This is the best tasting dish of pot roast—aka braised beef—from a repertoire of various methods in which to cook tougher cuts of meat. Here a brisket is dredged lightly in seasoned flour, browned in a Dutch oven, onions are then sautéed in the pot with a few cloves of crushed garlic and braised in liquid such as beef or chicken stock. It’s cooked slowly either on top of the stove or the oven. This is the basic method for braised beef.
In this version I add a sweet and sour element: dark raisins are soaked in Sherry and added to the pot in the final hour of cooking with a sweet-sour mix of brown sugar and vinegar. What emerges is one of the most delicious dishes for braised brisket. It can be the traditional centerpiece at a Passover table or made any time of year for a hearty meal. Accompany with mashed potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes and a green vegetable such as broccoli and you’ve got a perfect meal.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup flour
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 to 3 pound piece first cut brisket
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 3 medium onions, peeled and diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3/4 cup chicken stock
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup dark raisins
- Dry Sherry
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Sprinkle the flour onto a board and season generously with salt and pepper, mixing until well distributed. Dredge each side of the brisket in the flour mixture, shaking off the excess. Set aside.
- Meanwhile heat up the oil in a medium large Dutch oven until nearly smoking and brown the meat on each side until well seared. Remove to a plate. Over low the heat and add the onions, stirring around in the browned bits and oil left in the pan and sauté for about 4 minutes, stirring often until the onions become softened. Add the minced garlic and stir to combine. Sauté for 1 minute.
- Put the beef back into the pot and move the onions around so that half are beneath the meat and half on top. Add the chicken stock, bring to the simmer. Add the tomato paste and stir to combine. Bring back to the simmer.
- Cover tightly and put into the oven to braise for 1 hour and 15 minutes, checking the pot occasionally to see that it’s not simmering too fast. It should cook at a moderately low simmer. Adjust the oven temperature lower if necessary.
- Meanwhile put the raisins in a 1 cup glass measure and fill to the top with dry Sherry. Let steep while the beef braises.
- After the first period of braising, add the raisins and Sherry, stirring it in. Add the sugar and vinegar. Stir to combine. Continue to cook, covered, in the oven for at least one more hour or until the meat is fork tender, checking the pot occasionally so that it’s not cooking too fast.
- Let it cool to room temperature in the pot and then refrigerate overnight so that the flavors marry well and the fat congeals, which you skim off with a spoon before reheating. Or make it early in the morning and let sit in its braising liquid, refrigerated, until the fat congeals.
- To serve, reheat slowly in the pot on top of the stove and cut against the grain into serving slices. Serve with the sauce ladled over each beef serving.