I was talking with My-Sister-The-Nurse on Saturday and told her that I had cooked a brisket last week. Of course, she wanted to know what Dear Husband and I were going to do with all that beef.
We’ve cut back on our beef consumption, but every now and then one of us just gets a taste for comfort food that features beef and I head for the kitchen.
I’m not sure how big the brisket was. I’d frozen it in two pieces but I cooked all of it. My guess is that it was two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half pounds. I really wanted to use it up before it developed freezer burn.
I sliced a mammoth onion pole to pole and set the wedges of onion in the crock pot. I set the beef, now cut into four chunks, on top of the onion, added beef broth, at least two bay leaves and seasoned with salt and pepper. You could add fresh thyme sprigs, tied together with kitchen string, if you like the taste of thyme. I cooked the meat all day long on low, until it could be shredded with a fork.
That evening we had brisket with gravy, mashed potatoes, cauliflower with sauteed bread crumbs, and green beans. I know…heavy on starch and fat, but every now and then your mouth says it’s the right thing.
A couple of nights later we used the next third of the beef in a barbecue with my Mother’s barbecue sauce. It’s made with ketchup, green pepper, onion, celery, brown sugar, vinegar, and Dijon (I think). I put pickling spice in a tea ball and submerge it in the sauce, which cooks on low for thirty minutes. We normally put a diffuser under the pan to keep from decorating the kitchen. I realize that this the perfect season for it to look like there is blood everywhere, but prospective buyers of the house might be turned off. If you don’t have a diffuser, or if yours is packed away as mine is, partially cover the pan with a lid, and stir the sauce occasionally.
Today I’m using the last of the beef and broth to make a beef barley soup. I have never cooked barley! You need to cook barley for an hour, so while it was busy absorbing all that water, I chopped celery, onion and carrots and sweated them in oil with a little minced garlic. I put a large sieve in the top of the stockpot and drained all the broth into the pan, straining out the onion and beef and most of the cooled fat. I discarded the onion and most of the fat, shredded the beef into small pieces and added it to the broth. Dear Husband likes a lot of broth, so I added a bit more to the pot along with the veggies, two bay leaves and a twist of black pepper. When the veggies are fork tender, I’ll add the barley and let it simmer a bit longer.
We really like soup, so if this turns out well, I’d be likely to try it again. What could be easier!?
And that’s my story of the week in brisket.
