Braised Brisket
Extremely modified recipe originally from NYTimes recipe ‘Braised Brisket with Plums, Star Anise and Port‘. This is a multi-day recipe: prepare on night 1, cook on day 2, eat on day 3.
Ingredients:
- 1 brisket box (4-6 pounds), pasture raised, 2nd cut (see grow and behold meats)
- 2 Tablespoons of Kosher Salt
- 1.5 Tablespoons of Black Pepper
- 6 Garlic Cloves thinly sliced
- 1-2 bunches of fresh Thyme (3-4 tablespoons of Thyme, if you don’t have fresh)
- 2 Tablespoons of Macadamia Nut Oil (or Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
- 3 Medium to large Onions thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 cups dry red wine
- 2 cups chicken, beef, or veggie stock
Preparation
1. Day 1: Season brisket all over with salt and pepper, find the size of your dutch oven pan set and if the brisket is significantly larger than your dutch oven, cut the brisket in half. Place each piece into a large container, cover with Garlic and thyme where each brisket piece has a proportion of the garlic and thyme. Refrigerate the container for at least 4 hours, overnight if you can.
2. Day 2: Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Slice the onions into a large mass of sliced onions. I use a dutch oven to braise the meat, but I also use a cast iron frying pan to sear the meat. You can do everything in the dutch oven, but clean up will be a little messier, because the dutch oven will have slightly burned bits on the bottom which will bake in. From the container, if you used fresh thyme, remove the thyme sprigs, the garlic is ok to use (If you used the spice Thyme from the bottle, just use the meat slabs without removing anything) So, in a cast iron frying pan with high heat on the stove, use about 1/2 a tablespoon of oil and sear each brisket piece 3 minutes on each side (use a fan, this will be smokey, if your using corn fed brisket you might need to go 4=7 minutes). Transfer to a dutch oven (or a plate is your using the dutch oven to sear). After the meat has been seared, add a 1/2 tablespoon of oil to the skillet and cook the onions on medium high for 15-20 minutes until they are golden brown around the edges.
3. Assemble the ingredients into the dutch oven, place the meat in the dutch oven first, add the wine, then place the onions on top. The meat should be mostly submerged in wine/onion/stock sauce. Cover the dutch oven, and place in the oven for 5 hours.
4. Remove from the oven and let cool on the stove. Refrigerate overnight.
5. Day 3: Remove the layer of fat from the top of the pot. Remove each piece of meat, and slice medium thin. Two approaches for the sauce, 1) in a blender, whisk the onion wine sauce into a puree and heat before serving, or 2) using a strainer, remove the onions and discard, heat the remaining sauce before serving.
Enjoy,
Bill