Friday, June 20, 2008

Slow Cooker Brisket



My entire life my grandmother and mom made this amazing brisket, especially during the holidays. A few years ago I finally decided I would put on my big boy pants and try to make it myself. So let me just say that making brisket in the oven is a total pain. You have to take it out of the oven, baste it, add water, turn it, move the onions around... and then a mere 5-7 hours after you've begun it's finally ready. It is one high maintenance meal. Delicious, but who has the time for that kind of cooking commitment?

So I decided to try the brisket in the slow cooker. I'm thinking-- no basting, no flipping-- just let it stew on its own and at some point turn it off.


Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: About 10-11 hours of not having to touch it even once

Ingredients:
  • 3-4 lb. (a little less than 2 kilos) beef brisket
  • 1 jar Heinz (it must be Heinz) chili sauce OR 2 cups ketchup mixed with 2 tsp. brown sugar, 2 tsp. dried onion flakes, and a little garlic powder
  • 2-3 yellow or brown onions sliced thick
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
Technique:
  1. On a cutting board, trim all visible fat from brisket- I do this was a cheap serrated knife.
  2. Put 1/2 of the sliced onion in bottom of slow cooker.
  3. Put brisket on top of onion, if too big fold edges up the sides or fold the whole thing in half. It is going to shrink in a big way.
  4. Add about 1 cup of water to the crockpot.
  5. Pour chili sauce or ketchup mixture over the whole thing, use the back of a spoon to coat top of brisket with sauce.
  6. Put remaining onions on top of brisket.
  7. Turn slow cooker on low and cook 8-11 hours, until meat can easily have a fork stuck into the middle of it.
Serving it up:
  • After it cools about 30 minutes to an hour, remove brisket from crock pot and slice with a large serrated/ or bread knife against the grain-- this means if the brisket is shredding do not cut it the same way the beef is shredding-- cut across the shredding, not with the shredding. Ladle some sauce with onions over sliced meat on each plate.
  • Excellent served with sweet potatoes or mashed potatoes, and green beans.
  • Store meat in separate container from sauce/onions.
  • If you have a ton of sauce (like I did), freeze a small container of it to use to bake chicken in at some point.
This is how much I ended up with-- when you make this in a slow cooker it makes a ton of gravy.


To give you an idea of scale...that meat container is about 8 inches high.

11 comments:

Natalie Que said...

Do they sell HEINZ sauce here? I went to the store to buy some for this recipe but didn't find it. I know they sell some Heinz stuff...? Looks so good!

Laura said...

I think I may have seen Heinz Chili Sauce at Norton St. Grocer in Bondi Junction mall-- and for some reason didn't buy it???
But my simple concoction worked just as well-- possibly even better--
just Heinz ketchup, brown sugar, dried onion flakes, a little garlic powder-- didn't even cook the sauce first, just threw it in the slow cooker. I wouldn't even bother looking for the chili sauce, the fake made one is just as good.

Anonymous said...

going to try this today...snowing day in New Jersey USA, putting brisket in crockpot at 7:15 am...will post how it turned out!! Thank you for the recipe and I am always adding yummy nutritious stuff to our foods!!

Connie said...

Just trying this recipe out. I have a few briskets in the freezer from our steers and this one is definately easy. Turns out the Heinz Chili Sauce I have is chunky with peppers in it. Tastes mostly the same.

Connie said...

Ok.. so I tried this out. My brisket was smaller so cut the amounts in half. In place of water, I used apple juice. I took the gravey and added cornstarch and bit of beef flavouring to get it richer and thicker. It was awesome and very easy! Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Can I mix Heinz Ketchup and maybe an onion soup packet? My husband is NOT a big fan of onions, I have to sneak them in...

Lynda said...

Hi I've been making brisket in the slow cooker just like this for years! My mom always said use ONLY Bennetts chili sauce! But in California I had a hard time finding anything but Heinz. I'd have to say, either is really great. Especially if you add your own other stuff to it...but at the end of the cooking is best. 8 hours of cooking I have found sabotages the flavors of herbs and spices and other ingredients, and salt concentrates. I add the salt, garlic, herbs, a little cayenne, or other ingredients in the last hour. Yum.

Aaron said...

I started this last night and I'm enjoying it for lunch today. I used a generic chili sauce and little bit more water, so I ended up with a lot of sauce. I'll use the corn starch tip to make a gravy out of it! Very delicious!

Unknown said...

Why doesn't this sound delish?

Do you brown the brisket first? Everytime I use the slow cooker I brown the meat to start with...so all the fat doesn't end up in my gravy. Just wondering if you do :)

Johan said...

I'm in the Florida Keys, but from SA. I was looking for a corned beef recipe but when I saw what was involved I decided crock pot will do this time round. Glad I found your recipe....all the others use BBQ sauce and I don't like the smell or taste of it. Thank you for sharing!

gaurav said...

Thanks a lot for sharing.