New York Times Passover Brisket Recipe

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Dress Up Your Brisket For Passover With A Slow

Emil Gorovets – Dos Yiddish Lied

Brisket just may be the most quintessential holiday dish we serve on Jewish occasions. And Passover is definitely one of those occasions. But instead of using the same traditional recipe, try dressing it up this year with tzimmes. In case youre not familiar, tzimmes is a beautiful, slow-cooked collage of carrots, sweet potatoes, prunes and honey. Some people make it with flanken or short ribs.

My Passover brisket recipe will give you an entire entrée, including meat, vegetables and potatoes. Its almost like the ease of a stew or tagine. Speaking of tagine, on my trips to Israel the hotels served amazing brisket dishes on Shabbat. There was so much gorgeous food everywhere! The chef was out front, slicing brisket and corned beef. Groups of travelers gathered in the dining room and sang blessings before and after everyone ate. Its a memory that lives deep within me. This recipe calls for dates, which are also popular in Israel. On my trips I saw plenty of date palm trees and bought date honey to enjoy at home. Israel is, after all, the land of milk and honey!

I hope this recipe becomes a time-honored tradition in your home. Once everything is assembled, the oven does all the work. And if you have leftovers, you can make an open-faced matzo brisket plate, letting the juicy sauce sink into the matzo. Enjoy!

What To Cook This Weekend

Make an heirloom tomato pizza, try orange-cardamom pancakes for breakfast and more recipes.

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Good morning. I had a remarkable heirloom tomato pizza the other day, at Lucia of Avenue X in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. Sal Carlino, the chef and owner, bakes a white pie and then shingles slices of raw tomato over the top. When you order a slice, he puts it in the oven to reheat, but only briefly, so that the tomato doesnt really cook. Its like bruschetta pizza. Its really cool.

Want to make a version of that this weekend? I did recently, using a hack of this recipe for a cheeses pizza from Robertas, also in Brooklyn. When the pie was leopard-spotted and finished, I arranged thick slices of perfect tomatoes over the top, sprinkled on some flaky salt and served the thing immediately. It was like bruschetta pizza. It was really cool.

Pizza innovation is everywhere, it seems. In the Where to Eat: New York City newsletter the other day, my colleague Nikita Richardson wrote about a life-changing clam pie she had at Belluccis Pizzeria in Astoria, Queens. You need to order it a couple of days in advance. I might try to make a version at home, in place of the clam-chowder pizza I generally make.

Ive been enjoying the chill and darkness of Entrapped on Netflix.

Chopped Liver On Matzo

Im just guessing here, but I feel like chopped liver will never be my most popular recipe. I do love to eat it, and for those who feel the same way, Hello, nice to meet you! This recipe is particularly simple, just the livers, salted and quickly seared in schmaltz until still pink inside, chopped with quickly sizzled shallots and a bit of reduced wine. Its not much to look at, but at least one of you will become a fan after spreading this funky, savory mixture onto a salted matzo with a sprinkle of parsley and lemon juice.

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Joan Nathans Matzo Balls

Joan Nathan, the Jewish cooking maven, shares her matzo ball recipe with Melissa Clark.

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Bone-in short ribs require a very large pot and are somewhat more awkward to plate. The upside is that they have even more flavor because the marrow that seeps out of the bones seasons the sauce.

You can buy them either cut across the bone, called flanken, or along the bones, often called English style the way it is done in fancy restaurants. Youll need about three-quarters of a pound of bone-in short ribs per person, or even less at Passover with the likes of gefilte fish and haroseth on the table, too. Something to note is that short ribs wont slice as nicely as brisket . And they are fattier, too, which is in part why they taste better. But if you cook the beef the day before and chill it overnight, youll be able to lift off much of the fat that hardens on top of the sauce.

Also, the cooking time for short ribs will differ from that for brisket, so keep checking the meat. When it is fork-tender, its ready.

Most short-rib recipes call for cooking the ribs in plenty of red wine, sometimes spiked with sweet, fruity port. In this recipe, I went light and springy, substituting herbal white vermouth. Then I finished the meat with a pungent shower of green herbs, and sliced shallots macerated in honey and vinegar, which cuts the richness of the meat.

And, yes, you can use the same recipe with brisket if your family insists.

For Juicy Beef For Your Seder Table Look Beyond Brisket

Our Best Passover Recipes: Brisket, Lamb, Matzo Balls and More for Your ...
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Make your own horseradish for this festive beef tenderloin.

By Melissa Clark

The problem with boiled beef has nothing to do with the dish itself, and everything to do with the translation.

Tafelspitz, the Austrian meal of a very gently simmered chunk of beef, served with root vegetables from the pot and horseradish cream alongside, is one of the most esteemed dishes of the very estimable cuisine.

The problem is that when someone thought to translate the name of the dish into English, the German tafelspitz became boiled beef, with its unfortunate connotations of overcooked, gray-centered, stringy meat. A more literal translation would be table tip, or tip for the table.

Etymology and unappetizing images aside, a classic tafelspitz makes for a crowd-pleasing, satisfying yet relatively light beef-centered meal.

And with a few tweaks, it will be a nice change of pace from the usual brisket at our Passover table this year.

The first tweak is to switch up the cut of beef. Usually, the dish is made with a cut like rump roast or brisket, which needs slow, moist cooking to render it tender.

Tenderloin works best here if youre not strictly kosher. But if you are, a boneless rib roast or center cut London broil can be substituted.

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Just Right For The First Night Of Hanukkah

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WHEN I invited a friend to dinner this Friday to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah, she accepted with a caveat: she and her husband do not eat red meat. I said that I was making brisket, but would give them something else. ”Oh, but we eat brisket!” she exclaimed.

Almost everyone likes brisket. It is the perfect comfort food: fragrant, flavorful, and if you cook it right, fork tender. In Eastern European Jewish homes, brisket was reserved for special occasions like weddings. In Texas, barbecue brisket is everyday food. A versatile cut, brisket can be simmered as a pot roast on top of the stove or cured and used for corned beef and pastrami.

Brisket is the Zelig of the kitchen. It takes on the character of whoever cooks it. In the early part of the 20th century, when ”The Settlement Cook Book” reigned supreme in American Jewish households, recipes for savory briskets of beef with sauerkraut, cabbage or lima beans were the norm. As tastes became more exotic, cranberry or barbecue sauce, root beer, lemonade and even sake worked their way into recipes.

”My mother always sent me to New York with a huge brisket with gravy frozen in,” recalled Eli N. Evans, the author of ”The Provincials,” who was born in North Carolina.

BRISKET IN SWEET-AND-SOUR SAUCE

1 cup ketchup

How To Make // The Steps

Step 1:

Mix all of the sauce ingredients together. Give it a taste. It should be a good balance of sweet and sour. If it needs more sweet, add more sugar, if it needs more sour, add more vinegar. Season well.

I made this one with a beautiful, fancy, Kobe brisket, but any good beef brisket will do. Brisket is from the front part of beef, so as New York Times reporter Julia Moskin said: Brisket is implicitly kosher since its from the front of the animal.

Step 2:

Pat dry. This is a very important step. The beef needs to be very dry before it goes into the pan. If it is wet, it will steam instead of sear which is what you want. Season with salt and pepper right before you sear it. Crank up the heat in your pan and add a little oil. It needs to be screaming hot before the beef goes in. We are after a nice crispy crust on the outside of our brisket.

Step 3:

When both sides are seared put it in your roasting pan.

Step 4:

Pour the sauce all over the brisket.

Step 5:

Cover the brisket with the sliced onions.

Step 6:

Add a few sprigs of thyme and season with salt and pepper.

Step 7:

Cover with tin foil. I have a lid for this roasting pan. In fact, this is my favorite roasting vesicle, but my mom and my grandmother, and Rose Zawid, who made many, many of our Passover dinners always covered the brisket in tin foil. I do not mess with tradition. I do as I am told.

Step 8:

Let your house permeate with the most delicious aroma. Get on with the other parts of your meal.

Step 9:

Cuisine:

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My Backstory To This Recipe

When my husband and I first started dating he came to my grandparents house for Seder and I need to give a little back story here. My mother converted to Judaism when she married my father, she was raised Episcopalian and to this day we celebrate all of the Jewish and Christian holidays. My husband is a Catholic and was a little intimidated by the thought of having to participate in our Seder dinner. Being the nerd that he is, he researched all about Passover and the sequence of events. For years, my mom had been made fun of by my dads family for stumbling over the Hebrew when it came time to read her portion of the Haggadah. My mom was thrilled at the idea that some other person was going to get made fun of at our table, but lo and behold, Mr. Google spewed out perfect Hebrew and showed her up. This incident was 7 years ago and she still reminds my husband of it often.

I try to carry on the traditions that I had as a child for my own children and this year I really was urged by Mr. Google to make a Seder dinner. I think that he was just angling for a brisket. We had been in Los Angeles all last week and got home last night so I threw this together this afternoon. I do not have all of the Passover items to have a true Seder dinner, but our dinner had the spirit of Passover. I bought my children this book and they were thrilled that there was Matzoh Man on our table.

A Sprightly Brisket For Your Passover Table

Emil Gorovets – Sholom Lied

Braised with tangy citrus and garlic, and topped with a mix of spring lettuces and herbs, this is no stodgy Passover main.

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By Melissa Clark

Braised brisket is warming, cozy, rich and hearty, a perfect wintry meal to serve when temperatures plunge and snow piles up.

But what about in the spring, during Passover? No matter how pink the tulips or yellow the forsythia, when Seder-celebrating cooks plan their menu, a stodgy brown brisket is almost always on it. Its as traditional to the meal as gefilte fish and matzo ball soup, a gravy-covered centerpiece year after year.

It doesnt have to be that way there are plenty of other entrees that will bolster you through those four glasses of wine. But even if a platter of tender brisket is as central to your familys holiday happiness as matzo toffee, you can still try something new.

This year, with Passover falling so late in April, Im offering a brisket recipe thats brighter and fresher than anything your grandmother may have done with her carrots and onion soup mix, but just as satisfying.

I made several changes to my mothers recipe, both to deepen the flavor and to lighten it up.

As for the lightening up, I do that in two ways, both in the brisket pot as it cooks, and on the plate as garnish.

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Apples With Honey And Crushed Walnuts

Tradition is a beautiful thing, unless it requires you to make something you dont enjoy making or eating. For me, thats charoset. Classically, its an apple-walnut mixture, occasionally with a touch of cinnamon or dried fruit, or a combination, that ranges from chunky-relish to chunky-paste, and its never been my favorite thing on the table. Ive always wanted it tangier, crunchier and, well, I wanted a salad. This is that salad. Its meant to be more acidic than sweet, but adjust with vinegar and honey as needed to suit your preference. A note: Nearly everyone who ate this salad said it was their favorite part of this whole meal, which bruised my matzo ball ego, but I thought you should know.

Matzo Ball Soup With Celery And Dill

If you make one thing from this menu, please let it be this matzo ball soup Jewish penicillin, as my late grandpa referred to it. There is no perfect matzo ball archetype , but know that I am a people-pleaser and have tried to give you the best of every world. Greater than the sum of its parts, its success hinges on three very simple components: chicken broth , matzo balls and garnish . A true cure-all, emotionally speaking, it is both a very good way to start a meal and a very good meal unto itself. If this is your main event, its also nice to augment it with a variety of noshes: half- or full-sour pickles, halved jammy eggs, some matzo spread with softened butter topped maybe with some anchovies, whitefish salad or chopped liver.

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Tangy Braised Short Ribs

No tomato paste, no wine, these short ribs are seared, then braised in a tangy, savory liquid made from browned onions and garlic, vinegar, a touch of soy sauce for salty depth and an important but almost imperceptible dab of honey. No, its not brisket, but thats kind of the point. Im not trying to be contrarian, but I feel like if youre going to spend the money and go through the trouble of braising a cut of meat for three-plus hours, it may as well be the best kind. And I think short ribs are the best kind: I find them to be more accessible, affordable and available year-round.

Recipes To Brighten Your Second Pandemic Passover

Brisket with Sweet

Next year in Jerusalem? How about next year anywhere but Zoom.

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It may feel impossible to gather the enthusiasm to prepare food, table settings and prayer books for a second year of socially distanced Seders. But great food always helps, even if just a little. So whether you hold a five-minute video chat, a full Seder for only household members, a pared-down outdoor gathering, or any combination, here are some ideas from NYT Cooking to make it special.

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How To Cook Brisket Like A Jewish Grandma Fashion Designer

At Batsheva Hays Upper West Side apartment, Fridays are dedicated to serving this simple stovetop supper.

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In One Good Meal, we ask cooking-inclined creative people to share the story behind a favorite dish they actually make and eat at home on a regular basis and not just when theyre trying to impress.

The fashion designer Batsheva Hay used to be a horrendous cook. A vegetarian since high school, she could barely scramble eggs when Shabbat dinner rolled around on Friday nights, the best she could muster was a cookie sheet of roasted produce: It was like, Shabbat Shalom, heres some sweet potato, she says. But in her early 30s, everything changed. She quit her grueling job as a New York litigator, where her nightly ritual was ordering delivery to the office. She also started a family and began to have pregnancy cravings: When Hay, now 38, would visit her husbands grandmother, she couldnt resist one particular stovetop brisket. It seemed too simple to mess up, Hay remembers. So I tried it, too. And then brisket became basically the only meat she eats.

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