Barbecued Beef Brisket and the trimmings-UK style!!

Please enjoy this weeks entry, contributed by Charlie Witzel and his friend, John White, who wrote this blog. Charlie and his friends put together a terrific Thanksgiving feast, and it sounds like the party was a blast! Thanks to our guest bloggers!

Canadian Thanksgiving is quickly becoming one of our favourite holidays. Our group of friends have been celebrating it for five years now, ever since the English branch of the Witzel clan landed on these shores. Turkey is rather hard to come by on this side of the Atlantic this far from Christmas, so giving Thanksgiving a distinctly English vibe we decided on roast beef. On this sunny autumnal day armed with four kilos of beef brisket, Bloody Marys and the 250 top songs of the 90s we flung ourselves headlong into Thanksgiving! On a sad note our friend and fellow ‘supper club’ member Zoe couldn’t be with us due to an unfortunate illness. She has made a full recovery and we all send our love.

Saturday was shopping and dessert day. We started by going to the Ginger Pig, our favourite butcher to collect the centrepiece of brisket and a few other bits and pieces. In between glasses of wine we managed to get the pumpkin pie, butter tarts (Canada’s greatest contribution to the world since maple syrup!) and custard made. With the desserts and veggie prep out of the way Sunday was set to be a breeze! Sunday morning started early. The beef was put in the BBQ for its eight hour steam, and we all had our breakfast of bacon, eggs and amaretto coffees! We had quite a lot of work ahead of us but a motivational soundtrack and many hands made light work. The meal was beef brisket, gravy, roasties, mash, maple-glazed carrots and parsnips, cauliflower cheese, Yorkshire puddings and brussels sprouts, quite a spread! We managed to squeeze 12 people around the table and raised the roof with a rendition of ‘O Canada’ led by the two Witzel boys. All in all a fantastic day!

 We’re sharing a few of our favourite recipes, some of which will work just as well at Christmas. Below is our take on cauliflower cheese, the best gravy ever, beef-dripping roasties, slow-cooked brisket and a great way to jazz up the humble brussels sprout. We hope you have as much fun making them as we did!
 Belated Happy Thanksgiving!

Beef Gravy

2K beef bones (as your butcher to chop them up for you)
2 rashers smoked bacon
4 tbsp olive oil
½ bottle red wine, a robust, full-bodied wine works best
3 onions, quartered
½ head of celery, roughly chopped
4 carrots, halved
1 bulb garlic
10 peppercorns
2 star anise
6 cloves
1 tbsp tomato puree
3 sprigs rosemary
1 bunch of thyme
4 bay leaves
1 tbsp sherry vinegar (balsamic works well also)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
50g room temperature butter
50g flour
A few knobs of cold butter

Brown the beef bones and bacon well, in batches so as to not crowd the pan. Add to the stock pot.

Deglaze the pan with some red wine and add to the pot. Add all the ingredients to the pot apart from the butter, flour and seasoning. Cover with water and simmer for between 4 and 12 hours, skimming of the fat and froth regularly. Save the fat as you will make the best roast potatoes with it! Don’t season the stock at this stage as when you come to reduce it there is a risk it will be overwhelmingly salty.

Meanwhile, combine the warm butter and flour into a paste, this makes a beurre manie. This kinda cheffy trick allows you to thicken sauces and soups with a great degree of control. Set this aside

Strain the stock and discard the bones, etc. Put the stock back on the heat, reduce it by half. This beef stock can be used to make the best soups, stews and risottos. If you have a roasting tin with lots of crispy bit at the bottom deglaze that with some wine and add to the stock.

At this stage you can either reduce it by another 2/3 to make a very elegant French-style jus, or for a more comforting English-style gravy (our preference) whisk in half the prepared beurre manie and boil for a few minutes to cook out the flour. Check the consistency; if you wish to thicken it more add more buerre manie in the same way. When it reaches your desired consistency, season to taste with salt and pepper. To give the gravy a beautiful sheen take it off the heat and whisk in the reserved cold butter. Serve with roast beef or grilled steaks.

Barbecue Braised Beef Brisket

4 Kilo Beef Brisket

2 Bottles Cheap Red Wine

2 carrots

1 white onion

1 head garlic

A few sprigs of rosemary

Salt and pepper

Prepare the barbecue for indirect cooking, using diluted wine and water in the drip pans. Set brisket in roasting pan with one inch red wine mix. Include rosemary, carrots, onion and halved garlic in this. Roast over high heat for 20 minutes before reducing to 200°F. Baste every hour or so, and flip the brisket halfway through cooking time.  Braise until tender and moist, which for us was approximately 6.5-7 hours.   Rest for 40 minutes.

 

 Cauliflower Cheese                                   

2 cauliflowers, cut into florets
500 ml chicken stock (reduced to 200 ml)
300 ml white wine (reduced to 50 ml)
1 clove garlic, crushed
Pinch ground cloves
Pinch ground nutmeg
1 tsp mustard powder
500 g cheddar, grated
4 tbsps flour 

Boil or steam the cauliflower until tender. Bring the stock, wine and spices to the boil. Mix the cheese and flour so that the cheese is coated. Start adding handfuls to the stock and wine mixing until incorporated. When all of the cheese is incorporated,  bring the sauce to the boil and season.Mix the sauce and cooked cauliflower and place in an ovenproof dish. Grate some cheese on top and grill until browned on top and bubbling.

Brussels Sprouts with Pinenuts, Pancetta and Parmesan

1 K Brussels sprouts, outer leaves removed and halved
100 g pancetta, sliced
100 g pine nuts
1 clove garlic, crushed
Half a glass white wine
100 g parmesan, grated

Fry the pancetta and pine nuts in olive oil until golden.  Add the garlic then the brussels sprouts and wine, season.  Cover the pan and steam the brussels sprouts until tender, adding more water if the pan dries out.  Finish with the parmesan.

Beef-dripping Roasties

2 K potatoes, a floury variety works best, peeled and quartered
6 tablespoons, beef dripping, or goose fat
A few sprigs of rosemary
One bulb of garlic broken into cloves, unpeeled

      Heat the oven to 220° C.  Boil the potatoes in well salted water until tender. You want them to be as cooked as possible whilst still holding their shape.  Drain the potatoes and shake slightly to rough up the edges, for extra crispiness.  Heat the beef-dripping in the oven remove and add the potatoes, garlic and rosemary, season. Baste the potatoes and put in the oven.  Cook until golden all over, basting and turning regularly.

Special mention also goes out to Charlies faithful "Lady Portia", his Porta Chef barbecue, without which this whole experience would not have been possible!!!