Cooking for the festive period can be stressful – but you’ve got a secret weapon in your kitchen (and no, it’s not wine...) Dig out that slow cooker, and easily create this delicious beef brisket with a fruity twist
Lucy, our former Food Editor creates lots of delicious meals each month. Her recipes are always packed with flavour and they're super easy too!
See more of Lucy Jessop’s recipes
Lucy Jessop
Lucy, our former Food Editor creates lots of delicious meals each month. Her recipes are always packed with flavour and they're super easy too!
See more of Lucy Jessop’s recipes
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Ingredients
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses (or 1 tbsp each honey and balsamic vinegar)
zest of 2 clementines
1 tbsp chopped thyme leaves
¼ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1.7kg beef brisket
2 tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, finely sliced
3 celery sticks, finely diced
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
300ml hot beef stock - use gluten-free stock if required
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
300g fresh or frozen cranberries
75g dark brown muscovado sugar
½ x 30g pack flat-leaf parsley
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Get ahead
Cook the beef up to the end of step 5, cool; cover and chill or freeze. Remove from the fridge for an hour (or defrost overnight in the fridge). Then reheat in the slow cooker on low for 1-2 hours, or in a covered pan, until piping hot.
In a large bowl, mix together the pomegranate molasses, clementine zest, thyme, and ground spices. Season with black pepper only, no salt. Unwrap the beef, keeping it rolled, and pat dry with kitchen paper. Transfer to the bowl and turn in the marinade to coat. Cover and set aside in the fridge for at least an hour or up to a day ahead, to marinate. Remove from the fridge an hour before cooking.
When ready to cook, heat half the oil in a large frying pan. Add the red onions, celery and garlic and cook gently over a low heat for 10 minutes. Stir in the red wine vinegar, then transfer to the slow cooker, cover with the lid and put on the low setting. Return the pan to a high heat with the remaining tablespoon of oil, and when hot add the beef, leaving any residual marinade behind. Sear on all sides to brown, then transfer to the slow cooker along with the hot stock, remaining marinade, star anise and cinnamon stick. Replace the lid and continue to cook on the low setting for 6 hours.
After 6 hours, turn over the beef; add the cranberries and sugar. Replace the lid; cook for 2 hours until the beef is fall-apart tender.
After the full 8 hours, lift out the beef, transfer to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Strain the stock and cranberry mixture (reserving the fruits), and bring to the boil. Bubble for about 15 minutes or until reduced to about 350ml. Season to taste, or sweeten slightly, if needed.
Cut away any string from the beef and discard, then shred the meat with two forks. Toss with the reduced sauce and the reserved fruit mixture, discarding the whole spices.
Pile on to a platter; chop the parsley and scatter over the beef.
Tip
No slow cooker? Use an ovenproof casserole of about 6-litre capacity, and increase the beef stock to 500ml. Cook in the oven at 160°C, fan 140°C, gas 3 for 3 1⁄2 hrs in step 2. Add the cranberries and cook for 30-45 minutes more.
Texas Crutch Method: The Texas crutch method involves wrapping the brisket tightly in foil or butcher paper during the cooking process. This helps retain moisture and speeds up the cooking time, resulting in a tender and flavorful brisket.
Can you overcook brisket in a slow cooker? Cooking the brisket for too long can result in a lackluster texture and flavor. Make sure to check on the brisket starting at seven hours to see how it's progressing. Cooking it longer (such as 10 hours) will not necessarily result in better meat.
Sear the brisket first. Sear the brisket all over to caramelize the meat and develop flavor before slow cooking it. Submerge the brisket in liquid and add aromatics. The liquid can be anything: broth, wine, ketchup, BBQ sauce, beer - you name it.
The meat was overcooked: Slow cookers are known for their ability to tenderize meat, but if the meat is cooked for too long, it can become overcooked and tough. It's important to follow the recommended cooking time for your recipe to ensure that the meat is cooked to the correct doneness.
Keeping a water pan in the smoker is the best way to retain moisture. After the first 2-3 hours start spritzing your brisket with water, apple juice, hot sauce or apple cider vinegar every 30 minutes to an hour. This helps keep it moist and stops it from burning.
After two or four hours of cooking, you can lightly spray your brisket with water, hot sauce, apple cider vinegar, or apple juice. You can do this every 30 minutes or every hour, based on preference.
It sounds like it isn't done yet and the internal fat and connective tissues haven't had a chance to render yet. If it were overcooked it would most likely be falling apart. Of course, you could just have a tough brisket.
To set things straight, we're here to put an end to the confusion, so you can get back to the grill with confidence. For brisket cooked to flavorful perfection, fat-side-down is the way to go. This is the only way to achieve a brisket that is perfectly moist with a perfect bark on both sides.
Leaving your brisket unattended for 10 to 12 hours is not an option; if you go that route, the brisket can go from tender to mush. Know when it's done: A three-pound beef brisket will take six to eight hours in the slow cooker.
In the oven, that kind of time and temperature would dry the meat out, so use a slightly higher temperature of 300°F and keep the brisket covered in foil for the first six hours or until the brisket is 180°F in the thickest part.
One of the tricks I use for making a brisket with great bark and tenderness is wrapping it in aluminum foil or butcher paper. The wrap helps to keep moisture in the meat, ultimately speeding up the cooking process. This technique is commonly called the "Texas crutch."
When it was done, I placed it on a rimmed baking sheet pan and moved it into the electric oven set to 170°F. The oven temperature wandering between a low of 143°F and a high of 147°F. I held the brisket shown above for 4 hours and as you can see it was still nice and juicy!
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Prep time: 30 mins
