CEiMB: Sweet and Sour Brisket

For this weeks edition of Craving Ellie in My Belly, Natalie of What's For Supper, picked Sweet and Sour Brisket.

Living in Texas, you eat a lot of brisket. Or at least in my family you do. Its the standard go to food (along with ribs and sausage...ie BBQ) for any type of event...even when you request/demand snow crab for your high school/college graduation (bitter? not me! lol). Anyway, its an easy way to feed a crowd and all it takes is some low and slow heat.

Brisket is also easy to convert into other meals. You usually end up with lots of leftovers so its not hard to use it for sandwiches and burritos among other things. This is perfect for someone like me who is single and it can be a pain to cook food that won't go to waste.

I was slightly nervous starting out with this challenge because I have never made brisket myself. Its always my dad or my mom who fix it. But it seemed easy enough from the recipe so I wasn't that nervous. Because it can be pricey, I went to Sam's Club to get the meat. That is were my parents usually get theirs so I knew it would be good. I was worried I would have to get one of the big slabs but they had perfect 3-4 lb portions available. Perfect! I'll definitely be getting more from them in the future.

Having never made brisket myself before, I didn't realize how much of a pain it was to remove the excess fat. That was the hardest part about the whole thing! It did not want to come off! Grrrr...

After the excess fat was finally removed, I seared the meat and made the sauce to pour over it. The tomato/raisin combo seemed strange and it seemed even stranger when I replaced the raisins with dried cranberries. Oh well. Into the oven and let the 3 hour wait begin!!

The brisket was quite tasty. I didn't really get the sweet and sour bit but it was still juicy and tender. The sauce wasn't very tomatoey and the dried cranberries were very good with the brisket. The tomato/dried cranberry combo was actually tasty. I paired it with sour cream smashed potatoes and cheesy cornbread. A nice, filling Sunday evening dinner! And plenty of leftovers for the rest of the week!

Ingredients

* 1 (3-pound) beef brisket, first-cut or flat-half cut, trimmed of any excess fat
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 2 tablespoons canola oil
* 1 medium onion, cut in 1/2, then thinly sliced into 1/2 moons
* 3 cloves garlic, chopped (about 1 tablespoon)
* One 15- oz. can tomato sauce, preferably no salt added
* 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth or water
* 3 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar
* 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon cider vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)
* 1/3 cup raisins (I used dried cranberries)
* 5 black peppercorns
* 1 allspice berry

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Pat the brisket dry and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven or braising pot. Sear the brisket until it is browned, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer the brisket to a plate.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pot and cook the onion, stirring a few times, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the tomato sauce, broth, brown sugar, 1/3 cup of the vinegar, the raisins, peppercorns, and allspice and stir to combine well. Bring mixture to a boil, return brisket and any accumulated juices to the pot, spoon some of the tomato-vinegar mixture over the brisket, cover tightly, and transfer to the oven. Cook until the brisket is fork tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Remove the brisket from the oven, transfer the meat to a cutting board, and let rest for 10 to 20 minutes or, if serving later, cover and refrigerate the meat and sauce for several hours or overnight. When you are ready to serve, cut the meat against the grain into 1/4- inch thick slices. Stir the remaining 1 tablespoon vinegar into the warm sauce. Return the sliced brisket to the sauce until heated through, then serve.

Yield: 10 servings, serving size: 4-ounces brisket plus 3 tablespoons of sauce

Adapted from The Foods You Crave. Also available here.