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Grandma's Brisket

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Onion-y, tender, and delicious, this brisket recipe brings me back to my grandmother's kitchen. I'm pretty sure this isn't the recipe she used (if she even used one), but it yields the flavor and mouth-feel I recall. It is a labor of love (takes up to 4 or 5 hours depending on the piece of meat you use), but totally worth it. Plan to cook it at least a day before you plan to serve it.

Ingredients

  • 5-6-pound first cut beef brisket, trimmed of some of the fat, but not all!

  • 3 tbsp vegetable oil

  • 5 large yellow onions, cut into ½ inch pieces

  • 2 or 3 large garlic cloves, or to taste, minced

  • 1 tsp paprika, preferably Hungarian

  • ¾ tsp salt

  • ¾ tsp freshly ground pepper

  • 1½ c. red wine, or more, as needed

  • 1½ c. beef broth, or more, as needed

  • Lipton onion soup – 1 packet

  • Carrots (2 pounds cut into 2-3" pieces or 1 bag of baby carrots)

Preparation

Day before serving (or more in advance)

1.      Preheat oven to 375°F

 

2.      In a Dutch oven or other heavy baking pan large enough to hold brisket, heat 1 tbsp oil in oven for 10 minutes

 

3.      Pat brisket dry and season generously with salt & pepper.

 

4.      Roast brisket in pan, fat side down, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

 

5.      While brisket is roasting, in a large, heavy skillet cook onions in remaining 2 tbsp oil over moderately high heat, stirring, until softened and beginning to turn golden.  Reduce heat and cook onions, stirring occasionally and reducing heat, if necessary, until deep golden, about 20 minutes more.  Stir in garlic, paprika, salt and pepper, and cook 1 minute.  Stir in wine and beef broth and bring to boil.

 

6.      Spoon onion mixture, packet of onion soup, and carrots over brisket and bake, covered with lid ½ ajar, for 3 ½ hours or until brisket is tender.  Feel free to turn the brisket over once or twice (but it isn't necessary). Check pan every hour and, if necessary, add water, red wine, and/or beef stock – I usually add the beef stock and red wine I have before moving to water.  You want liquid to mostly cover the brisket.  You know brisket is tender when a fork inserted into the thickest part comes out without resistance.  Remove brisket from oven and let cool in onion mixture for 1 hour.

 

7.      Remove brisket from pan, scraping onion mixture off it, and let the brisket cool completely -- ideally refrigerate it overnight.  Slice the cooled/ cold brisket to desired thickness and place in storage vessel until ready to reheat and serve. [Can be frozen.]

 

8.      Take onion mixture scraped from brisket, along with all the accumulated pan juices and remove most of the carrots (store separately).  Then when the rest is slightly cooled, put it into a blender to make the gravy.  Add extra beef stock if needed to yield a good amount.  Chill the gravy overnight so you can skim off the fat the next day.  Then you can freeze it (or not). 

 

9.      Save carrots for serving, if desired.  (They freeze and reheat well)/

 

 

Preparation – day of serving:

  1. Take defrosted brisket and gravy out of fridge and bring to room temperature.

 

  1. Reheat the brisket in the gravy.  You can either reheat it all in the oven (preheated to 350°F for 30 minutes or until hot) or on the stove top, in a large pan, covered, until hot and gravy is boiling.  Feel free to add extra beef stock if the gravy is too thick or there isn’t enough of it.

 


 

 


 


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