General Chat

I remember my mother cooking "brisket" when I was a child......... a big lump of meat, cooked so long it fell apart.

Our local club has meat raffles on Friday & Sunday; yesterday we won a prize... the last packet of meat. OH (as usual) said it was roadkill, I said it was a rib roast, but the guy running the raffle said it was brisket!

It weighs 1.7Kg, there are ribs in it........... and it's in the oven, smells wonderful.

My question is.............. what is brisket?

:-D

I think it is a cut of beef. I will have to google as I don't remember it having any ribs in it when I was young, but that was a long time ago.

Yes, from the chest or lower (I forget what) of the animal. It is one of the 9 prime cuts of beef.

Oh,brisket....
We still buy brisket here,or I do as I remember it very well from the war years.
It is beef ,as its a very versatile tasty cut.

My mother bought it a lot during the war As it went further than any other cut we could get in our ration.

She would take it off the bone ,then take of the layer of fat,then roll the meat and slow cook it.then press it in a basin with a heavy weight on.
She would render the fat down for our roast potatoes and with the bones she would make soup or stew.

I sometimes buy it now,but not on the bone then cook it in slow cooker....very tender

http://www.moorebutchers.co.uk/nutritional-value/

For a long time Tesco JS et al sold brisket as "Topside" ( !!!!! ) until they lost a case brought by the OFT and now label it as "roasting beef".

The major supermarkets tend not to hang their beef properly and a real butcher is a better place to go. These days real butchers do not charge any more than supermarkets on a like-for-like basis.

Brisket needs a long slow cook with some onions. Pot roasting is best. Keep the meat together with butcher's string - a real butcher will do this for you.

I myself like brisket cold sliced thinly.

The apprenticeship for a butcher used to be 4 years basic and another 2 for management stuff. It is very hard work. Tesco buy in trimmed carcasses from the slaughter house in bulk. These are divied up by "cutters" into the boxes for the supermarkets on a production line. Cutters get 6-12 weeks training.

OTOH demand for real trained butchers is rising sharply in London so I guess the art of cooking is not entirely dead.

Don't know how Tesco sold it as Topside.
It looks different..more grainy and does need a slow cook.

Yes we always had it cold and loved the top
Slice which had the lovely tasty jelly on top
It lasted us for quite a few days,with the stew later in week.

If we plan ahead, we'll slow oven cook it in a covered dish with a bit of water/stock then let it go cold.
The next day we'll slice off what we need and reheat in the oven submerged in a gravy.
Lovely and so tender!

I WAS USED TO BUY A WHOLE ROLL OF BRISKET IT
WAS CLASSED AS THE CHEAPEST CUT AND IT WAS BY
FAR,SLOW COOK IT THEN SLICE THE WHOLE JOINT
THEN WRAP IT IN FOIL, WITH SOME COLD DRIPPING
FROM IT IN MEAL SIZE PORTIONS AND FREEZE IT FOR
UP TO A MONTH,DEFROST IT AND REHEAT ,
MIND YOU I WOULD HAVE ABOUT 6 TO 8 MEALS FOR
A TENNER WHEN IT WAS CHEAP

Try this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brisket

Aye oop all,

Many years ago down here - down under, we had half a beast killed (actually, the whole beast was killed or it would've been right upset but we had half!) and the butcher asked if we wanted the brisket (as well as the silverside) corned. I said, "too b****y right." It were luverly.
B

Hi Bernie, WA here whereabouts are you? :-)

Hi Allan.

East and across the little ditch - not the biggun - BOPNZ

B

:-D :-D :-D

My daughter is holidaying there now :-)

I can remember Mum slow cooking a brisket joint in the coal fired oven. The house was filled with delicious meaty smell for hours. Dad had an allotment and so there was always plenty of fresh vegetables and we were fed on what I call good wholesome basic food.

I sometimes buy brisket and cook it overnight in a slow cooker, the kitchen smells delicious and I am taken back very many years and reminded of my happy childhood days.

Good morning All beautiful day on the NE coast :-D

mm mm brisket my favourite cut of beef, rolled or topside shoulder I often cook it for Sunday roast, Morrison's are very good for meat and will cut to order.

In fry pan brown (sear) the joint all sides in oil, season then put in roasting tin with a little water and few chopped carrots.

Roast very slowly 150c.... for a 2k joint approx. 4 hours. Serve of course with Yorkshire puds. and lovely thick rich gravy.
Is very nice cooked in slow cooker too mmmm :-D

My mum used to cook a piece of brisket by pot roast it with carrots, turnip, parsnips, and sliced onions, about half an hour before serving it, she would add potatoes that had been part boiled, all the vegetables were grown by my dad - delicious :-)

I found info on google, but it didn't look like the "brisket" my mother cooked.

Nothing in my Encyclopedia of Cookery!

I knew it was beef, it looked like ribs.

I rubbed it with some olive oil & black pepper, cooked it in the halogen oven for just over 90 minutes. Lovely & tender, & Himself enjoyed chewing on the bones. Sometimes it's like living with Fred Flintstone. :-D

We had mashed potatoes, carrots, zucchini & onion gravy with it.

If I get it again I might do it with a bbq sauce.

My mum used to make soup with it, lovely,
and after our soup we had carrot ,turnip and
potatoes with the brisket.

Emma :-)

Pot roast brisket - delicious! OH cooks it now but he never quite gets the gravy right!

Actually, Rollo, supermarket beef is getting better - some of it is quite dark, showing that it has been hung longer. OH (whose father was a Master Butcher) will now buy it. Had some Aberdeen Angus steak from A**I that was the tenderest I have ever eaten. Mind you the next piece we bought wasn't quite as good.

Yes, some branches of Tesco and Waitrose sometimes have some properly hung beef vacuum packed ... for a price. I rather doubt it signposts any significant improvement in their butchering skills.

I am one of the last of a continuous line of farmers and master butchers going back 500 years. I did my butchery training when I was younger and it brought in a bit of cash when I was at uni. That is how I know it is hard work not to to forget the ungodly hours. I am sad though that Smithfield will be closing.

I have quite a cosmopolitan background and New Yorkers cook brisket far better than the English. Here is a recipe:

http://nymag.com/listings/recipe/italian-jewish-style-bri/