Braised Brisket With Red Wine Sauce

In our home, we call this dish “mystery meat” so as not to offend our beloved dachshund, Brisket. For blog purposes, I’ll actually call it by it’s given name. I could make this blindfolded at this point…stay tuned for that! But seriously, I have made this Brisket for the last fifteen years and it is a fail proof, crowd pleasing hit. The sauce has the wonderful flavors of tomatoes and red wine and the caramelized vidalia onion topping takes it to a whole new level. It’s elevated, but still favored by the Brisket traditionalists.

note: it is best to make this the day before you intend to serve it

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

4 lb flat cut beef brisket (get the good stuff, and make sure the butcher trims the fat cap, so the sauce isn’t too fatty) (all southern cooks just plotzed)

28oz can of whole plum tomatoes plus liquid

2 cups of merlot, plus an additional 1/2 cup reserved for finishing the sauce

1 cup of water

2 dried bay leaves

2 yellow onions, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

3 large cloves of garlic, sliced

salt and pepper

1 large vidalia onion, halved and sliced

olive oil

Pre-heat the oven to 350.

Season the brisket on both sides with salt and pepper.

In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium/high heat.

place the brisket in the Dutch oven and sear on both sides. Remove the meat and set aside.

Add the onions and carrots to the Dutch oven and sauté for a few minutes.

Add the garlic and sauté.

Add the tomatoes and stir

Add the wine and water and bring to a boil, then add the bay leaves and turn off the heat.

Return the meat to the Dutch oven, ensuring it is almost covered with the liquid.

Place the Dutch oven into the oven and cook for three and half hours.

Once cooked, remove the Dutch oven from the oven and let cool. Place it in the fridge overnight.

The next day, remove the meat from the sauce and slice it thinly. Set aside in an ovenproof serving dish.

Remove the bay leaves from the sauce and then blend the sauce in a food processor until it is relatively smooth. Set aside in a saucepan.

Sauté the vidalia onions in a pan over medium heat, until they caramelize slightly. Set aside.

Bring the sauce to a low boil in the saucepan and add in the 1/2 cup of wine. Reduce the sauce and remove from heat.

Pour the sauce over the sliced meat and top with the onions. Heat in the oven right before serving. Enjoy!