There are few holiday foods that call up tradition and memories as much as brisket or brust, as I’m told my great-grandmother called it. There are endless variations of recipes — each one boasting local influences from sweet paprika to Coca-Cola to spicy Mexican chiles. This Passover season, we share with you a recipe from the Old World that made its way to both America and Sweden from Latvia, and one from the New World that provides a Mexican twist on the traditional dish.
The Old World Version (as my father, Walter Ferst, tells the story):
In 1972 I had just finished college, and was traveling from Israel to Europe. I stopped for a week in Sweden, where I met distant relatives. At the end of the week my cousin — my fourth cousin — took me to his mother’s home outside of Stockholm for dinner.
Before we even sat down at the table I recognized the meal. The smell was unmistakable. It was the same brisket recipe my grandmother, who had died eight years earlier, had prepared in her home outside of Philadelphia when I was a child — and the brisket that I make to this day.
The recipe had spanned the Atlantic and made its way from Latvia to the United States around the turn of the 20th century, and to Sweden (by way of Germany) in the 1930s.
Kauffman/Ferst Family Brisket:
1 whole brisket, not just the first cut
½ to 1 full head of garlic
3–4 medium sized sweet onions sliced in thick rings
4 teaspoons kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Hungarian or sweet paprika
Dry white wine
Water
1) Trim some of the fat, but leave on a good deal of the fat.
2) Make small incisions in the brisket, and plug the entire piece with cloves of garlic.
3) Coat with salt, pepper and paprika on both sides.
4) Pin onion rings liberally to both sides of the meat with toothpicks if necessary.
5) Place in the center of a large roasting pan with remaining onions around.
6) Pour a mixture made up of two-thirds dry white wine and one-third water over the brisket, filling the dish an inch to an inch and a half full.
7) Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil and cook for three hours at 340 degrees.
8) Remove covering and continue to cook for approximately 45 minutes, basting with liquid every 10 minutes.
9) Let sit for at least 20 minutes before slicing. Serve au jus
And The New World Version:
If you’re looking for a new twist on a holiday favorite, the New York- and Las Vegas-based restaurant Dos Caminos, will serve a Mexican-style brisket this coming week in honor of the holiday. The recipe is hybrid of the traditional Mexican celebratory dish barbacoa (typically made with pork) and a traditional brisket recipe. Cooked in banana leaves and smothered with spicy chile — infused sauce it is has a south of the border aroma and a kick to its juicy bite.
Chile Rubbed Brisket (created by Ivry Stark, Executive Chef of Dos Caminos Park Avenue South in Manhattan)
1 piece (2 ½ to 3 lbs) center cut brisket, surface fat trimmed
6 ancho chiles, seeded and stemmed
4 chiles de arbol, seeded and stemmed
1 ½ cups dry red wine
¼ cup rice vinegar
6 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons canela (Mexican cinnamon)
2 large pieces banana leaves
4 medium onions, thinly sliced
1) Toast the chiles lightly in a dry sauté pan, until they just begin to lighten in color. Remove to a pot about 1 quart of water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let chiles stand in hot water until sot, about 15 minutes.
2) Remove the chiles from the water and puree in a blender with the wine, vinegar, garlic, cumin, oregano and canela until smooth.
3) Season meat on both sides with salt and pepper. Place in a roasting pan that has been lines with a banana leaf and cover with chile mixture and onions. Cover meat with another banana leaf.
4) Seal pan tightly with aluminum foil and cover. Roast at 350 for about for hours until brisket is very tender.
Here's a recipe that's easy and yummy. They'll be no leftovers from this. Grandma's recipe: 1 whole brisket (fat trimmed), 2 sliced onions, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 cup ketchup, 1 cup water, 6-8 carrots peeled and sliced in quarters on a diagnal, 3 T oil, salt & pepper to taste. Preheat over to 300. In a dry frying pan place brisket which has been seasoned (salt & pepper; brown on both sides Remove meat from pan and Place oil in pan Add onions & garlic until they are sweated DO NOT BROWN THEM Place browned (seared) meat, onions and garlic in a large roasting pan I use the old Corning Wear large roasting pan Combine both ketchup & Water - pour over veggies & meat Add carrots Cover tightly with aluminum foil Bake for 1 hr and then baste, recover and every 1/2 hr. baste and recover for about 3 hrs. Remove from oven slice meat and return it to pan, cover and roast another 1/2 hr. Yummy
Although the recipes both sound delicious, no one mentioned that after cooking the meat fully, cooling and slicing it, returning it to the juices (gravy) and refrigerating overnight to permit mellowing of flavors. Reheat the next day in a slow oven (200-250 degrees) to warm before serving. You can undercook the brisket by approximately 15 minutes to permit for reheating and possible additional cooking, although I have never found that it dries out the meat.
Refrigerating also permits the fat you *don't* want to solidify on top of the dish, and thus be very much easier to remove before warming to serve. It is possible to do some skimming after cooking, but it's much easier this way.
The Forward welcomes reader comments in order to promote thoughtful discussion on issues of importance to the Jewish community. In the interest of maintaining a civil forum, the Forward requires that all commenters be appropriately respectful toward our writers, other commenters and the subjects of the articles. Vigorous debate and reasoned critique are welcome; name-calling and personal invective are not. While we generally do not seek to edit or actively moderate comments, the Forward reserves the right to remove comments for any reason.