Pierson Stephanie - The brisket book : a love story with recipes

Copyright 2011 by Stephanie Pierson. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written
permission except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews.

Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC
an Andrews McMeel Universal company
1130 Walnut Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106

APPR

E-ISBN: 978-1-4494-0699-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011921500
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Edited by Dorothy Kalins, Dorothy Kalins Ink, LLC
Design and illustrations by Happy Menocal
Cover design by Happy Menocal

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To Eric: More tender than

To Phoebe and Hazel. To Megan and Lucy.

Ive got the best recipe ever.

To Dorothy Kalins, Editor and Forever Friend:

Thanks for your insight, vision, and brilliance.

Anyone can make a brisketyou can make it sing.

To Roger Sherman: Thank you for bringing this book to gorgeous juicy life with your spirited, spontaneous, stylish photographs.

Czanne? No, Joan Nathan. This glorious Still Life With Brisket Prep was created in her own kitchen.

Some foods will improve your meal, your mood, your day, your buttered noodles. Brisket will improve your life. A well-cooked brisket is meltingly tender, soothing, savory, warming, welcoming.

Brisket isnt some snobby dish you cant pronounce or afford. Its not poshrarely has a truffle ever gone into the making of one. Culinary expert and food historian Nach Waxman (who seems to have the worlds most Googled braised brisket recipe) says, Brisket is a real family and friends meal. Its not something youd serve at a grand djeuner.

In a world of Rachel Zoe makeovers, brisket is completely comfortable with what it isnt. It is a workhorse meal, says The New Best Recipe, From the Editors of Cooks Illustrated, a book that musters up a hell of a lot more enthusiasm for flank steak. Molecular gastronomists have not been able to alter briskets perfect DNA or turn it into a foam. Its as content bathed in Heinz ketchup as it is nestled in a day-after taco. Its so simple and forgiving that even the worst cook can make a good one. Its a happy interfaith marriage: in Simon Hopkinsons recipe for Boiled Beef and Carrots with Parsley Dumplings and Chrain, brisket is served with classic English dumplings and sauced with a Jewish beetroot and horseradish pure.

Every country, every community, every culture, every family seems to have a brisket recipe. Just the of the word brisket is mind-boggling. But while there are millions of brisket recipes and thousands of reasons they came to be, there are essentially only three cooking techniques. You can braise a brisket, barbecue it, or brine it so it becomes corned beef. Its that simple.

Brisket can be the star of the show or it can play a supporting role, with equal success. Boiled gently, brisket is the key player in a French pot-au-feu. Its a defining ingredient in Italian bollito misto. Alsatians build their choucroute garnie on brisket. In Slavic regions, its the basis of a great borscht. Eastern Europeans have traditionally cooked it as cholent, a Sabbath stew, and for tzimmes, a fruit or vegetable stew thats served on Rosh Hashanah. Hong Kong noodle soups are often simmered with tender pieces of beef brisket.

Sure, you can gussy a brisket up (Boeuf en Daube la Provenale la Julia Child), but a basic brisket requires little more than a few juicy ingredients to keep it from drying out and the patience to wait for it to cook s l o w l y. With an oven temperature that rarely goes above 325F and a smoker temperature that hovers around 225F, brisket is not for the Type A gourmet. Cooking time is anywhere from three hours for a braised brisket to thirteen hours in a smoker (a veritable miniature sweat lodge for a properly barbecued brisket) plus overnight time for the rub. Want a corned beef? Expect your brisket to brine for up to six or seven days. Got a lot of time on your hands? Chef Todd Grays sous vide brisket takes around thirty hours from start to finish. Time and the brisket are friends.

While a braised brisket is like nothing else, it is often confused with its boring cousin, pot roast. A brisket isin the most literal sensea pot roast. That is, a roast that is cooked in a pot. But a pot roast is not necessarily a brisket. The cooking methodbraisingis the same for both, but a pot roast can be made with lots of different cuts of meatsometimes brisket, but more often rump, chuck, or round. So a pot roast is a braised beef dish. Bonus round: Whats the difference between braising and stewing? Stewing requires more liquid. And braising results in a more concentrated sauce.

Let me just say what you can already feel. I love brisket. I say, a brisket in every pot, in every Crock-Pot, on every Weber, in every barbecue joint, on every Passover platter, in every deli, at every butcher, in every food truck, on every TV food show, food site, food blog.

And I love leftovers. (Brisket Rule #1: Make a Lot. Brisket Rule #2: Make More.) Brisket with biscuits and gravy. Brisket hash. Brisket in an enchilada. Reheated brisket on a slice of challah. Just the fragrant aroma of brisket cooking is deliciousI dont even have to taste it to know how ambrosial and full-out flavorful it will be when it is finally on my plate.

Anyone can go to the bakery for a birthday cake! The founder of noexcusesbbq.com went to his Weber and whipped up this rocking barbecued brisket birthday cake for his daughter.

If I am crazy about brisket, I have found out, to my delight, so are millions of others. If you enter brisket on the Chowhound boards, youll find a feeding frenzy of posts: Too Much Leftover Smoked Brisket! Should I Have Rinsed the Corned Beef Brisket? Stringy BrisketWhy? Has Anyone Tried Ina Gartens Brisket? You would never find such responses for rump roast or chuck or even leg of lamb. Then theres the brisket lover in Oregon who surprised his daughter with a barbecued brisket birthday cakea large rectangular piece of smoked meat with brightly colored candles stuck in the top. The Obamas served a brisket at their first Passover seder in the White House. There are brisket jokes, brisket cartoons, brisket lyrics, Louis Armstrong YouTube brisket videos. And you dont even have to eat it to love it: Ive heard angels singing when I cut it, confesses a believer.