Delishuss Blog

Yesterday was a bit dull and dreary, perfect weather for a Sunday roast. After sifting through my bookcase of cookbooks, I decided on beef brisket. It was a choice between a more traditional southern style brisket from Gordon Ramsey recipe or a Jamie Oliver one. I asked the taste tester which he’d prefer and he gravitated towards the Jamie Oliver Mothership Sunday Roast Brisket one. I was a little intimated by the fact that there are Yorkshire Puddings to be made but I’d said I’d give it a shot.

A couple of things to call out, give the meat a good seasoning. I mixed an Oxo cube with the mustard and smothered the meat with it and I still felt it was slightly under seasoned. I’d go a bit easier on the blackcurrant jam as the gravy was a bit sweet for my liking. I also added a stock cube into the water for the gravy.

It’s a really satisfying plate of food and we have plenty of leftovers for all the other great recipes from the Jamie Oliver book (Save with Jamie).

Ingredients

2kg piece of beef brisket

Olive oil

2 large onions

2 teaspoons of mustard

1 Oxo cube

1 bunch of fresh rosemary

1.5kg potatoes

500g carrots

1 swede or parsnips

1 knob of unsalted butter

140g plain flour

1 tablespoon blackcurrant jam (I’d probably use 1/2 tablespoon)

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

400ml beef stock

Vegetable oil

2 large eggs

100ml semi-skimmed milk

Method

Brisket

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius/325 degrees Fahrenheit/ gas mark 3.
2. Heat a frying pan and add a glug of olive oil.
3. Season the brisket with salt and pepper and brown in the pan.
4. While the meat is browning, slice the onions.
5. Once all the meat is fried off, remove and set aside.
6. Fry off the onions until brown in the frying pan. Add to the bottom of a casserole dish. (You can do all this directly in the casserole dish if you have gas, I only have induction).
7. Rub the meat with the mustard and Oxo cube and rosemary leaves. Add to the casserole dish.
8. Protect the meat with a sheet of wetted greaseproof paper. This keeps the meat moist and keeps in the juices. Cover with 2 sheets of tin foil and place in the oven.
9. I like my brisket shredded, so I left it on for 5 hours. If you prefer to carve it, 4 hours will do. Check it half way to make sure there’s another moisture; if not, add a little water.

Veggies

1. While the meat is cooking away, peel the potatoes, halving any larger ones. The original recipe says to parboil in salted water for 12 minutes. I chucked them in microwave for 6 minutes.
2. Press the potatoes down with a masher gently until the split a little. Shake in some olive oil and plenty of salt. Potatoes love salt.
3. Place in the oven an 1 1/2 before the end of the brisket cooking time.
4. Peel and chop the carrots and swede or parsnips. Cook in salted boiling water for 20 minutes or until soft. Drain and mash with the butter. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

Gravy

1. Remove the potatoes and brisket from the oven and pour out some of the meat juices into a jug. Keep the meat and potatoes warm.
2. Up the oven temperature to 250 degrees Celsius, 495 degrees Fahrenheit, gas mark 8.
3. Heat a frying pan and add the flour, jam, vinegar, stock and resting juices. Similar until you have a nice smooth consistency. Keep it on a low heat until you are ready to use.

Yorkshire Puddings

1. Grab a 12 hole shallow hole bun tray and add some olive oil to each hole. Don’t go too crazy as the Yorkshire puddings will end up being greasy and soggy.
2. Place the tray in the oven while you make your pudding mixture.
3. Put the flour and salt and the eggs in a jug and whisk. Slowly add in the milk and whisk until you have a smooth consistency that’s not lumpy.
4. Carefully take the tray from the oven, it’s hotter than hell. Make sure you have somewhere heat proof to place the tray. Fill each hole 3/4 way full and place them in the oven.
5. Bake them in the oven until they have puffed up and are golden brown, roughly 10 minutes.

Carve or pull apart the brisket and serve with all the accompaniments.