Hello and welcome back to my first food post of the year!
I must admit that I often find myself so busy with work, blogging, kids and uni (in no particular order of priority) that as usual, Foodie Fridays has the poor neglected “fifth child.”
Today I am sharing with you a recipe I made last week called “Hanukkah” brisket.
Now obviously I am not Jewish… and the closest thing to celebrating Hanukkah that I’ve ever come to is our very good friends Moo and Charlotte (hi guys!) who celebrate “Chrismukkah” every year. I have good friends (who I must say I haven’t seen in ages – yes that’s you Jazzy and Hen) who do celebrate Hanukkah, so I’m sure they will let me know if this recipe is authentic or not.
I don’t know a lot about Hanukkah, except that it is a celebration of Jewish faith and commemorates the rebuilding of abig temple many years ago after a war destroyed it.
I am road testing this recipe of Andrew Zimmern (celebrity foodie/chef), who I actually love to watch on the food channel with his show “Bizarre foods, delicious destinations.” I love being grossed out by what he eats! I think the grossest thing ever saw him eat on the show was a dung beetle. Mind you, he has eaten heaps of other gross stuff too, including a fermented sheep’s head, “hakarl” (rotten sleeper shark), and penises from many different animals. Still not as gross as my all time favourite when I saw Robson Green (on his show “Extreme fishing”) in Africa eating fly soup (literally made with boiled flies *vomits into mouth*).
Anyhoo, I digress. The above examples should NOT suggest to you that this guy only loves to eat disgusting things… He is actually an acclaimed food expert/critic, chef and restaurateur. This brisket is actually really tasty and very easy to prep and the only ingredient I didn’t already have at home was the red wine vinegar… easy solved with a quick trip to the shops! I prolly could have used red wine, but I didn’t already have a bottle open and I was in the mood for bubbles that day 😀
The original recipe I obtained from here: https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/hanukkah-brisket
…but I did alter it – because my little family couldn’t eat 4 kg of brisket on our own! Brisket is sooo yummy. Probably because it is fatty, it is tender and juicy when it is cooked properly. The original recipe calls for 6 hours of baking in an oven… but seriously – who has time for that??? I usually make my Chinese 5 spice brisket when I have this cut of meat… I honestly don’t think this Hanukkah recipe is as good as my variation on my beloved mum’s recipe (disclaimer: I’m very biased 😉 ) BUT I needed an alternative brisket recipe! Hence this road test.
This is my pressure cooker and slightly smaller variation on Andrew Zimmern’s original recipe. For me it served 3 adults, 2 small children and we had enough for 2 adult sized meals left over.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tbs dried thyme
- 2 tbs smoked paprika (I didn’t have sweet)
- 3 tbs freshly chopped sage (I didn’t have dried stuff and I grow it fresh in the garden)
- 1 tbs freshly ground black pepper
- a good pinch or more of sea salt
- 2kg whole beef brisket
- vegetable oil for browning the meat (about 1/4 cup)
- 5 medium sized brown onions sliced
- 2 cups of beef stock
- 1 cup of red wine vinegar
- 1 can (400g) tomato puree
- 8 cloves of peeled garlic
- 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
- 1 bay leaf (first time I used a bay leaf from my tree! I’ve only had it 2 years – ha ha ha!!)
- 3 fennel bulbs cut through core into wedges
METHOD
- Mix your herbs and seasonings (thyme, paprika, sage, ground pepper and 1 tablespoon of sea salt) in a bowl. Rub the spice mixture all over the brisket and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour (or if you are not organised like me, just rub it on and then get on with the rest of the recipe! ;P ).
- Heat the wok and pour the oil around the sides. Add the brisket to the wok and cook over moderately high heat, turning once, until browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer the brisket to your pressure cooker.
- Add the onions and a generous pinch of salt to the wok. Cook over a moderate heat (stirring so it doesn’t catch) until onions are browned. Add the beef stock, vinegar, tomato puree, garlic, peppercorns and bay leaf and bring to a simmer. Pour over the brisket in the pressure cooker, then nestle the fennel in the braising liquid around it.
- Set the pressure cooker to high pressure (my Breville Fast Slow Pro has a setting for 80kPa, but my old Morphy Richards (may it RIP – it is now in landfill) only had one setting and that did just fine) and cook for 90 minutes (to be fair it’d prolly by done in 60-70 min, but I like my brisket extra fall-to-pieces-tender).
- Skim the fat off the braising liquid. Carve the brisket and transfer to a platter. Serve with the pan juices and vegetables.
Nom nom nom.
This recipe got a 3.75/5 from me. It was really yummy… but not as good as my mum’s brisket ;P
Till next time!! Keep on cooking and post me a pic or a comment of what you are making!!
Catch you Monday – give this a go this weekend!!
xxDr Megs
