Brisket

Phil and Sarah

Well, we might be a little late, but we got Galen this time! And I’m not alone!

So first, we tried to buy a brisket at Lucky. And failed.

Then we read this again: http://foodspin.deadspin.com/how-to-cook-a-brisket-which-is-totally-worth-the-effor-1715645554 And laughed and decided to try again.

Then we went to Guerra Meats – which is an AWESOME store where I am buying all my Christmas presents – and we found a brisket:

Yup, that’s a brisket. A big brisket

Then we read this recipe, and mostly followed it: http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-slow-cooker-brisket-and-onions-recipes-from-the-kitchn-45437

But, we also looked at this for some stuff: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/232137/slow-cooker-texas-smoked-beef-brisket/

Patting Down the Brisket

Yup, still a big brisket.

Rub – we mostly made that up

The boys are helping

Brisket after sitting in the fridge for a couple hours

So we cut the brisket in half cause we thought it would fit in the crock pot better.

Searing the Brisket – really, why would anyone wear a shirt when dealing with hot oil?

Turns out it didn’t fit in the Crock Pot.

So, we went with the Dutch Oven method instead

Adding Garlic – again, who needs a shirt really?

Adding Beer to the beef broth for cooking – yes, that’s our most recent amber homebrew, it’s no big deal.

Ready to go in the oven

And then 300 degrees and 5 hours later…

Ready to Cut – against the grain.

Mmmm. Brisket

Really, we are excited

Mmmm. Galen says it tastes like meat – and he likes meat. It also tastes a lot like pot roast which is interesting since we basically cooked it like a pot roast. Sarah says it’s more flavorful than steak.

Galen and Chloe

I think the best way to explain vegan brisket is this:

What am I to do?

I suppose if I was crying in the photo that might be a slightly better description, but overall you get the idea.

What did I do? Portobellos. Is it brisket? Not even close; but there you have it.

After this total removal from actual brisket I went the more pot roast route. Smoking portobellos for 5 hours, is not really a thing, as far as I can tell.

So here we go:

The good news is onions in a dutch oven is always a good start.

And more good news: carrots, sweet potatoes, and mushrooms are actually delicious.

Then there is the secret weapon of my meal (again unrelated to brisket)

Asparagus and….

Hollandaise!

But back to the main action the bellos and and the dutch oven:

In they go….

…and out it all comes.

All in all the meal tasted good, just different from the intention. There was no particular recipe, just trusting in the dutch oven to slow cook the veggies until they were tender. Again no meat drippings so I used vegetable broth. That about it, what would I do differently next time… use brisket!

Albin and Jocie

Barring the fact that I screwed up the logistics on the planning for this meal (sorry again!), it turned out to be quite delicious. We totally went crockpot for this one. I love the crockpot. Its like magic! Throw a bunch a stuff in there, leave for work, and come back to a warm, ready-made meal. We actually still had to do a more in order to make the sides. We supplemented the brisket with a potato salad and brussel sprouts.

With such a big cut of meat, we also had leftovers for the next day. The reheating process dried the meat out a bit, but having stayed late at work that day, I was starving and only thought the flavor had improved! Additionally, instead of potato salad, I ate the brisket with a side of rice on the second night. In my opinion, this allowed the flavors of the brisket to really dominate the plate. The brisket recipe we used is in the Recipe Index if you want to check it out.