Jewish-Style Braised Brisket in Onion Gravy
Brisket = holiday / celebratory food in my house.
We had brisket on Thanksgiving, Passover, Rosh Hashana… you name it. Growing up, my dad was the master of all things brisket. I only really started making brisket on my own when I started living alone in DC and hosting my friends for various holidays. My dad’s brisket is OUT of this world, but it takes like three days to prep and sometimes we don’t always have the three days to have brisket sitting in your oven. In comes Jake Cohen’s French Onion Brisket recipe that cut the recipe down to two days. In this recipe, I have combine the convenience of Jake’s recipe and the comforting flavors of my dad’s recipes.
Note: This is a two day process, so please plan accordingly!
Ingredients:
1 (5-7 pound) brisket
Salt and pepper
3 tbsp of vegetable oil
2 packages of (2 oz each) of French Onion Soup Mix
7 large sweet onions; thinly sliced
1 qt of chicken stock
6 sprigs of fresh thyme
4 sprigs of fresh sage
6 cloves of garlic; smashed
5 prunes
Day 1:
Preheat your oven to 325F and pull out a large Dutch oven and roasting pan.
Trim any excessive fat off your brisket, but keep enough to keep the meat juicy. Season both sides of the brisket with salt and pepper (generously).
Heat your oil over medium heat in the Dutch oven and when it is hot, sear both sides of the brisket until nice and golden brown (about 7-10 minutes on each side). If you are working with a massive brisket, cut it into smaller pieces and do the same process. When your brisket is sufficiently browned, remove it from the pan and set aside. I put it directly into the roasting pan.
Add in your onions to the Dutch oven / existing oil and cook for about 25 minutes, stirring often, or until the onions are softened and caramelized.
Pour in your chicken stock, and stir together, making sure to scrap up all the bits from the bottom of the Dutch oven. Season with salt and pepper.
Sprinkle the onion soup mix all over the brisket (that has been set aside) as an added layer of flavor.
Pour the onion and chicken stock mixture over your brisket (that is currently in the roasting pan). You could totally do this all in a Dutch oven, but my brisket did not fit in my larges Dutch oven. Do you!
Nestle in your pieces of fresh thyme and sage.
Cover with a piece of parchment paper and cover fully with tin foil.
Place in the oven for about 3 - 3.5 hours.
Remove from the oven and let cool completely (completely!!!). Place the whole pan in the refrigerator overnight.
Day 2:
The next day, remove your pan from the refrigerator. Remove the brisket from the liquid and slice it, against the grain into slices.
Pull out all the herbs from the liquid and toss those.
Add the sliced meat back into the liquid and nestle in the garlic and prunes.
Cover, again, with (new) parchment paper and tin foil. Set aside (at room temp) until you’re ready to reheat.
About 2 ish hours before you are ready to serve, preheat your oven to 350F and place your brisket into the oven.
Reheat in the oven until warm. Adjust any seasoning in the gravy with spices as necessary.