Wednesday, February 21, 2007


Creamed spinach with brisket, originally uploaded by hannahcooks.

Nothing says 3- day weekend, to me, like pulling out the crockpot on a Monday. And there is nothing better to put in a crockpot than a faux-barbeque brisket-- for real, it is the one crockpot meal that in our pre-dishwasher days Jeff not only didn't complain about but requested. You know if it is worth washing the inside of a crockpot by hand it has to be good. (It is also one of the first things I made for my in-laws, and we now have a family saying that brisket is the meat that unites Jews and Texans.)

First you take:
1/2 c Worcestershire sauce
1/2 c vinegar (cider vinegar is best, regular old white vinegar is fine too)
1/2 bottle Liquid Smoke (which I bet you did not realize was a vegan food product)
1/4 c vegetable oil
1 tsp dried minced onions
1 tsp garlic powder
plenty of pepper

Marinate your brisket in this overnight. (Or not- if you forget, it is not the end of the world.)

Then put the brisket (fat side up) and marinade into either a 275 degree oven or your crockpot and ignore it for 6 to 8 hours, however long is most convenient for you. When you are about a half hour away from wanting to eat, take out the brisket (it is definitely ready if, say, it falls apart while you lift it onto a cutting board) and carve off the fat. Then chop it into manageable pieces.

Empty the marinade, reserving one cup-- you will want to strain the fat off this, too. Then combine that cup of marinade with:

1 cup barbeque sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar

and return this mixture with your carved meat to the oven or crockpot and cook for another half hour. This time I used the barbeque sauce Jeff brought back from Rendezvous in Memphis, which was especially vinegary and kind of orange, but still delicious.

If you can bring yourself to wait, you can fix this a day in advance, and then refrigerate in the sauce and then skim the fat off the sauce before reheating. Or you can just eat the greasy fatty version that day and de-fat your leftovers--- and it is worth getting a much bigger brisket than you need in order to have leftovers.

It is not authentic barbeque, or authentic anything, really. Which is why I am fine serving it with storebought King's Hawaiian rolls (and when we don't have company, will let Jeff get storebought macaroni salad to go with it. For company you have to make potato salad, at the very least.) Inauthentic or not, it is dang good and one of our family staples.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I made this yesterday and it was so good!!! Thanks for posting.