For Food Sakes
The multicultural marvels of beef brisket
Try this BBQ-style sauce with chutney beef brisket
Although the definition of beef brisket, a primal cut, differs internationally, it is loved by many cultures and in many cuisines. I personally love my brisket slow cooked in five spices with daikon radish, atop a bowl of hot rice noodle soup, Hong Kong-style.
The cut that defines beef brisket is the part where the muscle is held by numerous connective tissues, which is rich in collagen. After prolonged cooking, collagen gelatinises and becomes a soft, melt-in-your-mouth, buttery substance that coats the ultra-tenderised meat and your taste buds. In my opinion, fattiness is a necessary flavour to a great tasting meat dish.
Cooking brisket is a time-honoured process, whether it be in a Texan style smoker, on fire, or in any modern cooking vessels, such as the slow cooker. Overnight marinade is preferable, but if you’re a last-minute dot-com like me, give it at least one-and-a-half hours before cooking to make sure your meat is tenderised and well-soaked in its marinade.
I can rarely find the Hong Kong-style cut in SA, so I get the regular unrolled brisket popularly used for slow cooking or hot-smoking, as much as I’d like to make my Hong Kong brisket noodle soup reminiscent of home. Having learnt to improvise, some foods do still taste better where they comes from. I can wait.
On a trip to the US once upon a time, we spent a night in Philadelphia, and came across a ramen restaurant that served “Jewish-Japanese-style” ramen. The piping hot bowl of ramen in broth, topped with slices of barbecue brisket and matzo balls, was nothing short of delicious. I recently learnt that Jewish people celebrate Christmas in Chinese restaurants across the US. It was said that Chinese eateries were the only places where one could find decent “kosher-ish” foods on a night when every other place closes. These nuanced stories of connections do make the crazy world seem quite amazing.
Ingredients:
- 1kg x beef brisket
- 400g x Mrs Ball’s chutney original flavour, about three quarters of a bottle
- 2 x medium-sized onions, diced
- 4 x garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 tsp of berbere spice, Ethiopian spice blend
- 2 x tsp of white pepper
- 2 x tsp of salt.
Method:
- To marinade, mix the chutney, diced onion, chopped garlic, spices, salt and pepper thoroughly until they are all blended in smoothly. Then place the brisket in the marinade for at least one-and-a-half hours, or overnight for the best flavour.
- Heat the pan and seal the brisket with some butter or oil.
- Add it to a slow cooker for eight hours. I used Instant pot slowcook function. Alternatively, you can use a pressure cooker — I tested a previous recipe and two hours are sufficient for cooking in a pressure cooker.
- Let it cool, slice, pour sauce ove, and serve it however you like. Enjoy!