Brisket

Updated April 16, 2024

Brisket
Kelly Marshall for The New York Times
Total Time
12 ¼ hours
Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
4 hours, plus overnight chilling
Rating
4(662)
Comments
Read comments

For Jewish holidays, especially Passover, when there is a big crowd for dinner, I always make brisket. This recipe was carried down in my mother’s family, but updated a bit by me in my new cookbook “My Life in Recipes” (Alfred A. Knopf, 2024). The secrets to a good brisket are simple: Slowly braise it in ample liquid, and add lots of onions for flavor. The brisket can be eaten straight from the oven, as soon as it’s cooked, but is best prepared in advance to let the flavors blend together. Refrigerating overnight makes it easy to skim and discard the fat that accumulates on the surface of the gravy. You can strain the sauce if you like, but do keep the onions and carrots. Serve this with matzo farfel, egg noodles, potato latkes or kasha varnishkes.

Featured in: At Passover, the Only Constant Is Changing Recipes

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: Give recipes to anyone

    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.

  • Share this recipe

  • Print this recipe

Advertisement


Ingredients

Yield:8 to 10 servings
  • 5pounds beef brisket
  • 2garlic cloves, peeled
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 3medium yellow onions, cut into chunks
  • 1(15-ounce) can diced or crushed tomatoes
  • 2celery stalks with leaves, chopped
  • 1fresh bay leaf
  • 1fresh thyme sprig
  • 1fresh rosemary sprig
  • 2cups dry red wine
  • 6 to 8carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally
  • ¼cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)

717 calories; 51 grams fat; 20 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 22 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 13 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 42 grams protein; 940 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

  2. Step 2

    In a 9-by-13-inch Pyrex baking dish, rub the brisket with the garlic (you can leave the garlic in the dish), then sprinkle it all over with 2 teaspoons salt and about 1 teaspoon pepper. Lay the brisket fat side up. Top this with even layers of the onions, tomatoes, celery, bay leaf, thyme and rosemary. Pour the red wine on top, then cover with aluminum foil and seal tightly.

  3. Step 3

    Transfer to the oven and bake for about 3 hours, basting every 30 minutes or so with the pan juices.

  4. Step 4

    Add the carrots and half the parsley, and bake, uncovered, for about 30 minutes more, or until the carrots are cooked and the beef is tender. To test for doneness: Stick a fork in the flat (thinner or leaner) end of the brisket. When there is a light pull on the fork as it is removed from the meat, it is fork-tender.

  5. Step 5

    Bring the meat to room temperature in the sauce, then remove it to a cutting board and trim all visible fat from the brisket. Look for the grain — the muscle lines of the brisket — and, with a sharp knife, cut slices across the grain about ¼-inch thick.

  6. Step 6

    Return the sliced brisket to the baking dish with the sauce, nestling the meat into the liquid, and refrigerate overnight or freeze. When you’re ready to serve, reheat it, covered, in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes.

  7. Step 7

    If the gravy needs reducing, put the meat on a serving platter, strain the liquid into a saucepan and reduce the gravy over medium heat until it has the desired consistency; season to taste. Pour some over the meat, and put the rest in a gravy boat. Cover the meat with the carrots (and onions, if desired) and the remaining parsley, and serve.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Ratings

4 out of 5
662 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Comments

I really wish folks would understand that the recipe is just how this person cooked it. If you're a good cook, you can modify it however you want, and that includes the vessel in which you cook the brisket...

Why isn’t this being prepared in a Dutch oven? Putting it in a Pyrex dish is just not right. Also I would slice the onions instead of chunks.

It is much easier to cut the meat when it is cold. Ditto with the fat skimming, when it's a solid. I only reheat the meat after those steps.

Wanted to make Latkes so had to make a brisket to go with them of course. Time consuming recipe but delicious-and since almost all the work in preparing is done the day before, dinner is so much easier-allowing me to make latkes. I did leave onions in quarters and glad I did, they too were a nice side.

Lots of comments, not the way I do it. Brisket is a concept cook. You need certain elements and if you get them together in the pan, whatever it is you get good results. I like a balance of sweet and sour in my cook and I like to sear the meat to create fond in the pot which adds a layer of flavor to the sauce. For my acid wine and tomato products do the trick. Sometimes a squeeze of fresh lemon. For me I include something with a. Sweet component. Some prunes, raisins, apricots which all it dissolve as the meat braises for hours. Bay leaf, onion, garlic as basic seasoning. In the end as many variations as you want.

This brisket was a religious experience. I did it in a Dutch oven and added potatoes at the same time as the carrots. Look up a YouTube video on how to carve against the grain. The flat and the point portions have a grain that goes in different directions so worth hearing from the experts.

Private comments are only visible to you.

Credits

Adapted from “My Life in Recipes” by Joan Nathan (Alfred A. Knopf, 2024)

or to save this recipe.