The Ultimate in Comfort Food: Guinness-Braised Brisket

The ultimate comfort food, in my definition, is slow-cooked, hearty, and involves garlic and/or onions in some way. This doesn’t particularly match well to summer, when we avoid heating the entire kitchen with the oven while the air conditioning chugs to keep the house cool. However, when the craving hits, it must be satiated.

Braising is one of my favorite cooking techniques for comfort food because it creates moist, flavorful meat that falls apart without need for a knife. Braising involves simmering the meat in liquid that is ultimately served with it. This differs from poaching, a technique that also cooks the meat in liquid but the liquid is eventually discarded. Braising is well-suited to tougher (and often less expensive) pieces of meat like brisket where extended simmering breaks down the connective tissue and allows the flavors to fully permeate the meat. Tender cuts of meat like tenderloin or chicken breasts do better with faster dry-cooking methods; braising only toughens the muscle because there is no connective tissue or fat to break down.

In preparation for friends coming to dinner, I decided to go with a no-miss favorite: Guinness-braised brisket. Most people think of brisket as a barbecue favorite, but I’ve never actually tried it that way. I came across this recipe in Bon Appetit magazine from October 2009 and have made minor modifications to it to suit my taste and portion sizes (the original recipe serves 12, mine serves 6). I’ve increased the proportion of herbs, garlic and Guinness to beef because I think it provides a more intense flavor and it makes a really good sauce at the end.

In total, this recipe takes three hours in the oven plus 15-30 minutes of prep time. Much of the oven time is hands-off, which allows plenty of opportunity for making side dishes, cleaning the house for guests, or lounging and drinking the rest of the Guinness.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp Kosher salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp dry mustard powder
2 Tbsp chopped fresh sage
1 Tbsp dried thyme
3 lbs flat-cut brisket, trimmed but with some fat still remaining
3 cups vegetable broth or low-sodium chicken broth
1 12-oz. bottle of Guinness beer
4 bay leaves
2 tsp (packed) dark brown sugar
3 cups sliced onions
6 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1 Tbsp whole grain Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp malt vinegar

My Le Creuset Dutch oven works well for this recipe, but any heavy, ovenproof pot with a lid will work. You can also use a heavy roasting pan and cover it with foil when needed.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350° Fahrenheit. Mix the first 5 ingredients in a small bowl. Rub all over brisket.

Heat 2 cups of the broth in a heavy, ovenproof pot until it comes to a boil. Stir in Guinness, bay leaves and brown sugar and return to a boil. Add the brisket fat-side down and scatter the onion slices and garlic on top. Put on the lid and braise in the oven for 1 hour. Turn the meat over so that the onions and garlic fall into the liquid and the meat is fat-side up. Cover and braise for 2 more hours. Check periodically to ensure there is enough liquid in the pot, adding more broth if necessary.

Turn off the oven. Place the meat on an ovenproof platter and cover with foil, returning it to the oven to keep warm. Remove the bay leaves from the remaining juices and pour the juices into a saucepot. Add mustard and malt vinegar and stir. Heat the mixture well, then puree using a stick blender. Remove the meat from the oven and slice across the grain. Serve slices with the sauce. The brisket goes very well with potatoes—mashed, steamed or baked.