I don’t know about you but, growing up here in Australia, I’d never really come across “brisket” before. In fact it wasn’t until recently that I actually found out what brisket is! For the record, it’s a cut of beef from the breast or lower chest area of a cow.
But, the world is getting smaller and we are now being exposed to and influenced by other cultures more than ever. Which is a good thing, especially when it means new and exciting foods to try!
Loved by both Texans and the Jewish community (according to television), slow cooked brisket is apparently a meat not to be missed!
Here are two of my favourite shows referencing brisket:
The good news is, brisket is no longer just for southern and Jewish Americans to enjoy. Yes, you can buy brisket here in Australia. In fact, I bought some just the other day from my local Coles supermarket. If you can’t find it at the supermarket you could ask your butcher or, if there’s a Costco near you, I believe they also sell this American treat.
How To Cook A Beef Brisket
There are many different ways to cook a brisket from stove top, oven, slow cooker or barbeque, but, the essential thing to remember when cooking a brisket is that this is a cheap, tough cut of meat that needs to be cooked at a low temperature for a long time to make it soft and tender and delicious. Planning, preparation and patience are key when preparing a brisket.
I confess I haven’t tried this yet, but if you need a speedier way to cook a brisket, you’ll want to use a pressure cooker or an Instant Pot. Even then you’ll still be looking at at least an hour and a half to cook your meat, but, if you’ve got an Instant Pot, it’s definitely worth a try.
While I haven’t tried pressure cooking it, I have tried the more traditional method of cooking a brisket in the oven. I searched around to find a good recipe to use and in the end was intrigued by the recipes that use Coca Cola to braise their meat in. Such an unusual combination of sweet and savoury captured my attention as well as the simplicity of the recipes I found.
In the end I combined a few aspects from a few different recipes and came up with my own. This one uses Coca Cola and ketchup. Yes, I know we call it tomato sauce here, not ketchup but, when you dabble and play around with recipes from other countries it’s good to be clear on what it means when it says “tomato sauce”. For this recipe I used Australian tomato sauce (Rosella brand to be exact) which is equivalent to American Ketchup.
How To Season A Brisket
You begin making this brisket with Coke and tomato sauce by making a dry rub to season the beef. The full recipe is down below but essentially you just combine the list of ingredients and rub them over the meat.
First combine the seasonings.
Then add the brisket to a snap lock bag.
Pour the seasoning in on top of and around the beef.
Give it a good shake around. You might even need to get your hands into the bag and rub the seasoning in all over the brisket.
Then leave your seasoned brisket in the fridge for at least an hour, or preferably overnight, for the flavours to soak in.
Once ready to cook, place the brisket into a dutch oven or large casserole dish.
Then it goes into a 160℃ oven, uncovered, for 1 hour.
In the meantime prepare the Coca Cola and tomato sauce by combining the two in a large jug or mixing bowl.
I used 100g (or 3 big slurps) of Rosella tomato sauce (ketchup).
With one full can of Coke.
After the brisket has been dry baked for 1 hour, pour the coke and tomato sauce mixture over the top.
Then it simply goes back into the oven, with the lid on this time, for 3 – 3 ½ hours.
If you don’t have a lid for the dish you are using you can cover it tightly with foil.
After 3- 3 ½ hours your meat should be tender and flake apart with a fork.
At this point remove the meat from the dutch oven or casserole dish and wrap it in foil to keep it warm while it rests for 15-20 minutes.
I then put the dutch oven on the stove top and added a tablespoon of cornflour to thicken up the leftover pan juices into a gravy.
Brisket traditionally has a large layer of fat on the top. Leave this on while cooking to add flavour to the dish but, when serving, I like to remove the fat before carving and then slice it up.
It should be easy to slice because the meat will be lovely and tender from all those hours of cooking.
Not having grown up with eating brisket, I was a little uncertain of what to serve it with but figured we couldn’t go too wrong with a classic mashed potato and veggies.
Brisket With Coca Cola And Ketchup Recipe
Brisket With Coca Cola And Ketchup
Ingredients
- 1 piece of beef brisket
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon dry mustard
- ½ tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 100g tomato sauce (ketchup)
- 1 can of Coca Cola
Instructions
- Combine the dry ingredients and rub them all over the beef brisket.
- Leave in the fridge overnight (or at least 1 hour).
- Set oven at 160℃
- Place beef into dutch oven or large casserole dish.
- Roast, uncovered, for 1 hour.
- Combine tomato sauce/ketchup and Coca Cola.
- Pour over the top of the meat.
- Cover with lid or foil and return to oven for 3-3 ½ hours or until meat is tender and flakes away with a fork.
- Wrap cooked meat in foil and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes.
- If desired, use leftover pan juices to create a gravy by stirring over low heat and adding 1 Tablespoon of cornflour.
Don’t be put off by the Coke used in this recipe. I was worried it might be too sweet but it wasn’t sweet at all – just tender and delicious meat.
So, what does brisket taste like? It’s kind of like a pot roast or slow cooked roast beef. My whole family enjoyed this brisket with Coca Cola and ketchup recipe and we look forward to trying some of the many other ways to prepare brisket in the future. We hope you enjoy it too.
No Comments