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Whole Brisket With Tomato Gravy
Updated June 6, 2024
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- Total Time
- 4 hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- ¼cup minced garlic (about 12 cloves)
- 2tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 2tablespoons freshly ground black pepper, more to taste
- 1tablespoon kosher salt, more to taste
- 2teaspoons light or dark brown sugar
- 1tablespoon crushed red pepper
- 1tablespoon smoked or hot paprika
- 18-to-9-pound whole brisket, trimmed (see note)
- ¼cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3cups chopped yellow onions (about 2 large onions)
- 135-ounce can plus 1 28-ounce can (about 7 cups) peeled tomatoes and liquid
- 1¼cups fruity white wine
Preparation
- Step 1
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a bowl, combine garlic, rosemary, pepper, salt, brown sugar, red pepper and paprika. Place brisket fat-side up in a large, deep roasting pan (about 13 by 16 inches) and rub all over with mixture.
- Step 2
Roast brisket, uncovered, for 20 minutes. While brisket cooks, pour olive oil into a large saucepan over medium heat and add onions. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until onion softens, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and their liquid, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Stir occasionally, breaking tomatoes with a spoon or whisk. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Remove brisket from oven. Reduce oven temperature to 325.
- Step 3
Pour 1 cup wine and the tomato sauce over brisket. Cover pan as tightly as possible with foil and roast for 3½ hours, turning once at 2 hours and again at 3 hours, each time carefully replacing foil.
- Step 4
Transfer brisket to a platter. Allow sauce to settle for a moment in pan, then, using a slotted spoon, transfer to a blender, allowing fat to strain out. Purée until smooth, adding remaining ¼ cup wine. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Slice brisket diagonally from thinnest end in ¼-inch slices. Serve with sauce.
- A whole brisket is composed of two flat pieces of meat (typically sold separately as ''first cut'' and ''second cut'') sandwiched together with a layer of fat between them and with a thick layer of fat along one side. A 12-pound untrimmed whole brisket weighs about 8 pounds when trimmed. If purchasing the brisket untrimmed, trim the external fat to within ⅓ inch or ½ inch of the flesh; also, excavate any large cavities of fat between the two layers.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
The instructions for Step 4 are confusing, i.e. strain out fat and no further instructions for the disposition of the sauce ?? This may sound stupid, but amateur cooks require complete guidance to complete a finished product worth consuming.
Two things I noticed in the sauce.
1) the pepper goes a long way, and I would have used a bit less.
2) I substituted a fruit beer (homemade Belgian triple with apricot) for the "fruity wine", but at the end, when it was time to finish the sauce, it seemed to need something more robust, so I added some red wine (merlot/cab, I think) which worked really well.
I used a 7 lb flat beef brisket, trimmed by the butcher. I substituted 1 cup of red wine vs fruity white and 36 oz of diced tomatoes in their juice. I seared as directed but lowered temperature to 250 degrees and roasted for 5 hours and meat temperature was 200 degrees. Low and slow! I rested for more than 30 minutes. The sauce and brisket were amazing! Had to hold family back from cutting early the aroma was so great!
Ended up with too much gravy, while delicious, would probably go to waste. Suggest halving the amount at least. Also, use your lowest oven grate level, or fresh herbs will toast too much.
This was absolutely delicious. I had a 5 lb brisket so halved the sauce (still had plenty), and cooked it for slightly less time. I think all briskets benefit from a night in the fridge, so I made it the day before and kept it in its sauce, in the refrigerator overnight. I did cut back slightly on the red pepper, based on some earlier comments. I found the spice mellowed considerably after a full day in the refrigerator. This will be a go-to recipe for large winter parties.
this IS spicy as written. I did half the red pepper flakes. and even when making the sauce - I had to add in the remaining 20oz of my 3rd 28oz can of peeled tomatoes to mellow it out (couldn't find a 35oz can so i bought three 28oz cans). what else - the timing was perfect. wouldn't change anything there. paired it with the baked smokey paprika sweet potatoes/onion.
This was by far the best brisket. Delicious sauce at the end. Ours was about a quarter the size of the recipe so we opted for two hours of cooking and it was perfect. I am won over!
My family does not like too spicy. Cut the red pepper flakes to 1 tsp. and 2 tsp kosher salt.
Too spicy for my Passover guests. I would drop the red pepper flakes down to 2T at most. Great recipe, though.
Made this for Passover and though delicious, it was WAY to spicy. My humble suggestion would be to double the rosemary and greatly reduce the black and red pepper.
Excellent recipe. Has some zip
Two things I noticed in the sauce.
1) the pepper goes a long way, and I would have used a bit less.
2) I substituted a fruit beer (homemade Belgian triple with apricot) for the "fruity wine", but at the end, when it was time to finish the sauce, it seemed to need something more robust, so I added some red wine (merlot/cab, I think) which worked really well.
The instructions for Step 4 are confusing, i.e. strain out fat and no further instructions for the disposition of the sauce ?? This may sound stupid, but amateur cooks require complete guidance to complete a finished product worth consuming.
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