Whenever I'm in a

group of Jewish food enthusiasts and the chat turns to the

glories of a great brisket, it seems that someone always

says, "Oh, my Aunt Fanny makes a tremendous brisket! She

soaks it overnight in Merlot and cooks it with prunes." Or,

"My Grandmother Sophie's brisket is the best; she always

stuffs it with apples and cooks it for four hours in fresh

apple cider with bay and cinnamon." Or, "Our family always

cooks brisket with dark beer and honey."



The remarkable

thing about all these oral recipes is that they are wildly

diverse and yet undoubtedly all delectable. Does this mean

that you can cook brisket with just about anything? I think

the answer is a bit more complicated, but it gives us a

small glimpse into the creative process of cooking.





If you cook a

good, not-too-fatty brisket with nothing but a bit of salt

and pepper in water or broth, covered, for three hours or

until it's wonderfully tender, it will be very good,

especially if accompanied by some favorite starches and

vegetables. So the creative trick is to turn a good brisket

into a legendary one - and I have a few open-ended steps you

might like to follow along the way.



 



First, pick a

good brisket:



It should be an

even, dark pink color and at least 2-1/2 inches thick, with

a thin fat cap (about 1/4" to 3/8" thick). A full beef

brisket weighs about 5-1/2 to 7 lbs. and cooks down to 4 to

5-1/2 lbs. You can cook half a brisket if you don't want all

those lovely, short-lived leftovers.



The subsequent

steps:



1) Make a rub to

season and marinate the outside of the meat.



2) Decide the

best liquid for braising (wine, juice, beer, stock,

conserves melted with brandy, for example).



3) Choose some

accompanying garnishes and accents, and match to the cooking

liquid and the seasoning rub (fruits, dried fruits, salty

accents, sweeteners, spices, herbs).



4) Choose the

accompanying dishes to show off your succulent brisket at

its best.



What is a

seasoning rub?



It's a

combination of spices, herbs and salt that, when rubbed into

the surface of the meat, will draw out any off flavors and

deeply enrich the flavor of the beef.



You can create a

myriad of rubs, depending on what flavors you want to have

in your final cooking. Do you want a sweet citrus flavor?

Use brown sugar, orange and lemon zests, a 1/2 part of

cinnamon, salt, white pepper, dried orange peel, fresh or

dried mint or lemon balm. Moisten with a bit of light

vinegar or orange juice and vegetable oil to facilitate

spreading the rub into the meat.



And the cooking

liquid?



The kind of

cooking liquid you choose will affect the length of cooking

time, since fruit juices, beer, wine and liquors tenderize

the meat and shorten the time it will take to cook the meat

into utter tenderness.



•••



We'll use a

Southwestern flavor profile, so we can match it with liquids

ranging from brandy to beer, fruit juice to port or red

wine. I'm thinking that the sweetness of port wine and

sparkling apple cider might together make a good,

companionable match with the warmth of the spices in the

rub.





Southwestern-flavored rub



1 part ground

cumin



1 part ground

coriander



1/2 part ground

allspice



1 part regular

chili powder or pure ancho chili powder



1 part ground

sage



1 part dried

oregano



3 parts kosher

salt



2 parts crushed

black pepper.



A "part" can be

as little as 1 tablespoon or as much as 1/4 cup if you want

to make 2-1/2 cups of rub to use for a few different

briskets, stews or salmon.



Add apple cider

vinegar, olive oil and crushed fresh garlic to make a thick

paste for rubbing.



Rub the paste

well into all parts of the meat and let marinate for two

hours to overnight, covered and refrigerated.



After the meat is

marinated, heat a large, heavy pot, big enough to hold the

whole brisket, add about 1/4 cup of vegetable oil and let it

heat until it shimmers and gives off intense heat.





Dry the brisket

gently to remove any moisture that has collected on the

surface and place fat side down into the oil.



Brown well, then

turn and brown on the other side.



Pour or spoon off

any extra grease.



Pour enough of

the port wine and sparkling cider into the pot to come

halfway up the side of the brisket.



Now, the closing

of the flavor circle! Let's match the braising

accompaniments with the flavors we already have simmering.

Do we want more sweetness? Something tart, herby or salty

perhaps? Although the rub has quite a bit of herb in it,

brisket is greatly enhanced by accompanying herbs, so I opt

for adding a couple of bay leaves and more sage and fresh

oregano - at least 2 tablespoons each



I think fruit

will wonderfully offset the rub, the cider and the herbs.

How about dried apricots and pears? They'll slowly rehydrate

and add their flavors during the long, slow braising. Add

some sliced and slowly browned (caramelized) onions halfway

through the cooking to improve the savory quality offered by

the herbs.



And what about

the port? It's very sweet and might be a bit overpowering,

so let's add some black or green cracked olives to balance

out the sweet with salt - just a few, however, added halfway

through the cooking.



Now tightly cover

the brisket and let cook at about 325° for 3 to 3–1/2 hours,

checking once or twice to make sure the liquid is not

cooking away; add more cider or water as needed.



•••



While the brisket

is cooking, we have lots of time to make accompaniments. The

rich, succulent sauce almost always demands something

starchy: noodles, most types of potatoes, sweet potatoes and

yams, the wonderful golden squashes of the season.





Spaetzle



One of my

favorite "sides" for brisket is spaetzle, a fresh noodle

dough rubbed through a cheese grater into boiling water to

create little squiggly dumplings. Yum!



Wonderful brisket

mashed "potato"



sweet potatoes



parsnips



turnips





Yukon Gold or

Russet potatoes



Cook separately

until soft, then mash them together and season with salt,

roasted garlic and olive oil.



Greens



For the lovely

greens of fall, cook chard, kale and/or spinach swiftly in

very hot oil, then stew for a few minutes with salt, chopped

scallions, a touch of green chili and dry white wine.



•••



Great! We've made

a new brisket that, when cooked until pull-apart tender,

might be greeted with the sighs and groans due the truly

legendary.



As the

temperatures drop and fall envelops us, I hope you'll apply

the "steps" I've introduced to create a new family brisket

that will add its incomparable warmth to life in your home.