Brisket Zweigenthal

Title:
Brisket Zweigenthal

Yield:
12 Servings

Categories:
Main
Dishes,
Jewish




Ingredients:





     6 lb First-cut brisket


     3 tb Vegetable oil


     3 lg Yellow onions; cut into 1/2


          -inch dice (approximately 5


          -cups)


     3 lg Garlic cloves; minced


     1 ts Hungarian paprika


   3/4 ts Salt


   3/4 ts Pepper


     3 c  Water or beef broth






 Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a Dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon oil in oven


 for 10 minutes. Pat brisket dry and season with salt and pepper. Roast


 brisket in pan, uncovered, 30 minutes. (If brisket completes 30 minutes


 cooking time before the onion mixture explained below is complete, remove


 brisket from the oven and allow it to rest.) Reduce oven heat to 350


 degrees. While brisket is in the initial cooking phase, cook onions in


 remaining 2 tablespoons oil over moderate heat in skillet. Stir until


 onions are softened and beginning to turn golden. Reduce heat to


 low-moderate and continue cooking onions until deep brown, stirring


 occasionally. (If necessary, reduce heat to keep onions from burning.) Stir


 in garlic, paprika, salt and pepper and cook 1 minute. Stir in 3 cups


 water/beef broth and bring to a boil. Spoon onion mixture over brisket and


 bake, covered with lid 1/2 inch ajar for 3 1/2 hours or until brisket is


 tender. Check pan every hour and, if necessary, add more liquid. Remove


 brisket and let cool in onion mixture for 1 hour. Remove brisket from pan,


 scraping onion mixture off meat and back into pan. Chill, wrapped in foil,


 overnight. Spoon onion mixture into a 1 quart measuring cup and chill,


 covered, overnight. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Discard fat from


 onion mixture. If necessary, add enough liquid to measure 3 cups total. In


 a blender, process the gravy until smooth. Heat onion gravy in a saucepan.


 Slice the cooled brisket against the grain. Lay brisket slices in a 13" X


 9" baking dish. Pour heated onion gravy over the meat slices, lifting up


 each slice as you pour to make sure some gravy comes in contact fully with


 each piece of meat. Heat brisket in oven for 30 minutes.


 


 Karen Selwyn


 


 Notes from KPS: The Zweigenthal in the title is Gail Zweigenthal, the


 editor-in-chief of GOURMET magazine. The story behind this recipe has


 resonance for me -- and I assume many others -- whose mothers and mothers


 ~in-law have had their cooking skills diminished with time or have had


 family recipes lost through death. At some point after her mother's death,


 Zweigenthal realized she did not have a copy of her mother's brisket


 recipe. She tried re-creating the recipe as best she could, but she never


 had complete success. She put out a request for brisket recipes to the


 employees of GOURMET in the hopes that a reasonable facsimile of her


 mother's recipe would turn up. She explained that while she got lots of


 interesting


 


 Board: FOOD BB Topic: FOOD SOFTWARE Subject: NEW JEWISH FORMATS


 


 To: BGMB90B ELAINE RADIS Date: 11/19 From: BGMB90B ELAINE RADIS Time: 3:25


 PM


 Posted to MC-Recipe Digest by "M. Hicks" 
on Feb 4,


 1998