Marinated beef brisket
Whilst a longer cooking time is required for beef brisket, the wait is well worth it for boldly flavoured, tender beef. When paired with warmed tortillas and a crunchy winter slaw, expect a taste sensation that will have you coming back for more.
Ingredients
Method
Ingredients
Beef
- 1-1.3kg Quality Mark beef brisket
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp brown mustard seeds
- 1/2 tbsp peppercorns
- 1/2 tbsp soft brown sugar
- 1/2 tbsp paprika
- A pinch of cayenne pepper
- 1 cup beef stock
To serve
- 8 tortillas, warmed
- a wedge of cabbage, shredded
- a wedge of red cabbage, shredded
- 1 green apple, finely sliced
- 1 red onion, finely sliced
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- Chipotle hot sauce
- 1 green chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
- A handful of pumpkin seeds, toasted
- 2 lime, cut into wedges
Method
To marinate the brisket
- Place the seeds and peppercorns in a small dry frying pan over medium heat and lightly toast – you will smell when they are toasted.
- Straightaway remove from the pan and leave to cool.
- Lightly crush the seeds and peppercorns (see tips) and mix with the brown sugar, paprika and cayenne pepper.
- Place the beef brisket on a large plate and rub over the spice mixture.
- Cover and place in the fridge overnight.
- The next day, remove beef brisket from the fridge and bring to room temperature.
To make the brisket
- Preheat the oven to 135°C.
- Place on a wire rack sitting inside a roasting dish.
- Pour in the beef stock then cover completely with foil and seal well.
- Place in the oven and cook for 5-6 hours depending on your brisket size.
- Baste brisket 2-3 times during cooking by spooning over the meat juices.
- For super-tender brisket your internal temperature should be higher than the standard internal temperature required for cooked beef. I prefer to cook the brisket until the temp is 90–95° C and the meat probe slides into the meat easily.
- Basting the cooking brisket periodically is up to you. The best technique for adding moisture back to the brisket is to wrap in aluminum foil with a couple of tablespoon-size pats of butter for the last hour to finish to about 95ºC.
- Remove from the oven and season with salt.
- Leave your brisket to rest for 20 - 30 minutes after removing it from the oven. Loosely tent the cooked brisket with aluminum foil either in the roasting pan or on a cutting board.
To serve
- Slice beef thinly and place 2-3 slices on each tortilla, along with a coleslaw made using the cabbage, apple, red onion and sesame seeds.
- Serve with small dishes of mayonnaise and chipotle sauce for drizzling over.
- Top tortilla with chilli and pumpkin seeds.
- Finally squeeze over a little lime juice. Wrap up and eat.