Brisket with red wine and tart cherries

I have been making the same brisket for years.  It was just time for a change.  I asked my friend what his favorite brisket recipes were.  He sent me two.  One made with dashi and the other with the tart cherries.  I knew I would get off the plane from LA, get home and make the brisket before even unpacking, so making dashi was not in the cards, so it was easy to opt into the tart cherries option.

The combo of the wine, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar and cherries really work.  You can easily bag the cherries and have an amazing brisket too.  Brisket is a bit like the kitchen sink, anything goes.

Here is the recipe which I doubled because I made 14 lbs….yikes!

• 1/4 cup matzoh cake meal
• Kosher or fine salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (6- to 6 1/2-pound) first- or second-cut beef brisket
• 3 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 16 medium shallots (about 1 pound); peeled, and chopped
• 2 cups Pinot Noir
• 2 cups chicken stock or reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups (8 ounces) dried tart cherries
• 2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 whole star anise

Preheat oven to 350.

Coat the top of the brisket with the matzoh cake meal, salt, and pepper.  In a big dutch oven coat the bottom with vegetable oil (I actually used olive oil but vegetable does get hotter without burning) and brown the brisket with this seasoned side down.  It takes about 5 or so minute to get crisp.  Then take it out and set aside.

Toss in a bit more oil into the pot and then add the shallots.  Saute until soft and a bit caramelized.  Add the wine, crank up the heat to high, and let this boil down to half.  Now add the cherries, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, star anise and a dash or two of kosher salt.  Bring to a simmer, put the top on, and put this in the oven.

I let this roast at 200 for 12 hours.  I also had a lot of meat.  I would do the same thing with less but perhaps 8 hours is plenty.  I love the low roast on brisket.  I took the brisket out of the oven and let it cool before slicing.  Then I put it in a separate serving tray that I could warm later.  I put the pot on the stove to boil down the sauce again.  I took out the sauce in a defatting canister and then used that sauce for later before serving.  It was the call.

The recipe called for carrots to be put in later.  I chopped some and put them in at the beginning.  I opted out of the carrots on the recipe here because you don’t need them.  I prefer roasting whole carrots on the side.  Meal included roasted asparagus, roasted carrots, roasted small potatoes, and brisket.  Classic Passover meal.