The Brisket Wars are on

I collect Brisket recipes not because it is my favorite food, which it isn't, but because I prepare all the Jewish Holidays ever since the torch was passed to me and my sister bolted for a foreign country. She's the oldest and I had always planned on being the princess, but she outsmarted me. Well she actually does all the work in her neck of the woods so we are both cooking, but I do two nights even though I swear every year I won't. Heck, it's tradition and who am I to tempt fate...

The family traditional brisket actually dates back only to my mother the naturally good cook. Her mother was not so good except for a few signature items which she left no recipes and we have unsuccessfully tried to recreate. My dads mom was not a cook. I hear stories that she made good gefillte fish but I don't think she was making it by the time I would have considered eating it. She did always have apples.

My mother never gave me an exact recipe but I will try and impart my interpretation in addition for those who keep kosher for Passover I do my own ketchup substitute. I don't use kosher meat so I guess I am already breaking the rules. I will embrace the term "kosher style".

Pre-heat oven to 325
5lbs Brisket ( I generally use first cut)
2-3 cups of red wine (good wine, Merlot, Cabernet etc)
1/2 cup ketchup
onions-lots (those were my mothers words) 1-2 large, 4 medium
enough for making a bed on the bottom of the pan
carrots-lots, i found that using regular carrots that you peel have more
flavor 4,5, 6 eyeball it
salt, pepper, paprika,parsley, thyme, bay leaf

I use a large roasting pan, or a dutch oven with a heavy lid or a roaster with a lid. It depends how much I am making.

Spray the meat with some oil or rub some on and then season with kosher salt and pepper. Sear the meat 5-10 minutes per side either in the pan you will use to cook it it or another heavy pan if you are going to bake it in a disposable roaster. Another option is to sear it under the broiler which is what my mother does.
While the meat sears slice the onions (you can use a food processor for this) and the carrots.

Make a bed of onions and carrots on the bottom of the pan and season with salt, pepper, thyme and parsley you can throw in two bay leaves at this time. (these are all dry spices not fresh since this thing will cook for hours.

Mix the ketchup and the wine together. Lay the meat fat side up on the bed of onions and carrots. Season the meat with thyme, parsley, paprika, liberally.Pour the wine and ketchup mixture over the meat.

I just learned something fun from Ina Garten the Barefoot Contessa, put a piece of parchment paper in between the meat and the tin foil you will use to tightly cover the pan. So meat is in the pan, place a piece of parchment paper loosely on top and then cover with tightly with heavy duty foil. I do this twice unless I am using a pan with a separate lid and then I use one wrapping of foil. Cook for 31/2 hours. You can check it at 3 hours and see if a fork comes out easily, but it could go 31/2 til 4. I try not to cook it til death since I usually make it 2 days ahead and re-heat it at 325-350 for 30- 45 minutes until heated through. I also make it way ahead and freeze the sliced meat wrapped tightly separate from the sauce which is also frozen.
Here is the potchky part. When the meat comes out of the oven if it is cooked til very tender take it out of the pan to cool before slicing . If you leave it in the pan and the sauce and covered it will keep on cooking and you could get a stringy mess. If it feels like it could cook a little longer you could let it cool in the pan but remember it will continue cooking and you have the reheating process to get it cooked some more. (brisket is trial and error and it is never exactly the same twice, but like the potatoes it should get to different degrees of yumminess not good vs bad!!)

Strain the gravy into a saucepan to separate the cooked carrots and the onions from the juice. Keep the veggies. Either use a fat separator or cool the gravy in the fridge to let the fat rise to the top so you can remove it.
For a thicker sauce Pour some gravy and add some of the onion and carrot mixture in a blender. Blend together and then pour this back into the rest of the gravy. You can decide how thick or thin you like your sauce. When the meat has cooled slice it against the grain into fairly thin slices. To reheat lay the slices in the pan and pour the sauce over the meat until it is covered. Heat until warmed through. It's up to you if you want to use the cooked carrots and onions with the meat. I usually dont though I have used them in a Matzo Kugel. Good flavor.

For Passover I substitute ketchup with:
8oz of tomato sauce
handful of brown sugar
2Tbl cider vinegar (i really just eyeball it)

In the heyday when everyone was around I made about 20lbs of this stuff.
It freezes well but works best if frozen with meat and sauce separated.

Hope you enjoy!!! Sweet and Sour and Bar-b-q recipes to follow.