Happy first night to those of you who celebrate Hanukkah. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving as well...I got sick and couldn’t enjoy family time. My big feat was going to the last weekend of my local farmers’ market and hitting the grocery store today, which was about all of the physical activity I could muster. This was the second time I’ve attempted to make a brisket and this time was much more successful than the first. I tried rushing it the first time and you just can’t do that on a braise. This recipe is super simple, resulting in tender and flavorful meat. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Braised Beef Brisket
5-6 lb beef brisket
2 tbsp dried Italian herb blend
1 tbsp paprika
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp Kosher salt
4 onions
2 cups beef stock
1 cup tomato puree
½ cup balsamic vinegar
½ cup aged red wine vinegar
6 garlic cloves, peeled
10 peppercorns
Bay leaf
2 large bulbs fennel, trimmed and quartered
Unpackage and dry your brisket with paper towels. Trim any section of fat cap that is over ½-inch thick. Set aside.
Combine the dried herbs, paprika, ground black pepper and salt in a small bowl. Mix thoroughly and season the brisket, rubbing the spice mixture into the meat. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
Place a large roasting pan over 2 burners set on medium-high heat. Add in a couple tablespoons of oil. Once the oil shimmers, add the brisket in, fat-side down, and sear the meat for about 5 minutes on each side. If your burners aren’t the same size, you should rotate your pan to ensure even cooking. When the meat is sufficiently browned, place the meat aside in a baking sheet.
While the meat browns, peel, halve, and slice the onions ¼-inch thick. Once you remove the meat from the roasting pan, toss in the sliced onions with some salt and reduce the heat to medium. Cook until softened and beginning to brown, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.
Then, stir in the remaining ingredients, except for the fennel, and raise the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Place the meat, and any accumulated drippings, back into the roasting pan fat-side up. Then add the quartered fennel around the roast.
Cover the pan with foil and place in the oven. Bake for 6 hours, flipping the meat every 2 hours and turning the oven off for the last hour.
When the meat is fully cooked. Place on a cutting board to rest and loosely tent with foil. Pour the pan contents, through a fine mesh strainer, into a large bowl. Place the contents of the strainer back into the roasting pan and back into the cooling oven. Pour the sauce from the bowl into a fat separator and let sit until separated, then pour the strained pan juiced into a serving bowl, reserving the fat.
When ready to serve, thinly slice the meat and serve with the reserved vegetables and sauce. Be sure to call your mother.
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Copyright 2021, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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