Brisket

I've decided to try one new recipe every week. Last week it was coconut chicken soup (a smashing success!), and this week it was braised brisket (another success). I'm on a roll ... it's a good thing that one area of my life is going smoothly :) So I thought I'd share, even though it seems a bit of a braggy thing to do, because I love reading other people's successful recipes. It's so much better than reading random reviews on recipe websites.

I didn't have high hopes because I've never liked brisket that much, but we had a cut in our box from the farm so I had to figure out how to cook it so it didn't turn out dry and tasteless. So I figured the only way to keep it moist was to smother it in an ocean of wine, broth, and veggies. I found a recipe that looked promising online, made a few changes (as usual), and voile! In addition to being tasty, it made the whole house smell wonderful and gave us leftovers for a few to several days. I was planning to make chili with the leftovers tomorrow (since I thought it might still end up a bit dry and tasteless), but no, now we'll just eat it as is.

Braised Brisket:
I started with what was probably about a 3 lb hunk of brisket. (I had marinated it for a couple days in buttermilk, thanks Marianne.) I pan fried it in oil with salt and pepper, about 4 minutes/side. Then moved it (fat side up) to the roasting pan. I poured in about 1 1/2 c. each of cabernet and beef broth (homemade if you can), then threw in a can of diced tomatoes and sauce (canned last summer), a sliced onion, a few carrots (chopped), a head of garlic (peeled), and a handful of chopped prunes. I sprinkled thyme liberally over it all and threw it in the over at 325. I left it in for about 3 hours as the savory smell filled the house. (I love being able to smell dinner from every room in the house!)
After I took it out, I pureed the leftover sauce and veggies into a nice mash and spooned it over the cut brisket. Oh my, was it good! However, had I not pureed the sauce and veggies, the brisket would have been moist, but not especially flavorful because most of the flavor was in the puree. It was a good thing there was a lot of leftover puree!

As a novice to braising, I was pleasantly surprised at how moist it kept the meat. Any other good braising stories?