Saturday morning found Biggles thumbing through a few cookbooks. He ran across a recipe wherein the roast was cooked all night at 250 degrees F. With a nod, some rustlin’s, and note taking, he was off.
Please read on and find out why he’s never going to do that again.
Something rich, easy & hugely satisfying was the goal. Get brisket or pork shoulder, season and add broffs. Cover and install to 250 degree oven, bottom rack, all night. Nothing to do but prep & wait.
This is exactly how it went down Saturday evening. Scored the fat side up and littered with Danish Viking-Smoked Salt and Sarawak Creamy White Peppercorns. Broth, enough onions and good mushrooms to fill things up. Cover with some small ways for moisture to escape. This little brisket was only about 4 pounds or so, the cook time I figured would only be about 7 to 9 hours.
It wasn’t long before wonderful, rich, beefy wafts made their way from the oven. And ol’ Biggles was getting sleepy. Off to bed I went, or so I thought.
That damned thing woked me up nearly every hour, all damned night long! By about 4 or 5 in the morning I yanked the beast.
Flavors good, texture was a little mooshy and was a tad dry. Probably should have only gone 5 hours. Your oven may vary. I’m never doing that again, even with the ventilation going. I smelled that thing for so damned long I couldn’t bear to eat a meal from it. It sat in the fridge until last night, when I sliced it up and made a Mish Mash Minestrone. The soup totally rocked, holy cow. Rich tomato broth, smoove creamy beef lolling about in your spoon and up in to your mouth. Lightness of beef fat bringing springy bright tastes to every corner of your receptors.
I ate too much of it and never regretted a moment. Is there a better meat for tomato based broths? Seafood may come close, but then I’d whack it hard with a beef leg. I win. We win. Romance the brisket, you’ll be glad you did.
xo, Biggles
I make Roast Beef for Po Boys and start out making broth from beef bones and then cook a big roast in that broth until it falls apart in tiny pieces. It’s unbelievably good, but you’re right, cooking beef for that long does fill up the whole house with the odors of that glorious beef. It’s hard to take.
Food for thought, Biggles. The brisket sounds and looks fantastic, but your warning about the ambient aroma gave me pause. I’ve been thinking of doing an all-night pork shoulder the way Scott Howard did for “vinegar pork” when he was at Fork in San Anselmo, something I could never resist. It was so much like the type of barbecue I grew up with, in Georgia…..Hmmm. Maybe I will do it all day (what a concept) when I can be in and out of the house, maybe leaving the kitchen door open. Will let you know when/if I do. PS You’re right about beef and tomato. I love to cook a pot roast in the tomato sauce I make for pasta — what a great depth of flavor.
From the first photo, I was hooked. I am a brisket fanatic, any which way — roasted, smoked, even braised a la my grandmother. I do a version of Lee Bailey’s oven-bbq brisket that doesn’t have the good crust, but has flavor to die for. It cooks for a total of 5 hours, 4 covered and 1 uncovered.
Rev,
What a nightmare! I feel your pain.
Does the scent go upstairs well? Because my goodness those photos look FRIGGIN DELICIOUS. I may just have to open all the windows on the ground floor of the house and see how many neighbors are standing there in the morning…like a zombie movie or something.
Wow that looks good. Sounds easy too! I thought you were going to say you had to get up to baste it or something.
YEA!!! I just found your site, fell in meaty love…and then you got sick and went away! 🙁 Hope you and the fam are all better now.
And now it’s time to make some real bolognese sauce. Pot roast in marinara. Yummmmmm.
Welcome back!
That does indeed sound torturous. I probably would have broken down sooner.
So, did you do the eating at 4 a.m.? I woulda.
Slumber party at Biggles’s!!
Hey,
Oh cookie, if even.
Thanks to everyone stopping by, that is nice. And Carl? It travels everywhere and stays. The house smelled like it for over 24 hours. Kevin feels my pain, neat. Pot roast in marinara? Send me the recipe.
Next up a Meat Adventure from Chilebrown to end all Adventures. We did a bacon tasting of about 6 different bacons from Oregon and around this last Saturday. The man can’t be stopped, thank goodness.
xo to everyone and to everyone a good night.
Me
Like Cookiecrumb’s idea of eating in the middle of the night when temptation is too strong!
I’m confused. How did Mr. Brisket awaken you?
mrsguy
Pot roast and marinara? I figured Biggles had this down by now; the uncle and dad collaboration (dad’s minus the meat, obviously, just sauce). I try to replicate that sauce to this day, last try two Sundays ago…always a Sunday dinner!
Nothing my MIL could replicate as a second generation American of Eastern Euros compares to the uncle’s pot roast. The stew wasn’t half bad either. 🙂
Do eeeeet, Bigs. A great tribute to your roots.
Oh, Po-Mo-Pris, we should compare notes/recipes for traditional pot roast, East-Euro style! I thought I had died and gone to food heaven when I was in that part of the world and privileged to attend some family dinners hosted by local colleagues and friends! Maybe it is the cut of meat, the way the animals are raised and then the way the meat is prepared. All organic, all following centuries old patterns. One thing I did glean from the experience is that EE’s believe in sloooow cooking and plenty of local herbs, especially bay leaves grown from the earth in that region! Sounds like Bigs’s Sr fellas know a thing or two, as well!
That beautiful brisket is making my mouth water.Email some to me now!
Damn, even reading that article makes me hungry. Ya bastard.
Just your luck buddy, repulsed by a piece of meat in the morning becomes a fantastic soup by night.
Beefy Wafts are Kool
Beef and tomato sauce- sounds like you’re a stone’s throw from brachiole. Which rocks.
Pragmatic,
Damn you, now I’m going to have to go google brasheeholee. It’d better rock, otherwise I’m driving to that desert place where you live and cooking you dinner. Damn you.
Biggles