A Nice Brisket - and a 100th Post Giveaway

My mother is not much of a cook.
I think she owns 2 cookbooks, one certainly published by the temple sisterhood, circa 1970. The other was probably a gift. I don't recall her ever using either.
Sorry kids, there is no undiscovered trove of Grandma's recipes or words of kitchen wisdom to pass down to the next generation.

She can make a very good noodle pudding and an excellent roasted chicken. But no gravy - that was (and still is) beyond her capabilities.


She had a small repertoire of "specialties" that included roast beef, steak, american chop suey and a "nice brisket". I'm not sure why she called it that. Would she ever serve a not-so-nice brisket?

The brisket was quite good, if you like brisket. It never really excited me. The potatoes were better.

But recently, I needed to make a sort of Hanukkah meal and the first thing I thought of was brisket. I prefer spaghetti and meatballs, but that just doesn't say "festival of lights" to me.

I did not turn to Mom for the recipe, because I doubt there is one.
I turned to these two lovely ladies, the Brass sisters,  Marilynn and Sheila.

Their cookbook, Heirloom Cooking, is like having your great-grandmother's recipe box close at hand. If your great-grandma was worldly and an excellent cook. The book is filled with recipes from various cultures and eras, like Crispy Norwegian Potatoes and Shrimp Creole. They were culled from handwritten, genuine passed-down-through-the-family recipes.
Just not my family.

Believe me, the Brass sisters know from a nice brisket.

The gravy is to die for, and I rarely say that about anything that isn't chocolate.
 And it cooks for a long, long time, making your house smell wonderful, especially on a snowy day. I served it with roast potatoes and our favorite Brussels sprouts.
The Brass sisters recommend making this a day ahead and reheating it.

Brisket
adapted from Heirloom Cooking with the Brass Sisters


4-5 lb. beef brisket

1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 tsps. paprika

2 tsps. coarse salt

1 tsp. coarsely ground pepper

2 Tbsps. extra-virgin olive oil

2 1/2 cups chopped onion

2 cups chopped carrots

2 1/2 cups low-sodium beef broth

1 1/2 cups red wine

3/4 cup apricot jam

1/4 cup ginger jam (in most grocery stores)

1/2 cup ketchup

3 Tbsps. tomato paste

1/2 tsp. hot chilies, finely chopped

1 tsp. prepared mustard (like Dijon)

3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Line a large roasting pan with foil and coat with vegetable spray.

Rinse brisket under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. Place brisket in prepared pan, lean side up.


Combine brown sugar, paprika, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Rub half of mixture over the top of brisket. Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Remove pan from oven and flip brisket so the fatty side is up. Spread remaining seasoning mixture on this side (use the back of a tablespoon). Return to oven and bake another 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oil in large frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and carrot, then cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside until needed.

Whisk beef stock, wine, apricot jam, ginger jam, ketchup, tomato paste, chilies and mustard in a large bowl until well blended.

Remove brisket from oven. Pour stock mixture into pan, lifting up the brisket to make sure liquid flows beneath it. Scatter about half the cooked onions and carrots on bottom of pan, and set brisket on top. Spread remaining vegetables and garlic on top of brisket.
Cover pan tightly with foil and reduce heat to 325. Return pan to oven, and bake until fork tender, about 4 hours.

Carefully remove pan from oven. Transfer brisket to platter and allow it to cool to room temperature.

Pour braising liquid into a large clean bowl with a strainer set over it, to catch the onions and carrots. Place onions and carrots into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse several times to puree. Add pureed vegetables back into braising liquid and whisk to blend thoroughly. Store cooled gravy in a covered container in the refrigerator.

When brisket has cooled, cover with foil and refrigerate.
When ready to serve (next day), heat oven to 350. Remove brisket from fridge 1/2 hour before reheating.
Pour about 1 cup of gravy over meat, cover, and reheat for about 40 minutes. Reheat gravy in saucepan over low heat.
Slice against the grain and serve with gravy.


My 100th post!
Wow.
In honor of this milestone, I'm giving away another custom-made Mignardise apron.

If you want it to be yours, just leave me a comment on this post. I'll have my trusty assistant draw a name at random.
True, it's a bribe to get more comments. Totally worth it.

Harvest on the Harbor Part II

A week ago Saturday was the HOH Culinary Marketplace, a full day event at the beautiful Ocean Gateway terminal in Portland. Instead of being merely an observer/taster like I had been before (see my previous HOH post), this day I had an official badge that read "Exhibitor". That's because I was working with Jackie Dennis, who owns a store in Portland called J'Accents. Jackie is a lovely British woman with flawless taste. The store is brimming with color and filled with "inspirational tablescapes". I work there, very part-time, simply because I enjoy being around such beautiful things. It's fun to arrange and re-arrange them, and help people find ways to update their tables.
We had an area at HOH where we could show off some of our merchandise and our display skills. We spent days choosing the right place settings and linen to take, then wrapping fragile items in bubble wrap. We trucked it all to the terminal, carried it up a long ramp, unpacked it all and began to set up. When we finished several hours later, we had 6 tables full of color and texture.

 

  

                                                                    

 We used nuts, bread and candy corn to fill bowls. We put aged Gouda and crackers under the Simon Pearce cheese dome. Empty spaces were filled in with dried gourds, leaves and candles. With the light flowing in from the terminal's huge windows, the displays looked gorgeous. I stayed there most of the day, talking with both old and new customers. It was fun to meet others who are as obsessed with tableware as we are.

Downstairs, on the pier, was where most of the food vendors had their booths set up. No need for a real lunch when there were so many samples to be had. I followed the irresistible scent of barbecue to DennyMike's, where they were serving up pulled pork with a couple of their sauces.The Hot 'n Nasty was truly hot with habeneros. The vinegary Carolina-style tasted just like the sauce my friend Joni used to bring back from her visits home to North Carolina. But the Sweet 'n Spicy was definitely the winner. I can't wait to try it at home. Moving on, there was crab bisque, seafood chowder, biscuits and bread, more barbecue, and more seafood to be tasted. And that was before I even got to the sweet stuff.

I was glad to see my favorite whoopie pie makers, Cranberry Island Kitchen. More refined than your average Maine convenience store whoopie pie, these delicious treats are shaped like mussels, scallops and at this time of year, mini pumpkins. I tried them with maple creme filling and espresso creme, along with the traditional vanilla. OMG. Really, I could do without the pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving and just order a bunch of these (if only my husband would let me get away with it!). I wish I had a picture, but I was too busy eating, so you'll just have to check out their website.

Later in the afternoon I met the delightful Brass Sisters,  Marilynn and Sheila. They were signing copies of their new cookbook, Heirloom Cooking with the Brass Sisters. These ladies call themselves the "queens of comfort food", and if you take a look at their book, it'll be obvious why. They have collected recipes from the treasured notebooks of home cooks, called manuscript cookbooks. Many come from their own mother, including the quintessential Mama's Chicken Soup and Romanian Stuffed Cabbage. The recipes are culturally diverse, hearty and full of nostalgia for simpler times.They suggested I try "Aunt Ruth's Dilly Casserole Bread" and I plan to one day soon. I'll let you know how it goes.

PS - I have not been paid or compensated in any way by any of the companies mentioned here, in exchange for those mentions.  However, as stated, I do work part-time at J'Accents.