Bris(ket)

I made brisket today. My first ever. It smells really good and the potatoes and carrots look delish. But Markus keeps calling it the Bris.

One would think, as a euro guy, he might be more, I don't know, less eager to use that word.

An hour later....

It WAS delish but it was supposed to be an all day meal with leftovers and its now history. All I have is a full belly and a dirty pot to testify to how I spent my morning. I think I need a nap before I tackle my 6 hours of german homework.

a day later...

Here's the recipe: I got it from The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins.

I added way more carrots and garlic because i like carrots and garlic. I also added about 8 well-washed large potatoes chunked up with the skin left on. The flour part was cool because it made a gravy all by itself at the end.

Nach Waxman's Brisket of Beef

1 first-cut brisket of beef - 5-6 pounds
1 to 2 teaspoons unbleached all-purpose flour
Coarsely ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 corn oil
8 onions, thickly sliced and separated into rings
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1-1/2 teaspoons coarse (kosher) salt 2 cloves garlic, quartered
1 carrot, peeled
Preheat oven to 375 F
Trim the brisket of most of its fat, and dust it very lightly
with flour. Sprinkle with pepper.
Heat the oil in a large heavy flameproof casserole.
Add the brisket, and brown on both sides over medium-high heat
until some crisp spots appear on the surface.
Transfer the brisket to a dish.
Keeping the heat medium high, add the onions to the casserole
and stir, scraping up the brown particles left from the meat.
Cook until the onions have softened and developed
a handsome brown color, 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove the casserole from the heat, and place the brisket, along with
any juices that have accumulated, on top of the onions. Spread the
tomato paste over the brisket as if you were icing a cake. Sprinkle
with pepper and the coarse salt. Add the garlic and carrot, and cover
tightly. Place the casserole on the middle rack in the oven, and bake
for 1-1/2 hours.

Remove the casserole from the oven, and transfer the meat to a
carving board. Cut it into 1/8 - 1/4 inch-thick slices. Return the
slices to the pot, overlapping them at an angle so that you can see a
bit of the top edge of each slice (in effect ressembling the brisket,
slightly slanted). Correct the seasoning if necessary, and if absolutely
necessary add 2 or 3 teaspoons of water to the casserole.
Cover, and return the casserole to the oven. Cook until the meat
is brown and fork-tender, 1-3/4 to 2 hours longer.
Slice the carrot, and transfer the roast, onions and carrot slices
to a heated platter. Serve at once.