Supper Club V: Brisket
After the soup was cleared, it was time to bring out the entree. Picking out the meat was not a problem. Despite its iconic status as the premiere Jewish meat entree, I had never made brisket. In fact, my mother had never made it either. So when I first came up with the idea for Jewish Soul Food night, I knew a brisket was going to be on the menu. Originally I had a recipe in mind from Eating Well magazine, but unfortunately this was going to monopolize the oven for an entire afternoon, which would require either rejiggering the menu in rather unsatisfactory ways or installing a second oven.
Fortunately, my sister answered the bell again with another suggestion from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. This version of the brisket recipe required a slow cooker, thereby freeing up the oven for other purposes. We tested it successfully in Seattle and were pleased with the results, so when Supper Club rolled around it was actually one of the least stressful parts of the meal.
Maya's Sweet and Sour Holiday Brisket
From The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman
4-to-5 lb pound piece beef brisket (fat trimmed off)
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt, plus more for initial seasoning of meat
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup beef stock
3 TBSP tomato paste
1/4 cup brown sugar, light or dark
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
4 tsp paprika
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp red chili flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
2 TBSP onion powder
1. Season the meat generously on both sides with salt and pepper.
2. Whisk remaining ingredients together in a medium bowl.
3. Place meat in slow cooker, pour sauce over it and set it to cook at low setting for 10 hours.
4. When the brisket is cooked, but still hot, use a spoon to scrape off any large fat deposits around the edges of the meat.
5. Transfer the brisket and all of the sauce to a baking dish.
6. Rest - chill the entire dish in the fridge for several hours and up to one day; this resting time will enhance the flavor of the meat. For a less oily final dish, you can remove all of the fat that has solidified with a slotted spoon.
7. To serve - carefully remove meat from the sauce, and place on a large cutting board. cut the brisket into 1/4-1/2 inch slices and carefully place the sliced meat back into the sauce. Spoon the sauce over the meat. Replace the lid, and reheat in the slow cooker until bubbling at the edge; serve immediately.
I supplemented my own six quart slow cooker with a similarly sized slow cooker from my friend Erin McC. On Friday night before we went to bed we put a 6 pound brisket in one slow cooker and a 7 pound brisket in the other. Yes, that's a full pound of meat per person. When we woke up Saturday morning, the house smelled delicious. Both briskets went into one roasting pan and were covered with sauce to rest in the fridge. A few hours before serving we sliced them up and put them back into the slow cookers to heat up. When it was time to serve we plated the brisket along with our next item.
Roasted Winter Vegetables
Mom's Recipe, Original Source (if any) unknown
3 medium red onions, quartered
3 medium parsnips, peeled and chopped
4 baby turnips, quartered
3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 2/3 cups peeled, diced butternut squash
2 small sweet potatoes
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
2 tbsp chopped thyme
2 tsp chopped fresh sage
3 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Dump all vegetables into a large bowl. Sprinkly the garlic and herbs over them. Pour the olive oil over and mix until evenly coated.
3. Spray a large roasting pan with no-stick spray and pour the vegetable mix into it in an even layer.
4. Roast the vegetables in the top 1/3 of the preheated oven for 45 minutes to an hour until cooked and nicely browned. Mix the vegetables half way through.
5. Sprinkle in herbs and salt and pepper.
Ok, now that you've read that recipe? Ignore it. We just bought random vegetables. I know we had onions, potatoes, garlic and sweet potatoes. I'm pretty sure we had carrots. Obviously we used the olive oil, salt and pepper. Beyond that, I couldn't tell you exactly what we used. We just made up two cookie sheets full of vegetables and slipped them in the oven right as we served the first course. They came out great. Use whatever vegetables you like.
As to the theme, they aren't particularly Jewish and I've certainly made roasted vegetables before, but tigerlily_blue trained as a nutritionist and insisted that we needed more vegetables. I'm not one to argue with my lead chef, especially after I went to all the trouble of flying her into Cleveland for the occasion, so roast vegetables it was.
In any event, the plates came out with brisket and roast vegetables. We had a lot au jus from the slow cooker available. It was completely delicious, and people still needed to save room for dessert...
Fortunately, my sister answered the bell again with another suggestion from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. This version of the brisket recipe required a slow cooker, thereby freeing up the oven for other purposes. We tested it successfully in Seattle and were pleased with the results, so when Supper Club rolled around it was actually one of the least stressful parts of the meal.
Maya's Sweet and Sour Holiday Brisket
From The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman
4-to-5 lb pound piece beef brisket (fat trimmed off)
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt, plus more for initial seasoning of meat
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup beef stock
3 TBSP tomato paste
1/4 cup brown sugar, light or dark
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
4 tsp paprika
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp red chili flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
2 TBSP onion powder
1. Season the meat generously on both sides with salt and pepper.
2. Whisk remaining ingredients together in a medium bowl.
3. Place meat in slow cooker, pour sauce over it and set it to cook at low setting for 10 hours.
4. When the brisket is cooked, but still hot, use a spoon to scrape off any large fat deposits around the edges of the meat.
5. Transfer the brisket and all of the sauce to a baking dish.
6. Rest - chill the entire dish in the fridge for several hours and up to one day; this resting time will enhance the flavor of the meat. For a less oily final dish, you can remove all of the fat that has solidified with a slotted spoon.
7. To serve - carefully remove meat from the sauce, and place on a large cutting board. cut the brisket into 1/4-1/2 inch slices and carefully place the sliced meat back into the sauce. Spoon the sauce over the meat. Replace the lid, and reheat in the slow cooker until bubbling at the edge; serve immediately.
I supplemented my own six quart slow cooker with a similarly sized slow cooker from my friend Erin McC. On Friday night before we went to bed we put a 6 pound brisket in one slow cooker and a 7 pound brisket in the other. Yes, that's a full pound of meat per person. When we woke up Saturday morning, the house smelled delicious. Both briskets went into one roasting pan and were covered with sauce to rest in the fridge. A few hours before serving we sliced them up and put them back into the slow cookers to heat up. When it was time to serve we plated the brisket along with our next item.
Roasted Winter Vegetables
Mom's Recipe, Original Source (if any) unknown
3 medium red onions, quartered
3 medium parsnips, peeled and chopped
4 baby turnips, quartered
3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 2/3 cups peeled, diced butternut squash
2 small sweet potatoes
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
2 tbsp chopped thyme
2 tsp chopped fresh sage
3 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Dump all vegetables into a large bowl. Sprinkly the garlic and herbs over them. Pour the olive oil over and mix until evenly coated.
3. Spray a large roasting pan with no-stick spray and pour the vegetable mix into it in an even layer.
4. Roast the vegetables in the top 1/3 of the preheated oven for 45 minutes to an hour until cooked and nicely browned. Mix the vegetables half way through.
5. Sprinkle in herbs and salt and pepper.
Ok, now that you've read that recipe? Ignore it. We just bought random vegetables. I know we had onions, potatoes, garlic and sweet potatoes. I'm pretty sure we had carrots. Obviously we used the olive oil, salt and pepper. Beyond that, I couldn't tell you exactly what we used. We just made up two cookie sheets full of vegetables and slipped them in the oven right as we served the first course. They came out great. Use whatever vegetables you like.
As to the theme, they aren't particularly Jewish and I've certainly made roasted vegetables before, but tigerlily_blue trained as a nutritionist and insisted that we needed more vegetables. I'm not one to argue with my lead chef, especially after I went to all the trouble of flying her into Cleveland for the occasion, so roast vegetables it was.
In any event, the plates came out with brisket and roast vegetables. We had a lot au jus from the slow cooker available. It was completely delicious, and people still needed to save room for dessert...