platter, turn up the heat a bit, then add the onions to the pot and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Cook until the onions have softened and developed a rich brown color but aren't yet caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes.

Turn off the heat and place the brisket and any accumulated juices on top of the onions. Spread the tomato paste over the brisket as if you were icing a cake. Sprinkle with salt and more pepper, then add the garlic and carrot to the pot. Cover the pot, transfer to the oven, and cook the brisket for 1 ½ hours.

Transfer the brisket to a cutting board and, using a very sharp knife, slice the meat across the grain into approximately â…›-inch thick slices. Return the slices to the pot, overlapping them at an angle so that you can see a bit of the top edge of each slice. The end result should resemble the original unsliced brisket leaning slightly backward. Check the seasonings and, if the sauce appears dry, add 2 to 3 teaspoons of water to the pot.

Cover the pot and return to the oven. Lower the heat to 325° F and cook the brisket until it is fork-tender, 1 ½ to 2 hours. Check once or twice during cooking to make sure that the liquid is not bubbling away. If it is, add a few more teaspoons of water—but not more. Also, each time you check, spoon some of the liquid on top of the roast so that it drips down between the slices. It is ready to serve with its juices, but, in fact, it's even better the second day. It also freezes well.

Serves 10 to 12