Julies Brisket Food

JULIE'S BRISKET

Steps:

• Mix together cranberry sauce and onion soup mix. Wrap the brisket in heavy duty aluminum foil. Pour cranberry mixture over top. Bake brisket (fully wrapped in foil) for 3 hours at 350 degrees. Put in a dish because some juice will spill out. Cool and then refrigerate overnight. Slice cold meat crosswise with a sharp knife, then place meat and sauce back in pyrex cover with foil and reheat.

BRISKET

Steps:

• For the Firehole brisket rub: Stir together the pepper, salt, seasoning salt and granulated garlic.
• For the brisket: Preheat a smoker for cooking at about 225 degrees F.
• Trim the fat on the brisket down to 1/4 inch.
• Mix pickle juice and mustard in a bowl, then rub the brisket with the mixture all over. Season brisket with enough dry rub to cover (1/2 to 1 cup). Place meat in smoker fat-side up and cook for 12 hours.
• Remove brisket from smoker and increase temperature to 300 degrees F. Wrap brisket in foil or butcher paper and place back in the smoker until internal temperature reaches 200 degrees F. Let rest for 30 minutes.

BEEF BRISKET

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• On a cutting board, mash the garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt together with the flat-side of a knife into a paste. Add the rosemary and continue to mash until incorporated. Put the garlic-rosemary paste in a small bowl and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil; stir to combine.
• Season both sides of the brisket with a fair amount of kosher salt and ground black pepper. Place a large roasting pan or Dutch oven over medium-high flame and coat with the remaining olive oil. Put the brisket in the roasting pan and sear to form a nice brown crust on both sides. Lay the vegetables all around the brisket and pour the rosemary paste over the whole thing. Add the wine and tomatoes; toss in the parsley and bay leaves. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and transfer to the oven. Bake for about 3 to 4 hours, basting every 30 minutes with the pan juices, until the beef is fork tender.
• Remove the brisket to a cutting board and let it rest for 15 minutes. Scoop the vegetables out of the roasting pan and onto a platter, cover to keep warm. Pour out some of the excess fat, and put the roasting pan with the pan juices on the stove over medium-high heat. Boil and stir for 5 minutes until the sauce is reduced by 1/2. (If you want a thicker sauce, mix 1 tablespoon of flour with 2 tablespoons of wine or water and blend into the gravy).
• Slice the brisket across the grain (the muscle lines) at a slight diagonal. Serve with potato pancakes.
• Using a box grater or food processor, coarsely grate the potatoes and onions. Put the grated potatoes and onions together in cheesecloth or a tea towel and twist it to squeeze out the excess liquid. Put the dry potatoes and onions in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Fold in the egg whites and chives to bind the mixture together.
• Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat and coat with 1/4-inch of oil. For each pancake, take about 2 tablespoons of the potato mixture and drop into the hot oil; gently flatten with a spatula so they fry up thin and crispy. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until golden. Remove to paper towels to drain; season with salt while the potato pancakes are still hot. Continue frying, adding more oil as needed, until all of the mixture is used up. Serve immediately with apple sauce, if desired.

JULIA CHILD'S SMOTHERED BEEF BRISKET

Steps:

• In a small bowl, mash the salt and thyme into the puréed garlic with the flat side of a large kitchen knife.
• Beat the oil and pepper into the garlic mixture and spread this mixture over both sides of the brisket.
• Toss the vegetables in a large bowl with a little salt and thyme.
• Spread half of the vegetable mixture in the bottom of a roasting pan.
• Place beef, fat side up, on top of the vegetables.
• Cover with the remaining vegetables.
• Cover the pan tightly with foil.
• (This dish may be prepared to this point in advance and refrigerated.).
• When ready to cook, cook--basting with pan juices every 1/2 hour--in a 300° oven 3-4 hours until a fork goes into the meat easily; by the end of cooking, the meat will have shrunk.
• **** If you are not serving the meat until the next day, transfer the meat with its vegetables to a smaller pot; degrease the juices and pour them over the brisket and chill, uncovered, until cooled; then cover and keep in the refrigerator up to 2 days. To reheat, put this dish in a 350° oven for 20 minutes, basting 2-3 times with its juices. ****.
• Remove the beef with its vegetable topping to a cutting board.
• Pour the juices into a saucepan, degrease, and rapidly boil down almost to a syrup.
• If you wish, you can thicken the juice into a sauce with 1-1/2 Tbs cornstarch blended with 2 Tbs of either wine or stock.
• Carve the meat across the grain into thin slanting slices.
• Accompany each serving of meat with 1-2 spoonfuls sauce and vegetables.

EASY BAKED BEEF BRISKET

Steps:

• Season both sides of the brisket generously with salt, pepper, and cayenne. For best results, place brisket over an aluminum foil "rack" set over a plate and refrigerate, uncovered, 8 to 12 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and salt. Cook and stir until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, rosemary, and apple juice. Increase heat to high and boil until liquid is reduced by about half, about 3 minutes.
• Transfer half of the apple-onion mixture into a baking dish. Place brisket fat-side up on top; cover with remaining apple-onion mixture. Cover baking dish tightly with foil.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees F (121 degrees C) and bake until fork-tender, about 2 hours 15 minutes. Check for doneness after 2 hours.
• Transfer brisket to a plate and tent with foil.
• Pour the onions and braising liquid into a large measuring cup or bowl. Skim some fat off the top. Puree with a stick blender to create a gravy.
• Slice brisket across the grain and serve with the gravy.

GRANDMA SYLVIA'S BRISKET

Steps:

• Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown brisket on both sides and transfer it to a deep pot.
• Stir in tomato paste, water, onions, carrots, mushrooms, garlic powder, sugar, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until meat is tender, about 2 1/2 hours. Transfer to a baking dish, cool, and refrigerate overnight.
• About 1 1/2 hours before serving, preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Skim off fat residue from sauce and slice brisket across the grain. Layer beef, vegetables, and sauce in a baking dish.
• Cover pan with foil and bake in preheated oven until hot, about 1 hour.

THE BEEFIEST, JUICIEST BRISKET WHAT AM! THE SMOKYOKIE METHOD

Steps:

• Select the best brisket by wiggling the brisket back and forth@ the middle of the point end. This will tell you how fatty the point cut is, and how much fat layer there is between the point and flat cut. The easier it wiggles, the better. Buy the cheapest grade you can get. We want as little marbling as possible. Be sure you have a whole "packer trim" brisket, and not a flat cut or point cut. 12-13# is optimum for this application.
• 1-2 days before, rub brisket well with rub, and wrap tightly with H.D. plastic wrap, place in pan and refrigerate, or place in ice chest.
• The day of the cook, start early by moving the brisket out of the fridge and packing it with black pepper.
• Prepare your fire for the smoker, and, on a separate grill, prepare a VERY hot fire for searing the brisket.
• When smoker is up to temp(250*-275*) sear brisket thoroughly on all sides and ends as well. We're talking so black that it looks like it's ruined, but don't worry, it's not. While it's OK to pierce the meat with a fork 2 this point, it's preferable not to. You may need help turning it w/ tongs.
• Once seared, place brisket in foil pan, fat side up, and smoke, uncovered for 2 hours.
• Flip brisket and smoke for 1 hour. At this point, the juices inside are under a fair amount of pressure. It is important not to pierce the meat from this point until it is done.
• Flip brisket back to fat side up, and cover with foil.
• Continue to smoke until internal temperature of 200* is obtained. There will come a point where the temp won't go up no matter what you do. This is normal. Resist the temptation to kick up the temp in your smoker. Time remaining to achieve 200* should be 5-9 hours. The reason for such a large variable is that smoker temps are not precise, and amount of "open time" will vary from cook to cook.
• When 200* is obtained, remove from smoker, and allow to cool until it is safe to handle, then carefully lift brisket out and remove to a cutting board, and tent w/ foil. A long spatula, or some other long support will be helpful, because it will probably try to break up on you. Run pan juices through a grease separator, and freeze smoky grease in ice cube trays for baked bean seasoning (folks that've never had beans that way will be in awe). Reserve pan juice to serve over brisket.
• Once cooled enough, separate the point from the flat. There will be a fairly easy to follow fat layer separating the two. Just gently slide a knife through the fat and lift and pull the point away as you cut. If you accidentally cut into the meat, it's no tragedy, just back up a little, and go at it again.
• Once separated, slice the point cross grain, trimming off excess fat as you go. You will likely find several slices that are too fatty to serve, or maybe some of the outer shell that's too dry to serve. Reserve this meat, chop it fine, freeze, and save for baked bean seasoning.
• If you look at the flat, you will see that the grain of the meat changes direction about in the middle of the cut. Cut the flat in half at this point, and slice cross grain in 1/2#-3/4# slices.
• Reheat the pan juices. There should be adequate juices to saturate the brisket. If not, supplement with store bought au jus.
• Place sliced brisket in pan or dish with slices in the same shape as they were before slicing, and pour juices over the top.
• Serve open faced on white bread with a little extra au jus over the top.
• You should not need knives. In fact, our motto is "You Don't Need Teef To Eat Our Beef.
• I know this is somewhat long and wordy, and may seem a little over simplified to the experienced pit meister, but we've tried to put it in a form that all can benefit from. Good tender, juicy smokey, brisket is to good a thing to only be enjoyed by a few, and is very hard to come by at BBQ joints.

BRISKET WITH HERBED SPINACH STUFFING

Steps:

• Make stuffing:
• Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, garlic and thyme; sauté until onions soften, about 5 minutes. Cool 15 minutes. Mix in spinach and matzo. Season stuffing with salt and pepper. Mix in egg.
• Make brisket:
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut deep pocket in 1 side of brisket, leaving 3/4-inch border of meat uncut on remaining 3 sides. Fill pocket with stuffing. Skewer or sew pocket closed. Sprinkle salt and pepper all over brisket.
• Arrange half of onions in bottom of large roasting pan. Place brisket, fat side up, on onions. Top brisket with remaining onions. Pour 1/4 cup broth into pan. Bake brisket uncovered until meat and onions begin to brown, about 1 hour.
• Add carrots, celery, garlic, thyme and bay leaf to pan around brisket. Pour remaining 2 cups broth over. Cover pan with foil. Reduce temperature to 300°F. Bake brisket until tender, about 2 1/2 hours longer. Remove from oven. Uncover pan; let brisket stand 30 minutes. Thinly slice brisket across grain. Overlap slices on platter. Surround with vegetables from pan. Spoon off fat from pan juices; season juices with salt and pepper. Serve brisket with pan juices.