Retro Meaty Monday: Beef Brisket with Chili Sauce, Onion Soup & Beer

Another repost: we are actually going to have this for dinner tonight. But being a retail manager, I worked yesterday, drove home in snow, and am leaving too early this morning, after shoveling. Thank heavens I put this in the oven yesterday, cause I'll need a hearty dinner tonight. Careful, please, if it is icy where you are as it is here.

Since last September, I've been moving a 9 lb. brisket from one side of my big freezer to the other to make room for other stuff. It was such a good deal, on sale for the Jewish holiday, that I had to have one. My original plan was to cut it into two pieces, since unless I get what's called a "Packer Cut" brisket to smoke,  a big brisket is too much meat for a family of two. But it was already cryovac packaged and I just didn't want to break it open, so I froze it whole. It was time to cook it and freeze the leftovers.  

Last week I was shuffling through my Mom's recipe file that I inherited. I was looking for a blueberry muffin recipe that she made at least once a month, when I discovered three braised brisket recipes in there. Now here's the thing. My mother never once made a brisket. Sure, Mom boiled a corned beef brisket around St. Patrick's Day, but even then it was more likely to be ham and cabbage than corned beef. My Aunt May, who was actually my step-grandmother, was German Jewish and she managed to get me to eat things my Italian Catholic family never cooked. Like brisket. It was great. Everyone was always trying to fatten me up, indeed, I didn't tip the scales at over 100 lb. until I was past 35. She was a terrific  baker, and I would always stuff my mouth and my pockets with the cookies she made, but they were withheld until I ate some "real food" like ...brisket. It was wonderful

I've made a few braised briskets in my time, and smoked quite a few big boys. But  I have never tried the recipes that use onion soup mix, and liquids like barbecue sauce or ketchup in a braise. Always used lots of onions, wine, and other typical braised beef ingredients. So imagine my shock when I found a recipe using ketchup and onion soup mix in Aunt May's handwriting in Mom's recipe box, and scribbled along the edge in my father's unmistakable hand --"Judy's favorite".  

After Googling, I found that there are hundreds of brisket recipes on the web using some variation of Aunt May's onion soup recipe for brisket. Aunt May was on to something. Back in the mid-1960s,  adding processed convenience foods to recipes was considered innovative, and modern, as so many of these foods were new. Now that so many processed foods are on our "foodie shit list," a lot of people write them off, at best, as quaint, retro, mediocre recipes.  This is wrong.  Dumping a packet of onion soup mix over the roast was as au courant as making a recipe from Modernist Cuisine is today. It was called "Progress".

We come, no matter what anyone says about American cooking, from an enormous group of fine home cooks who cared about what was put on the table, and often had to do the best with what was on hand. If they hadn't, we likely wouldn't be here. Like it or not, many of these old recipes are a product of their time, and are part of our collective heritage.  They're still delicious, and deserve to grace your table from time to time. Aunt May's version has ketchup, onion soup and water in it; nothing more.  I have, of course, doodled this up a bit, and it's delish. I think my Aunt would call this Progress, too. 

Not picture perfect, but still perfect brisket.

Note: I happened to have an extremely large brisket. A more normal size brisket is about 7 pounds, and if you want to use a 4 pound piece, use half the amount of chili sauce, half the beer (drink the rest), 2 Tablespoons of molasses and half the garlic. Keep everything else the same. This needs to cook all day, and is much better chilled, sliced and then reheated on the next day in the abundant sauce, so plan accordingly. Freezes well.

Retro Braised Brisket

Serves 10

Ingredients:

1 7 to 8 lb. beef brisket, flat cut, with a 1/4"  fat cap
2  12 oz. bottle chili sauce or ketchup
1 packet onion soup mix
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses

1/2 tsp. Marmite (opt.)
2 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
1 bottle lager beer or dark beer or stout

12 garlic cloves, peeled (about 1 head)
3 - 4 bay leaves
Salt when reheating if needed

Just needs some foil to cover the pan, and then it's cook time!

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 275ºF. Mix everything through the black pepper in a medium bowl with a  whisk. Then mix in the beer.

2. Place the meat fat side down in a roasting pan, that just fits it, scatter the garlic and bay leaves over the meat, and pour the beer  mixture over the top. Flip the meat so the fat is up.

3. Cover the pan tightly with foil, and place in the oven. Roast about 3 - 4 hours, then uncover and carefully turn the meat. recover and cook another 2 to 3 hours until the meat is fork tender.

4. Cool the meat in the sauce, then remove and wrap separately. Chill the meat and sauce. When ready to serve, remove the congealed fat from the sauce, slice the meat in 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices and reheat in the sauce, either in the oven or on top of the stove.

Meaty Monday: Summer Slow Cooker Braised Retro Brisket

A week or so ago, when it was impossibly hot and humid, I was lying under my AC vent dreaming of beef brisket. Even me, a recovering amateur BBQ competitor, likes to think about a juicy pot roast, something other than  grilled or barbecued meat. The very thought of running the oven for hours, even with AC going full tilt, just put me off when it's sweltering outside. But then I thought of my mother.

When the weather was really hot and sticky, as it usually is in Philadelphia in the summer, she would cook a pot roast over night, either in the oven or in her brand new electric crock, aka a slow cooker, which became quite popular when I was in high school. It always was made with a packet of onion soup, and a cup or two of Italian vermouth.We lived in a hundred-year-old house, and we had window air conditioners and whole house fans, and we would run through the steamy halls from one cool room to another. Not the sort of atmosphere in which you wanted to do anything that would make the house hotter. But back then, we ate at home most nights, and in summer we often had cold sliced  beef with potato salad or green bean salad, and Jersey tomatoes and corn or a warm pot roast sandwich on a roll later in the cooler part of the evening.

I spotted a really nice small brisket at the market this week, just a wee bit under 4 pounds, and the rest is history. Even though this dish has some barbecue sauce in it, it's not barbecued beef. It tastes like summer, in a very beefy, juicy way, and is marvelous cold for sandwiches or platters.  Mom always used a packet of soup mix in her pot roasts, and it does add a lot of flavor to the finished product. Plus it makes this really quick to assemble, and it can cook while you are staying cool doing other things. Like working all day, or, sunbathing. This is quick and simple to start in the morning and just takes a few minutes to finish at dinnertime.

Yes, that is steam rising from my beautiful, delicious braised brisket!

Summer (Crock) Slow Cooker Braised Retro Brisket

4 lb brisket
1 bottle (12 oz.) dark beer
1 cup smoky barbecue sauce
2T Worcestershire sauce
1 packet of onion soup mix

1.Into a 5 - 6 quart slow cooker, add the Worcestershire, the barbecue sauce, the dark beer and the onion soup mix. Stir well to mix. Place the brisket into the sauce mixture fat side down, and then turn to coat in the liquid so it rests fat side up.

2. Start the slow cooker, and cook on low for about 7 - 8 hours until the meat is fork tender. Remove the meat from the crock, and let stand about 7-10 minutes to cool slightly before removing the fat layer on top, and then slicing. Serve hot, with some of the pot juices, or cool, as part of a platter with salads or in a sandwich. If you want, you can reduce the juice in the crock slightly to thicken it before serving.

Makes about 6 servings.

Retro Beef Brisket with Chili Sauce, Onion Soup & Beer

Since last September, I've been moving a 9 lb. brisket from one side of my big freezer to the other to make room for other stuff. It was such a good deal, on sale for the Jewish holiday, that I had to have one. My original plan was to cut it into two pieces, since unless I get what's called a "Packer Cut" brisket to smoke,  a big brisket is too much meat for a family of two. But it was already cryovac packaged and I just didn't want to break it open, so I froze it whole. It was time to cook it and freeze the leftovers.  

Last week I was shuffling through my Mom's recipe file that I inherited. I was looking for a blueberry muffin recipe that she made at least once a month, when I discovered three braised brisket recipes in there. Now here's the thing. My mother never once made a brisket. Sure, Mom boiled a corned beef brisket around St. Patrick's Day, but even then it was more likely to be ham and cabbage than corned beef. My Aunt May, who was actually my step-grandmother, was German Jewish and she managed to get me to eat things my Italian Catholic family never cooked. Like brisket. It was great. Everyone was always trying to fatten me up, indeed, I didn't tip the scales at over 100 lb. until I was past 35. She was a terrific  baker, and I would always stuff my mouth and my pockets with the cookies she made, but they were withheld until I ate some "real food" like ...brisket. It was wonderful

I've made a few braised briskets in my time, and smoked quite a few big boys. But  I have never tried the recipes that use onion soup mix, and liquids like barbecue sauce or ketchup in a braise. Always used lots of onions, wine, and other typical braised beef ingredients. So imagine my shock when I found a recipe using ketchup and onion soup mix in Aunt May's handwriting in Mom's recipe box, and scribbled along the edge in my father's unmistakable hand --"Judy's favorite".  

After Googling, I found that there are hundreds of brisket recipes on the web using some variation of Aunt May's onion soup recipe for brisket. Aunt May was on to something. Back in the mid-1960s,  adding processed convenience foods to recipes was considered innovative, and modern, as so many of these foods were new. Now that so many processed foods are on our "foodie shit list," a lot of people write them off, at best, as quaint, retro, mediocre recipes.  This is wrong.  Dumping a packet of onion soup mix over the roast was as au courant as making a recipe from Modernist Cuisine is today. It was called "Progress".

We come, no matter what anyone says about American cooking, from an enormous group of fine home cooks who cared about what was put on the table, and often had to do the best with what was on hand. If they hadn't, we likely wouldn't be here. Like it or not, many of these old recipes are a product of their time, and are part of our collective heritage.  They're still delicious, and deserve to grace your table from time to time. Aunt May's version has ketchup, onion soup and water in it; nothing more.  I have, of course, doodled this up a bit, and it's delish. I think my Aunt would call this Progress, too. 

Not picture perfect, but still perfect brisket.

Note: I happened to have an extremely large brisket. A more normal size brisket is about 7 pounds, and if you want to use a 4 pound piece, use half the amount of chili sauce, half the beer (drink the rest), 2 Tablespoons of molasses and half the garlic. Keep everything else the same. This needs to cook all day, and is much better chilled, sliced and then reheated on the next day in the abundant sauce, so plan accordingly. Freezes well.

Retro Braised Brisket

Serves 10

Ingredients:

1 7 to 8 lb. beef brisket, flat cut, with a 1/4"  fat cap
2  12 oz. bottle chili sauce or ketchup
1 packet onion soup mix
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses

1/2 tsp. Marmite (opt.)
2 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
1 bottle lager beer or dark beer or stout

12 garlic cloves, peeled (about 1 head)
3 - 4 bay leaves
Salt when reheating if needed

Just needs some foil to cover the pan, and then it's cook time!

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 275ºF. Mix everything through the black pepper in a medium bowl with a  whisk. Then mix in the beer.

2. Place the meat fat side down in a roasting pan, that just fits it, scatter the garlic and bay leaves over the meat, and pour the beer  mixture over the top. Flip the meat so the fat is up.

3. Cover the pan tightly with foil, and place in the oven. Roast about 3 - 4 hours, then uncover and carefully turn the meat. recover and cook another 2 to 3 hours until the meat is fork tender.

4. Cool the meat in the sauce, then remove and wrap separately. Chill the meat and sauce. When ready to serve, remove the congealed fat from the sauce, slice the meat in 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices and reheat in the sauce, either in the oven or on top of the stove. 

Fee, Fie, Foe, Friday: Somebody Took My Smoker

We've joined a cult. My old, big BBQ smoker had to go when I could no longer hitch and trailer it, and a few years back, I got a medium sized one. The little one is somewhere lost behind the shed. I cranked out a lot of good brisket, ribs and pork shoulders in that thing. I modified it quite a bit along the way with a lot of help from the nice folks at Smoking Meat Forums. I named it Faithful. But I still had to stay up most of the night tending the fire every few hours to keep it going low and slow. Finally I caved, and we bought a Big Green Egg, which as far as I am concerned, is the ultimate Grill-BBQ-Smoker. I don't have to snooze in a chaise lounge between the smoker and a pile of applewood any more. The BGE will hold a steady temp for hours which means Mama gets to SLEEP. In bed. The Big Green Egg may have a cultish following, but there's a reason. There is nothing like it in 'Q world. We're in the BGE cult.

But what to do with the now-rusting hulk of my old Faithful? If you look in the upper left of the picture below, you can see it sitting lonely out in the middle of the yard, while the BGE takes center stage. Black and rusty, it was no beauty, but it worked. Temperamental, but it worked. Faithful weighs around 200 pounds, and since we had no way to dispose of it, we called our trash hauler and they were going to send a truck with two brawny men to take it away, and Faithful's BBQ days were done.

Poor old Faithful, back there in the upper left corner, has been replaced.

Since he had some time early this evening, before we went out to dinner, Chuck shoved and pushed Faithful all the way to the edge of the lawn near the curb to catch a ride in a trash truck tomorrow. Then we left for dinner. Two hours later, as we turned into the driveway, there was an empty spot where Faithful had been sitting. It was gone. Somebody took my smoker. Faithful may just have another chance at being the centerpiece of big BBQs again. God, I hope so. Saved from the trash truck in the nick of time.

Rock on Faithful; I know you'll be smokin' wherever you are.