Long before my baptism into barbecue, I ate brisket. Lots of brisket.
But it wasn’t barbecue. No.
Brisket was the ultimate holiday dish for the ultimate Jewish holiday: Rosh Hashana (the Jewish New Year), which takes place this year on Thursday, October 3.
And nobody made it better than my Aunt Annette Farber.
Working in a kitchen that would be deemed hopelessly primitive today (no dish washer, food processor, or microwave), my aunt would turn out mountains of food for 30 people or more, seated at a holiday table so long, it doglegged through three rooms.
The star of Aunt Annette’s repertory was brisket—braised for hours in sweet red wine with carrots, apricots, raisins, prunes and lemon. The sort of sweet-salty, meaty-fruity mashup typical of so much Ashkenazi (Eastern European Jewish) cuisine.
Aunt Annette’s Holiday Brisket
The wine—concord grape made by Manischewitz—represented the sanctity of the holiday, while the dried fruits symbolized the hope for a sweet New Year. The lemon counterbalanced the sugary fruit, reminding us that the future always holds bitter surprises as well as sweetness.
But what if you could combine my Aunt’s amazing braised brisket with smoky awesomeness of Texas barbecue?
Smoked-Braised Brisket
You can and I’ve perfected the method for doing it. I call it smoke-braising. In a nutshell, you gently simmer the brisket in liquid like my Aunt Annette did, but you cook it not in the oven, but in a smoker.
Another advantage of this preparation: you can prepare it with lean brisket flat (a cut that’s challenging to keep moist in a smoker). Thanks to the wine, it will never dry out.
So here’s my gift for the New Year—my Aunt Annette’s brisket smoked like Texas barbecue.
Smoke braised brisket. It’s awesome for blending rich, smoky flavors with tender, melt-in-your-mouth meat. Perfect for Rosh Hashanah.
Imagine the smoky richness of Texas brisket with the sweetness of dried fruit and the subtle earthiness of carrots, all coming together in one dish. This Rosh Hashanah brisket combines the bold flavors of barbecue with symbolic ingredients that celebrate sweetness and prosperity for the New Year. The result is a tender, flavorful brisket that brings together tradition and barbecue in a deliciously unique way.
You don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy it.
The post Texas Meets Tradition: Smoked-Braised Brisket appeared first on Barbecuebible.com.
