Recipe: Braised Beef Brisket
Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Time: 27 hours (24 hours marinating in the fridge)
Ease: 1
Taste: 6
Leftover Value: 6
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!
It wasn't until I was married that I experienced a brisket. I immediately fell in love.
This is the first recipe that got me hooked.
Ordinarily, brisket can be purchased at a fairly decent price.
Naturally, when I needed it, I could only find one in the pristine meat section, and therefore my 3-pounder cost me around $25.
Did I mention I'm not liking the cost-of-meat aspect of this recipe challenge?
This recipe is ridiculously simple so long as you have the patience to allow the meat to sit for 24-48 hours.
When I'm organized, this isn't an issue for me. But when I'm hoping to have brisket in a few hours and realize it needs to marinate for 24, then I want to throw my brisket out the window.
The meat soaks in a marinade of beef consomme, soy sauce, lemon juice, and garlic. My soy sauce got away from me, as you can see.
The best part is, that once the marinade is created, the meat goes into the fridge and you can forget about it completely until it is time to toss it in the oven.
Here's where the confusion came for me.
I cooked my 3-lb brisket for 40 minutes per pound as directed. PW says to "check to see if the brisket is fork-tender: stick two forks into the meat and pull them in opposite directions". If the meat comes apart easily, it's done. If there is resistance, it should cook longer.
I tried this several times and felt the meat was resisting me every single time.
But it looked done.
So eventually, I was so aggravated I tossed the entire thing into my slow cooker and set in on high for an hour.
Ultimately, that is how I think I will end up cooking this recipe the next time I make it. Instead of even bothering with turning the oven on, I'll put it in the slow cooker on low until it is "fork-tender".
The good news is that when I did eventually get to eat it, it was delicious. Even Hubby raved about it, and that is a big deal around here.
I would usually serve such a main course with mashed potatoes, but I still had twice baked potatoes and potato skins left on my recipe challenge to do list.
Recipe: Twice-Baked Potatoes
Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Time: 1 hr 20 min
Ease: 5
Taste: 9
Leftover Value: 6
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!
First, let me confess that it has been so long since I have fried bacon that I made a horrible mess of my frying pan...
Baking bacon has overcome my life so much that I contemplated baking the bacon for this recipe even though PW clearly says to fry it.
Thank God I have an awesome Hubby who cleaned it for me.
Is there anything more beautiful than this?:
Hold on, it gets better...
The potatoes, which have just baked for 45 minutes, need to have their bellies scooped out.
This is rather difficult. It needs to be done while the potatoes are still hot. Some scoop super easy, and others put up a fuss.
It was at this point I knew for certain this recipe was going to be absolutely amazing.
Don't be fooled, these starchy delights aren't easy to make--at all.
But they are better than any, ANY, baked potato or potato skin I have ever eaten.
In complete honesty, these potatoes were my main dish and the brisket was the side.
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