Twofer

Pardon the skanky looking cilantro. I cut it before it was dry. I knew better. Moving on . . . .

Beef brisket. One cut of meat. Two + meals. The pictures are, however, in reverse order of the meals. But the tacos were better than the not-quite-braised-long-enough thing going on below. The slices pictured down there weren't terrible by any means, but the pulled stuff the next day was great.

The braise was pretty standard. First the meat was seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin, and chili powder and seared in some lard. Then it was removed in went diced onion, celery, and carrot to soften with some salt and pepper. Once those were good in went minced garlic and tomato paste. Then some thyme, bay leaf, and a bunch of leftover red wine simmered with the veg. The veg-wine mix got put in a casserole with the brisket, and some room temp stock (veal/chix) was added to make the liquid come halfway up the meat, the casserole got covered with foil, and it went in a 325 oven for 1.5 hrs. It could have used another hr for max tenderness, but it was really quite good as is.

Before serving both sides of the meat got charred under the broiler--it took about 2.5 minutes per side. The liquid was strained from the veg and got mixed with a tiny amount of roux to make a thin gravy. The sauce went well with the mashed sweet potatoes and the green beans that had been blanched and then sauteed with some garlic.

It felt like an old-school Sunday night supper.

The tacos began when the first brisket dinner was over. The leftover half of the brisket and all the leftover sauce (with a little extra water) got put in a covered pan that went into a 250 oven for about 3 hrs. That cooled overnight in the off and slowly cooling oven, was refrigerated for a day, and reheated on the stove for a second brisket dinner.

The brisket was easy the pull apart, and the sauce got reduced to a super thick syrup that was added to the pulled meat. Also added was some more salt, pepper, Mexican oregano, and chipotle powder. It was pretty awesome.

That side salad that's barely visible in the taco pic--arugula, lettuce, watermelon, and feta. Simple vinegar (lemon juice is better), oil, salt, and pepper dressing. That salad is classic for a reason.

Tacos served with cilantro, diced onion, lime, sour cream, and hot sauce.

Beef from Millgate. Lettuce and arugula from Firefly Farm (Shaker Mkt). Watermelon from a cool urban farm on 30th and Cedar. Feta from Lucky Penny (via FarmShare).

Oh, and stay tuned. It appears that I've been offered the opportunity to give away a $65 credit to an online store that has tons of things to choose from. In the next few posts I plan to review a thing I got from them and offer up the gift cert. Just fyi. And there's going to be some linkage. Seems like a fair price to pay.