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?
