Time to prepare for another in our bulk cooking series. This time around I am using a beef brisket, slow roasting it to perfection and then see how many meals for four we can get out of it. I have slow roasted brisket in a video many years ago. Time for an upgrade! Brisket can be intimidating to some people, simple because of the nature of the cut. It is not forgiving and if done wrong, it can be be an awful experience. There are a few tricks to doing it just right. First off, low and slow is imperative, secondly, the way you slice this cut of meat is going to make all the difference in whether you have a melt in your mouth slice of beef or a chewy, stringy and tough piece. Today I am going to show you the right way to achieve the perfect brisket!
I have around a 10 pound brisket, with a trimmed fat cap. You want to make sure your cut is trimmed well. Some brisket can come with a very fatty layer, which can be unappealing after it is cooked. You don't want the fat to be trimmed away completely, because the fat helps to flavor the meat and keep it moist and delicious. You can always discard it when serving. Over all, I like to leave about a half inch if it is not already trimmed well.
Like my Calphalon roasting pan? Check it out here: http://amzn.to/2kKzb1Q
Next is the seasoning and aromatics. I have created a "rack" of vegetables to place the brisket upon. Carrots and celery are great for this. I also thick cut a yellow onion and scattered it around the roast. For seasoning, I have generously spread some of my homemade dry onion soup mix. If you would like to see how I made that, check out my video here: http://bit.ly/2kQoLRo
I also added some bay leaves and crushed rosemary to the seasoning as well. I added about 3 cups of water to the bottom of the roasting pan, then covered the roast with parchment and a double layer of foil. The brisket was roasted in a 300 degree oven for 7.5 hours then allowed to rest for an additional 2 hours before slicing. Allowing the brisket to rest for a long period is going to be helpful when slicing.
To slice a brisket properly you will want to ascertain the grain of the meat. Slicing straight across the meat is not the way to go. You want to slice against the grain. To do this you will want to slice diagonally from the narrow end of the brisket to the wide end. This will help you to know that you will get nice short, tender, melt in your mouth pieces of meat instead of long stringy inedible pieces.
This brisket is a delicious treat. It does cook down a bit so in the end, I would guess that we have about 7 pounds of edible meat. We enjoyed our brisket the first night with mashed potatoes, gravy made with some of the drippings and steamed veggies. We will be sharing other options to use the leftovers. This makes for great budget cooking and freezer banking for nights when a long cooking process is out of the question.
The leftover meat from a tasty brisket is great for bbq beef sandwiches, taquito filling, burritos, enchiladas, tacos, tostadas, hot beef open faced sandwiches, Chicago style beef sandwiches, beef pot pie, beef and barley soup and so much more! You can even make a red flannel, roast beef hash with these leftovers and it will be amazing! Stay tuned to see what I come up with! I am confident we will be able to get 4 to 6 meals out of this roast. Not as many as we did from the chicken, but a good number nonetheless.
I hope you give slow roasting a brisket a try and I hope you love it!
Happy Eating!
You can see how I made this in my YouTube video here:
You can find a printable version of this recipe on my website here: http://bit.ly/2kyEuAT
Noreen's Kitchen
Slow Roasted Beef Brisket
Ingredients
|
1 whole beef brisket 8 to 10 pounds
4 carrots roughly cut
4 stalks of celery roughly cut
1 large onion, thickly sliced
|
½ cup dry onion soup mix
1 teaspoon dried, crushed rosemary
4 bay leaves
4 cups water
|
Step by Step
Instructions
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Place celery and carrots in
the bottom of a deep roasting pan.
Place brisket, fat cup up, on
top of the carrots and celery.
Arrange onion slices around
the brisket.
Sprinkle onion soup mix
generously over the top of the brisket.
Sprinkle rosemary and bay leaves on top as well.
Pour water into the bottom of
the roasting pan.
Cover with parchment if
desired then double seal the pan with aluminum foil.
Roast for a minimum of 6
hours and check to see if the brisket is done.
If not return it to the oven for an addition hour to hour and a
half.
When brisket is tender all
the way through a the thickest part of the meat, remove from oven and allow to
rest for two hours before slicing.
When slicing the brisket, you
will want to use a sharp carving knife and slice diagonally across the grain of
the meat. When you look at your slice it
should not have long strings of meat running horizontally. It should have a
short grain that runs vertically across the slice. Slicing diagonally will achieve this. Start at the narrow end of the brisket and
slice your way back toward the wider end diagonally. This will give you the perfect, tender, melt
in your mouth experience you are going for.
Leftover brisket should be
stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for no longer than ten
days. It can also be frozen in sealed
containers or zip top freezer bags for later use.
ENJOY!
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