serves 6-8
this recipe is easy to double, triple, quadruple - you'll just need to increase the size and/or quantity of pots. You'll want the brisket to sit flat on the bottom of the pot and to still have space on top for the large mound of veg.
And yes... we have quadrupled.
One 4-pound brisket
6 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt and pepper to taste [Sara does not use pepper]
Paprika to taste
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large onions, chopped
6 carrots, chopped
4-5 stalks celery with leaves, chopped
1 cup water, tomato juice, or tomato sauce [We use water]
I envelope dried onion soup mix [Lipton's]
1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. Rinse the meat with water. Pat it dry. Rub the meat on all sides with crushed garlic and then sprinkle with salt, pepper, and paprika [no pepper when Sara makes it].
3. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed casserole and brown the meat on all sides. [Joan used a large roasting pan, Sara uses enamel cast-iron dutch ovens]
4. Add the onions, carrots, and celery. Cover with water, tomato juice, or tomato sauce and sprinkle with the dried onion soup.
5. Cover and bake in the oven 3 hours.
6.* Before serving, remove cover and brown ½ hour more. This dish is best prepared a day in advance so the fat is easily skimmed off before the brisket is reheated.
* Steps 5 & 6, as the Heymonts do it:
- Roast the day before.
- The next day when it's cold, skim the fat later off.
- Remove the brisket from the pot so you can slice it - against the grain, also removing any excessive fat cap that remains. 1/4 inch-ish slices?
- Put it back in the pot, pour the veggies over it and then back into the oven (325 again).
- It's ready in about 30 minutes - when warmed through and there's just a bit of crispy edges to some of the veg.
This recipe began as Joan Nathan's brisket recipe that we served at Chanukah and other holiday dinners. When I began serving it myself, I made it using her method, but as the years passed and we had kids and my friends all had kids, multiple adaptations were made over time to accommodate the ever-increasing quantities that were required and the benefits of being able to prepare it well in advance. The preparation here bears little resemblance to the original Joan Nathan recipe, but the ingredients are almost unchanged. The [sometimes very imprecise or omitted] amounts given are for a single brisket on one sheet pan, but the limit on simultaneous preparation is the # of pans that you can fit in your oven at one time.
1 6-7 lb brisket (you can use a smaller one if you like, or larger, but it must be able to fit on a half-sheet pan)
Crushed garlic, garlic paste, etc. -- pre-prepared is fine, but should be high quality tube or frozen crushed cube, not the minced stuff that comes in jars.
Paprika
Kosher salt
2 ish lbs baby cut carrots or regular carrots peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks. You can use more if they will fit.
1 bunch celery, washed and cut into 1-inch chunks
1-2 pkgs Lipton onion soup mix(*)
(*) The amount of onion soup mix that you use will contribute noticeably to the saltiness of the broth. How salty it should be is, of course, a matter of taste, but as a general rule, fewer vegetables and / or a smaller brisket will contribute less liquid and therefore produce a saltier broth. I tend to use all of the 1st packet and some of the 2nd for the quantities of brisket, celery, and carrot given above.
Place one sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil across the short direction of a half-sheet pan. It should be long enough to fold up both sides over the brisket to meet in the middle and roll the edges together.
Place a second sheet across the long direction; this sheet will also need to come up over the sides of the brisket and meet in the middle.
Place the brisket on the crossed foil sheets with the fat cap down. Sprinkle with kosher salt, paprika, and garlic and rub over the entire surface. Turn over so fat cap is facing up and repeat. Place carrots and celery around the edges to fill the pan. Sprinkle 1-2 pkgs Lipton onion soup mix over the top of the brisket only. Pour 1/4 water over the top of the brisket -- aim to wet all the soup mix, but it's fine if you don't. Bring the edges of the bottom sheet of foil up to meet, then roll over a few times to seal and fold remaining excess down on top of brisket. Fold the ends of the top sheet of foil up over the top to meet in the middle.
Place in the oven and bake at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for 6-8 hours. Stick to the long end unless your brisket is small, and feel free to go a little longer if 8 hours is not convenient. This can be done overnight if it suits the schedule best.
After removing the brisket from the oven, open the foil being careful not to spill the liquid. Remove the brisket to a cutting board, remove the fat cap, and slice thinly. Place in a container, then recover the vegetables with a slotted spoon and add to the brisket slices. Transfer the liquid to a fat separator (I use a ladle until it is reduced enough to pour out of the end of the foil), then add the defatted liquid to the brisket and veg. Store in the refrigerator until time to reheat and serve. Although the brisket can be served directly from the oven, the flavor is improved when the sliced brisket sits in the broth at least for a few hours before serving. I usually make it the day before and let it sit overnight.