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© 2003-2007 Michael C. Berch
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Thu, 04 Jan 2007

The Berch family brisket

It is said that all Jewish holidays reduce to the simple formula, "They tried to kill us -- we won -- let's eat!" (original source unknown; often attributed to comedian Alan King). We Berches stuck to the formula, and every Jewish holiday of note was accompanied by a festive meal, the centerpiece of which was almost always a pot-roasted brisket.

When I was a kid my favorite holiday was naturally Chanukah, since we celebrated it pretty much as a Christmas substitute, with seasonal decorations, music, eight nights of presents (giving us Jewish kids a sense of winter-holiday superiority), and, on the first night, the brisket dinner.

My mother cooked the traditional brisket, and after she died, my father carried on, thus he's done it for the last 20 years, with the two of us (and an occasional guest) sharing Chanukah dinner. This year I thought it might be fun to help my dad cook the brisket. I'd been there to lift the pot in and out of the oven, of course, and turn the meat, but never paid much attention to the recipe, nor had I ever seen it written down. So this time I was determined to take notes, ask questions, and make sure I could reproduce the dish and share it with the readers of Berch on Food.

What surprised me is how simple it was. Naturally, since this is home-style cooking derived from Eastern European shtetl traditions, I didn't expect something requiring a gourmet kitchen, exotic ingredients, or exacting technique. But really, it's amazingly tasty given the simplicity of the preparation.

There's only one tricky bit in all this, and that's finding a decent brisket. What you need is a full-cut brisket, that is, not the so-called "flat cut" that is usually the only brisket available in most supermarket meat departments, even those with actual butchers. The brisket is made up of two major muscles which run at an angle to each other; the bottom one is relatively flat, and very lean, and produces the flat cut. The upper muscle, often called the "cap", is somewhat dome-shaped. You want both together: the reason is that the bottom muscle does not have enough fat to produce the delicious, tender, mouth feel of the dish and the rich jus that it produces. (Some years ago, when my mother was on a severely fat-restricted diet, we tried it with the flat cut, and it was just not the same.)

The Berch recipe calls for a 10-lb. brisket, plus or minus. You can special-order it from a decent butcher, or, quite often find it around Passover and Chanukah in areas with a significant Jewish population. Sometimes the warehouse-style stores like Costco and Sam's Club carry it. My dad found this one at Smart & Final. Or, you might just get lucky; call around. (Make sure what you ask for is a full-cut brisket with the cap, not a "whole brisket", which is a much larger cut of meat not really suited for the home kitchen, and explain what you're planning. And, needless to say, a corned beef or otherwise pre-seasoned or marinated brisket can't be used for this.)

Anyway, here's the scoop:

Full-cut beef brisket, approx. 10 lbs.
2 medium onions
paprika (just the regular stuff, nothing artisanal or extra-spicy)
salt
pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450F. Chop onions.
2. Coat both sides of brisket liberally with paprika, salt, and pepper.
3. Prepare roasting pan -- we use an enamel-coated iron Descoware from France which is from the 1950s or '60s -- with nonstick spray or some olive oil.
4. Place brisket fat side up in pan and cover with chopped onions.
5. Roast in oven for 30 minutes at 450. This will brown the onions.
6. Turn oven down to 350F.
7. Move onions from top of brisket into the pan, and immediately add hot water, up to a level near the top of the meat.
8. Continue to roast at 350 for a further 2 to 2.5 hours, adding more water periodically, turning meat twice. It's done when it is tender to a fork.
9. Remove brisket from pan and let rest for 10 minutes. Retain liquids from pan and serve as a light jus gravy; do not thicken.

For holiday meals, my dad makes this a couple of hours in advance, lets the meat rest much longer, slices it, and re-warms it in the gravy. I'm not sure this adds anything, but it is convenient to have it ready in advance if you're cooking other dishes. For Chanukah this is served, of course, with latkes (potato, sweet potato, or matzoh meal), and for other holidays, with kasha, mashed potatoes, kugel, or even egg noodles. Leftovers are pretty versatile and can easily be reheated in the gravy, and eventually make great sandwiches. This can even be cooked and frozen without too much loss of flavor or texture. Family traditions aside, this is my favorite non-smoked brisket or pot roast. I'm going to see if I can get it to work with short ribs or other cuts, too.

Posted at 11:08 | permanent link

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