Brisket

Cooking Discussions Cooking, Cookbooks, Ingredients
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Here is my write-up on Grandmother Bebe’s brisket, as amended. I write my notes for a working document titled “A Delivery Skipper Cooks.” I haven’t made the brisket yet and the following will get edited based on the real world before it goes in the document in the “Cold Weather Sailing” section.

Grandmother Bebe’s brisket recipe

1 3-4 lb. brisket (some fat, not a lot; trim as appropriate)
salt, pepper, paprika
2 good-sized onions cut in eighths
1 lb carrots
1 lb celery
ketchup maybe tomato sauce/vinegar/ground cloves

There are two alternatives for cooking: in an oven or in a slow cooker. Regardless the goal is a long slow cook to break down cellular structure that leads to the tender goodness that is brisket. The oven will take a good bit of propane so if you’re going to take this route you might look at rotating other things in to share space with the brisket. Consider baking bread and making bacon. Slow cookers take surprisingly little electrical energy but if your electrical system can’t sustain roughly 100 Ah for dinner that isn’t an option for you.

For the oven, preheat to around 325 degrees F (165 C). Lubricate a pan. Veg go in the bottom of the pan as a bed, meat on top seasoned on both sides. The fat cap on the brisket goes up so the fat will melt over and into the meat. Spread ketchup over the fat cap of the meat. A clean paint brush does nicely. The brush you just used to varnish the companionway boards is not clean. Cover the pan with foil and cook for 4-1/2 hours.

Alternatively dump the veg into a slow cooker with the seasoned meat on top, cover with ketchup, and cook on low for ten to twelve hours.

Let cool and refrigerate at least overnight. Scoop out the fat that rises to the top. I’m told this makes good bait for fishing. I can’t say. I’m the poster boy for why that activity is called “fishing” and “catching.” Reserve the veg and gravy. Slice the meat into thick slices against the grain. Against the grain is critical to tender brisket or indeed a tender product from most inexpensive cuts of meat.

The veg can be served as a side.

The gravy may need some thinning. Use a mix of water and ketchup.

If ketchup is in short supply or to reduce sugar try substituting tomato sauce with a bit of vinegar and some ground clove.

Reheat sliced brisket in a stove top pan with the gravy. Freezes well long-term.

credit TheLibrarian, as amended

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42

Cool to know Bebe’s brisket will live on! Hope you enjoy it.

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I’ll report back. grin

Bebe is far from the first grandmother in my document. I do the best I can to give credit where due. Frankly it makes what I offer to others more approachable and a bit more fun.

In other threads we have talked about the long rambling stories on food blogs before you get the recipe. I work mine in. grin

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Are you the seafaring chef to your cohorts?
Using up all your fuel on one dish isn’t normal, is it?

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Not “the” but “a.”

Most boats carry two 20# or two 8 kg tanks of propane for cooking. That lasts a long time, even with long cooks. Most of us still watch consumption. As long as the oven is hot you might as well cook other things at the same time.

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46

I’m from Kansas. Sailing and boats, besides Jon boats, were not on my radar.
My BIL, however, is/was a Naval Academy grad and dedicated and enthusiastic sailor,
sailing out of somewhere on the SF peninsula close to Atherton. I think he even races.

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47

The thing is that I’m from Pittsburgh where I think it may be a felony to use any other brand of ketchup. We even used to go on factory tours at the Heinz plant which I loved, plus you would always get a highly coveted pickle pin…

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48

Sounds delicious. I may have to make this version for Rosh Hashana.

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49

You can use other brands, you just cant go to the opera or a baseball game. Do they still have Cott sodas in Pittsburgh? Their raspberry was excellent.

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I’m not familiar with Cott sodas, but we left in '63, so maybe after my time.

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Their logo was “It’s Cott to be good.”

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I know Dave stipulated this was the Jewish brisket thread, but I just had to share these from a KC bbq.

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What’s not to like???!

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As if this thread is something special and immune to drift? grin That KC BBQ looks pretty good to me. My BIL has a smoker - I might dip my toe in that someday. In the meantime I’m limited to an outdoor gas grill and wall ovens.

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55

Sorry, Dave, I didn’t read carefully when I asked earlier about the sous vide/smoked brisket! I always tell my students to read all the directions first. Guess I should follow my own advice.

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Now I have a picture in my head of school children with homework assignments that have “RTFM” scrawled on the top. I may never recover. I’m happy to foster discussion and community. Getting my questions answered is a bonus. Who knows what questions I didn’t think to ask may arise? We don’t know what we don’t know.

ETA: Then there is the story of an exam with a bunch of complex essay questions. At the very end is the instruction: write your name at the top of an otherwise blank piece of paper and turn it in.

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Ha, when we go back to in-person learning in the fall, however that may work, that image will be stuck in my head!

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See my ETA for one more image you won’t be able to erase. grin

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59

Ha, love it! Great life lesson.

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We had one of those tests on the last day of fifth grade. The key part was that question #1 read something like “Read through this whole test before doing anything else”. Then followed some very complex problems, prior to the last question which instructed “Now that you’ve read the entire page, simply write your name on the top and hand it in”.

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