Delectable Brisket and Marinade
Large enough to feed a family, this slow-cooked meal has become synonymous with Jewish holidays.
Ingredients
- 1 beef brisket (around 2lbs)
- 2 large white onions
- 4 carrots
- 4 celery ribs
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 can (796 mL) crushed tomatoes
- ¼ cup wine or beer
- 3 tbsp canola oil
Instructions
- Prepare your vegetables: chop the onion, the carrots, and the celery. Aim for 1″ pieces.
- Set the rack in your oven to the lower third, and heat your oven to 350°.
- In a large, oven-safe pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat until it gets shimmery. Rub both sides of the brisket with salt and pepper (about 1 tsp of each), and brown it in the pot, turning it once. Remove the browned brisket to a plate.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onions to the pot and cook them until they turn golden-brown (about 12-15 min). Add in the carrots, celery, and garlic, and cook for another 10-12 min, stirring occasionally. Add the wine or beer, stirring well and scraping up the yummy bits from the bottom of the pot.
- Add the chicken stock and tomatoes, and bring the pot to a simmer.
- Return the brisket to the pot (the liquid almost certainly won’t completely cover the brisket. Don’t worry, it’s not supposed to). Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid, stick it in the oven, and braise it for about 3 to 3 1/2 hours (until it’s fork tender).
Notes
Name any Jewish holiday, and people will tell you they ate brisket. We could go so far as to say brisket is a dish no Jewish feast is complete without, the Holy Grail of Jewish food.
Traditionally, brisket was considered an undesirable piece of meat, because it’s tough and requires a long time to cook. This inexpensive cut was embraced by the Jewish population of Eastern Europe, many of them itinerant labourers and peasant farmers. Large enough to feed a family, this slow-cooked meal has become synonymous with Jewish holidays.
Brisket is also popular throughout the Southwestern United States, where butchers who emigrated from Germany and Czechoslovakia turned a “tough sell” into a dry rubbed, spicy, smoky delicacy.
Whether you’re die-hard for your bubbe’s brisket recipe, a Texas style smoked brisket aficionado, or a brisket neophyte, you will no doubt agree that this old-fashioned pot roast, braised for hours with browned onions, carrots, celery and tomato, is the ultimate comfort food. Full-flavoured, fork-tender meat in a broth so rich it threatens to steal the show… this one’s a doozy.
Whether you are celebrating Passover or enjoying a relaxed Sunday supper, you’ll want to bookmark this bubbe-approved recipe – classic, convenient, and comforting.
Chag Sameach! Happy Passover!