West by Midwest

Recipes and thoughts from the West by Midwest kitchen

Totally Amazing Brisket (+Bo Ssam Style)

 

This recipe was published as a traditional Thanksgiving alternative but I didn’t want to use all of the garnishes they used. The basics of cooking a Brisket indoors worked REALLY well, so it’s one I need to post here so I won’t forget. I changed parts of the recipe to work with what I had and used beer instead of water, just because I didn’t really want to drink the Budweiser that we had and thought this was a much better use for it. It helped make a good au jus.

PS: If using a smaller brisket, use less rub and cook shorter amount of time.
Brisket ingredients:
  • Black Pepper (to Taste)
  • 1 6-8 pound Beef Brisket
  • 1/2 Cup Sugar
  • 1/2 Cup Sea Salt
  • 6 pack of beer (some for cookin’ and some for drinkin’)
Basting Liquid
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Sea Salt
  • 1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons HOT water
  • 3 Tablespoons Worchestershire Sauce
  • 3 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Fish Sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon Onion Powder

Classic Brisket Steps: 

If you can dry brine overnight, that works best, but even an hour will work fine.

Rub the Brisket liberally with Black Pepper on both sides and let sit for a few minutes. (I actually used a spicy rub instead of the pepper). Mix Sugar and Salt then rub all over the brisket and let sit for ONE HOUR or refrigerate overnight.

When ready to cook, place a pan of water in the bottom of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees (350 if convection.) Place brisket in a roasting pan with fat cap facing up. Pour water (or beer) into pan so that it comes up 1/2 inch of the brisket sides. Cover with foil and cook for about 3 1/2-4 1/2 hours. Mine was smaller and it cooked in about 2 1/2 hours in a convection oven.

Brisket served with sauteed mushrooms and onions, using the defatted pan sauce.

To make Basting liquid: Mix salt and brown sugar with hot water until it dissolves. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix well and put into a squeeze bottle if you have one. If not, you can use a baster or a spoon. Baste the brisket once an hour in the oven. If you cook a smaller size, baste once every half hour.

Baste with liquid once an hour, removing foil after 3 hours, letting brisket darken for remainder of cooking time. You will know it’s finished when you push on the thickest part and there is no pushback or firmness and you can easily pierce the meat.

You will probably need to keep adding water or beer to the bottom pan, I did 3 times.

For the first night we ate this, I sauteed onions and mushrooms and poured the defatted Au Jus into the mushrooms and served it over the meat. We saved the rest for Bo Ssam the 2nd night.

Bo Ssam Style

I had to add this to the blog because my family would be really mad it I couldn’t remember how to make it again!
So to make this Bo Ssam, you slice the meat thinly, then serve it wrapped in butter lettuce with some Pickled Daikon, KimChi and Korean Chile Sauce. Unfortunately we snarfed it down so fast, we didn’t take time to take a photo.

Pickled Carrot, Jicama and Persimmon instead of the Pickled Diakon

Pickled Daikon,

  • I peeled Diakon, sliced thinly
  • 3/4 Cup Rice Wine Vinegar
  • 1 Tablespoon Sugar
I didn’t have Daikon, but I did have carrots and Jicama and some Fuyu Persimmons so I made large matchstick slices of those and mixed it with the vinegar, sugar with some sesame oil added, let it sit in the fridge and it made a nice crunchy topping along with the KimChi which gave it some heat.
Korean Chili Sauce 
  • 2 Tablespoons Gochujang (Korean Chili Paste)
  • 2 Tablespoons Dwenjang (Korean Miso)
  • 1 large clove of Garlic
  • 1 Tablespoons Toaste Sesame Oil
I didn’t have these ingredients and didn’t make it, but added the sesame oil to the pickled veggies and it was really good.

 

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