Although I have been married 44 years and loved cooking I have never cooked brisket! I normally buy topside for a roast and stewing steak for casserole and stews. People tell me it is delicious.
I bought a piece yesterday and plan to cook it tomorrow. It is for just 3 of us so not a huge piece. All the recipes I look at online are for huge pieces and involve cooking all day.
I don’t have a slow cooker so thought I would just cook it on low in the oven (electric) as I have all sorts of casserole dishes.
Any advice welcome. I am sure there are some brisket experts on here!
When in doubt turn to Delia.
You can rely on Delia, she never lets you down.
Her recipe is a pot roast for a piece of brisket weighing 2½lbs (1kg)
Myself, I would do roughly what she suggests but not bother with all those different veg, just a few favourites, and I’d use oil instead of dripping.
And I wouldn’t faff about with a sauce afterwards either.
Or bother with mushroom ketchup, never heard of it !!)
Brisket needs long and slow cooking . I’ve only ever done it in casseroles and it just falls apart when cooked and delicious. So I would pop into hot oven in casserole dish and cook for a good few hours then do a taste test. Warming and delicious in this cold weather. My mum cooked it and used to stay itll stick to your ribs like glue
I cooked it in my slow cooker at the beginning of the month. I used the instructions on “dinneratthezoo” website and it was delicious. If I remember, I tested after 6 and half hours and it was perfect.
I used to cook brisket along with some chopped onions and sliced carrots in a pan of water on the stove top on a low peep for a couple of hours, then check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer. As soon as it got to 75degC, it was done.
The brisket was then decanted onto a plate, an upturned cereal bowl placed on the top, then a heavy weight (my 5lb lump hammer) put on the top to press it down. Leave until completely cold to slice easily. Freeze the stock or use it straight away for making a luscious gravy.
These days, I just put it in a covered roasting tin and bung it in a low oven for a few hours until it’s done
Hi mups delicious in slow cooker with onions and carrots . Mine took about 7 hours , smelt delicious and fell apart on the plate , so easy to eat no chewing
Thanks Susan, I have never cooked a whole joint in my slow cooker.
Probably a daft question, but can you tell me how much liquid it needs please? Does the joint need just a couple of inches of water/stock, or should it be completely submerged?
I would put stock in half full . You’ll find the brisket swells up with the liquid the smell will be Devine and allow almost a whole day cooking the longer the more it falls apart . I must buy one next week.
I always cook mine in a drop of alcohol, beer, Guinness, cider, all good!
I fry it all over first in a big frying pan, then take it out. Fry up some onions and bacon (and garlic if you like it) in the frying pan you fried the beef in so you get all the nice beef juices and beef bits and pieces in it.
Add some add some water and stock cube, ( I like Knorr stock pots) and the alcohol to make some nice stock
Put the beef an oven proof casserole and pour over your stock, it should come about two thirds up the beef
Cook it in a fairly hot oven with the lid on for 20 minutes to get it going, then turn it right down low.
After the first hour, I add some whole baby carrots and mushrooms.
I cook it for another hour and meanwhile roast some parsnips. Then when the hours up I pop in the roast parsnips to soak in the stock and put it back in for another half hour
Then check the stock to see if it’s thick enough for gravy. If not, take a little drop out and heat it in a pan with some cornflour to thicken then put back in
Then slice your beef, well, more pull it apart really, and serve it with the veg and some nice buttery mash
Thanks all for your help.
It went in the oven at 11 and I have a SLOW setting on cooker! I put it in a glass roasting dish with cover so I can see what’s happening. I sealed it in the frying pan first, then I put it in the dish with chopped up carrots and onions and some fresh parsley. I added a Knorr beef stock pot with 500 mls boiling water. Fingers crossed it turns out OK. Will report back.
I always cook mine in a drop of alcohol, beer, Guinness, cider, all good!
Will report back.
