I honestly can’t remember the last time I made a brisket, before I made one for this post, anyway. It’s just not something I get excited about, surprisingly enough. Don’t get me wrong, if someone makes a tasty brisket and it happens to wind up in front of me, I will eat the heck out of it. It’s delicious. But it’s not something I often buy with plans to make during the week. I mean, unless we’re talking about this French Onion Brisket with Porcini Mushrooms
French Onion Brisket with Porcini Mushrooms
But it’s almost Passover, and I can’t imagine this nice Jewish girl not having a proper Passover recipe round-up, complete with a brisket for the center of the table. Your table, anyway, cause we have lamb chops at ours. If my mom dared leave her famous lamb chops off the menu, I guarantee there would some kind of mutiny. Even my borderline vegetarian cousin has been known to throw a punch when she feels her lamb chop quota being threatened by the other guests. (I might be exaggerating, but the look in her eye suggests just barely)
All the ingredients
And besides, this brisket is freaking delicious, and has actually made me into a brisket fan. It’s cooked in two stages: After cooking about half way through, it’s removed and sliced and then returned to the braising liquid. That means that allll the flavor of the braising liquid penetrates into each tender slice.
Using dried mushrooms means a double whammy of flavor: The mushrooms themselves, and the liquid you use to reconstitute them adds a great depth of flavor to the braising liquid.
Into the dutch oven goes almost caramelized onions, a few carrots…
…the brisket
criminis and porcinis join the party, with the liquid from rehydrating the porcinis… And then we braise.
French Onion Brisket with Porcini Mushrooms
Three onions may seem like a lot, but when cooked low and slow for several hours, they melt into the braising liquid and create a wonderful gravy.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 180 minutes
- Total Time: 200 minutes
- Yield: 6 + servings
- Category: Main Course
Ingredients
- 2 ounces dried porcini mushrooms, (about 1 heaping cup)
- 2 cups boiling water
- 4–5 pounds brisket, (preferably grass-fed)
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil, tallow, duck fat (or your preferred cooking fat)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 large onions, (sliced thin)
- 3–4 large carrots, (whole or sliced lengthwise)
- 6 garlic cloves, (peeled but left whole)
- 12–15 fresh crimini mushrooms (whole, stemmed)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300ºF.
- Place the dried porcini mushrooms in a bowl and the boiling water over them. Let them sit for at least 15 minutes, or until you’re ready to add them to the brisket.
- Pat the brisket dry and season with salt and pepper.
- Place a large heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat and add the oil or cooking fat. Once hot, add the brisket and sear for three minutes on each side. Remove to a plate and brush with tomato paste on both sides.
- Add the onions to the pot and turn the heat to medium. Sauté them for 10-15 minutes, or until they’re golden brown and soft, stirring occasionally.
- Strain the mushrooms in a strainer lined with a cheesecloth, reserving the liquid they were in.
- Once the onions are golden brown, add the carrots, then the brisket, then the garlic, porcini and cremini mushrooms and the liquid from the mushrooms.
- Cover tightly and put in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the brisket to a cutting board and slice at an angle against the grain, in 1/4-inch slices. Return the brisket back to the braising liquid, keeping them as close to the original shape of the brisket as possible. (see make-ahead tip in notes) Cover and cook for an additional 1 1/2 hours, or more if necessary, until it’s tender.
Notes
If not serving the brisket the day you make it: You can refrigerate after slicing and returning to the braising liquid, and finish cooking it when you’re ready to serve. Make sure to allow extra time since you’ll be starting with cold brisket.
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Josh says
Looks amazing! please recommend a type of tomato paste? Temp of oven?
zenbellyblog says
Temp of oven! Sorry, I can sometimes proofread 17 times and still miss details. 300. Thanks Josh! And I added a link to my favorite tomato paste. (Though any type will work fine, just aim for organic if possible, and BPA-free can)
Cindy M. says
I haven’t said this about anyone and that is ALL your recipes turned out AMAZING. Quick question about this brisket recipe: Oven temp 325 or 300? Recipe stated 300 but comment above stated 325.
The Chocolate Hazelnut waffle recipe in your cookbook. Would it work as pancakes? BTW, my husband told me that I cannot make any other waffles except these.
Thanks for sharing your passion!
zenbellyblog says
Wow Cindy, thanks! That’s so so great to hear.
For oven temp on the brisket, it’s 300. I edited the recipe after writing that comment, but now have edited the comment as well. It will work either way, but I find it comes out more tender at a lower heat.
Waffles as pancakes- Yes! I haven’t tried with this particular recipe, but pancake and waffle recipes are almost always swap-able. Let me know how they come out if you try it! Definitely go lower heat than traditional pancakes, they’ll brown quickly.
renee says
Yum – will make for this years seder. Thoughts on using the crockpot instead of oven braise?
zenbellyblog says
Sorry I’m just replying to this… I was cooking for our sedar for days and not online much… This reply is probably too late for this year, but my general rule of thumb regarding crock pots is this: I don’t have one, so can’t really offer specifics. If you use one and have a good feel for it, and how to adapt a recipe, definitely go for it! I’m working on getting a friend / colleague to adapt my braise recipes for the crockpot, so will hopefully have that info sometime soon. Happy Pesach!
Elizabeth says
I know you are reformatting your site, but please put in some kind of recipe index (even like the list you had before) – it is too much clicking through, and it takes forever to load each page.
Thanks!
zenbellyblog says
Working on it!
Elena Herting says
I just made this, it is sooooo good. Thank you for an awesome recipe!
zenbellyblog says
So glad you loved it!
Chelsea V says
can I use the slow cooker for this instead? Thanks 🙂
zenbellyblog says
I’m pretty sure you can! The only thing is that I couldn’t tell you for how long, or at what setting… If you’ve adapted other recipes from a braise to a slow cooker and feel like you know the ropes, definitely go for it! And please stop by and let us know how it went, in case others are wondering the same thing. 🙂
Louise says
Any suggestions for doing this without mushrooms? More specifically in terms of the liquid content?
zenbellyblog says
Most of the liquid comes from the onions, so just leave them out.
Mariah says
The recipe still shows 325 degrees, but I’m asssuming from the comments I should use 300.
My brisket is very long so I will have to cut it in half, do you think it’s okay if the pieces overlap in the cooking pot?
zenbelly says
Either works but I changed it to 300. It’s okay if it overlaps a bit, I’d just overlap the thinnest parts.
Mariah says
For the 2nd half of the cooking, the instructions say to “return to the braising liquid” which sounds like I should drain the liquid off to continue the cooking in vs. just returning the brisket to the pan with the onions/carrots mushrooms?
zenbelly says
I can’t figure out why it sounds like that, but you want to simply return the brisket to the liquid, you’re not draining anything. The onions and mushrooms are part of the braising liquid.