Southwestern Barbecued Brisket: Bonnie Stern's Heartsmart Cooking

How does a person who doesn't eat beef end up making a really good brisket? By trusting a good recipe in a good book, changing a few little things when you don't have quite the right ingredients, and crossing your fingers.

The amount of praise that this recipe received at the Great Christmas Party 2009 rivaled the mousse cakes (recipes forthcoming), and whereas no one asked for the buche de noel recipe, this one was requested. Understandable, as it's much, much easier than the buche de noel. Brisket is basically a tough piece of beef slow-cooked until it's incredibly tender. By using the bottom of a covered roasting pan, all the drippings from the cut of meat mix with the sweet and spicy barbecue sauce and end up marinating the beef, which doesn't need to be turned once. The brisket is only marinated for 5 minutes beforehand (you could optionally leave it overnight, but it seems like overkill), as the long cooking time takes care of this for you. And, you can very roughly chop the vegetables, and leave the cloves of garlic peeled but unchopped. They don't need to be particularly pretty.

Bonnie Stern mentions using this dish's leftovers to make shepherd's pie or quesadillas. One question? What leftovers? It makes 16 servings. There was not a spot of leftovers to be seen.

4 lb beef brisket
paprika
ground cumin
salt
pepper
cayenne
large onions, sliced
carrots, sliced
garlic cloves
1 1/2 c. beer (or beef stock)
ketchup (I hate it when a recipe asks for this, but use the best quality you can find)
chili sauce (I used barbecue sauce mixed with a little asian hot sauce, but preferably use a homemade version)
1 chipotle or jalapeno
dijon mustard
brown sugar
red wine vinegar (or sherry vinegar, but red with have more flavour, like beef broth versus chicken broth)

I patted the brisket dry. I actually used four small briskets, which worked better for making sure it all got tenderized in the cooking process, but was really just all I could find. I combined the cumin, salt, pepper and cayenne and rubbed it on the brisket, washed my hands, and stuck it in the fridge to marinate until it was needed.

I chopped the onions, carrots and garlic cloves and put them in the bottom of the roasting pan. In this case it was actually better to not have these things prepped because it meant the brisket could marinate longer.

The recipe says to place the brisket on top of the vegetables now but it's best to mix the sauce first. It's so easy underestimate the amount of time you need to make a sauce and it's better if the brisket is sitting in the fridge during this time. Combine the beer, ketchup, chili sauce (bbq and hot sauce), chipotle, mustard, sugar and vinegar. NOW place the brisket on top of the vegetables and pour the sauce over top.

Cover tightly! That's important and cook at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 4 hours. The book says check every 45 minutes but this seemed ridiculous, as I had covered with foil and removing the foil was complicated, and would also result in the seal being less tight each time I return the brisket to the oven. You need to make sure there's always 2 cups of liquid in the pan, and add water if there's not enough, but if it's properly sealed this should not be a problem. So if you use a lid, check every 45 minutes, but if it's very much tightly sealed, leave it be.

After 2 hours uncover the brisket and let it roast another 30 minutes.

The next step is where Bonnie and I disagree. I would never immediately carve a roast straight out of the oven, especially one where success depends on the tenderness of the meat. So I covered it back up with aluminum foil and left it for another 30 minutes to let the juices spread evenly throughout the meat. Most roasters seem to have a traditional method of when to cover, when to uncover, when to let it sit, and I don't proclaim to have the perfect method, but I know that this one worked out very, very well. After 30 minutes the brisket basically fell into slices under my knife. It was beautiful. It smelled incredible, with chili peppers mixing with sugar and the pan juices caramelizing to create a perfect sauce to coat the freshly cut meat.

The recipe says to skim the fat from the pan juices after you've placed the meat on a serving platter, but it's very hard to do this as the sauce is thick, and you certainly don't want to waste it. Just make sure you trim the brisket before you roast it and then don't bother with skimming. Alternatively, if you leave the brisket until the next day, the fat will rise to the surface and it will be easier to separate. It will also be easier to cut into thin, equal slices, but I dare you to wait a day to eat this. After waiting 3 hours smelling the aroma, it's quite hard to resist. I certainly want to try this dish with another kind of meat that I do eat, so I can enjoy it, but the smell and the enjoyment of the party's guests was enough for the time being.

Oh, this would go really well with sweet potato. You could add it to the roasting pan with the carrots and onions. Mmm...