Grandma Isabel’s brisket recipe
Mix brisket, Lipton soup mix, and family memories
For years, I’ve associated family gatherings with a particular smell that I couldn’t quite identify. As a kid, my whole family would gather at my Aunt Pauline’s house for every Jewish and non-Jewish holiday. We hid matzah, had loud meals, and celebrated every birthday. I remember Pauline and my grandmother’s homes smelling sweet and salty at the same time.
My grandmother and Aunt Pauline lived next door to one another, so their small kitchens combined to make one giant one. Pauline’s kitchen was the home of major dishes like matzo ball soup. My grandmother’s kitchen was the home of brisket, scalloped potatoes, and a unique Jell-o concoction made in a fish mold.
With Hanukkah coming up during the pandemic, I craved the smell of my grandmother’s kitchen. The irony is that I’ve been a vegetarian since age eleven. Despite my grandma’s urgings that chicken and fish are not meat, I’ve stayed a vegetarian since then.
I feel very lucky that my Cousin Ellen (Pauline’s daughter) took the time to dictate my grandmother’s recipe to me. A couple hours into cooking the brisket, I felt like I was back in my grandmother’s kitchen. I could imagine sitting at her linoleum table, and watching her make Folgers Coffee.
While I didn’t eat the brisket, my family can attest that it was remarkably good. And it smelled great. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Grandma Isabel’s Brisket
- Yield: ~10 servings
- Prep time: 30 minutes
- Total time: 6 to 10 hours depending on brisket weight.
lIngredients
- Brisket | 3 to 4 pounds.
Cousin Ellen say that the first cut is the best. However, gourmet and flat cut also work. Costco has the flat cut.
- Veg-all Original mixed vegetables | 1–2 cans
- Lipton Onion Soup & Dip mix | 1 package
- Tomato sauce | 2 cans (15 oz)
- Olive oil, salt, pepper
- (optional) Celery | 1 bunch
Ingredients
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cut up celery and put at the bottom of a roasting pan.
3. Put down brisket and rub salt and pepper to taste on both sides. Then, rub olive oil over the meat.
Cousin Ellen uses olive oil but Grandma Isabel did not.
4. Pour one packet of Lipton soup mix over the brisket. Add the Veg-all on top.
Cousin Ellen uses two cans of Veg-all while Isabel uses one.
5. Cover the brisket with the two cans of tomato sauce.
Cousin Ellen puts a little water on the bottom.
6. Cook the brisket for one hour for every pound of meat. A four-pound brisket should cook for four hours. You cannot ruin a brisket, the longer it cooks the softer it gets. Make sure you check it periodically. When you put a fork into it the meat should be soft then it is done. Take it out and let it rest.
Cousin Ellen cooks the brisket the night before serving because the ingredients come together better.
7. Brisket should be cut against the grain. If you cook and serve on the same day, cut it against the grain during serving. If you cook the night before, put it in the refrigerator overnight uncut. Then, slice against the grain the next day. To heat the next day, add more tomato sauce and cook at 375 degrees.
