Cranberry Holiday Brisket

This recipe is inspired from the rolled cranberry-glazed beef brisket recipe in Pure Beef by Lynne Curry, a great cookbook for any beef lovers. We have experimented with this recipe a bit and find that it’s most successful if done in a pressure cooker. This is not required and you can certainly achieve a delicious brisket with a slow cooker or dutch oven.

Ingredients:

1 delicious Ishawooa Mesa Beef Brisket

1 bag fresh or frozen cranberries (12-oz)

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground ginger or grated fresh

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 cup beef stock

1 cup orange juice

1 bay leaf

sprig of rosemary for garnish

In your pressure cooker, combine all the ingredients, except for the brisket, and mix. Take your brisket and heavily season it with salt on both sides. Sear it on high heat in a cast iron for about 1-2 minutes on each side, until you get a nice crust. I like to throw some bacon grease or pork lard in the pan just to give it some extra fat. Then throw your brisket and the fat from the pan in the pressure cooker and cook on high pressure for 1 hr. (this can change depending on how big your brisket is, 1 hr seems to be good for 2-3 lb brisket) While this is cooking you can make your cranberry sauce. Once you release the steam from the pressure cooker, check the brisket to see if it’s done to your liking; it should pull apart easily. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can use a dutch oven and do it in the oven at 325 for 2 hrs. Once the brisket is done, take it out and slice against the grain into strips, ladle some of the sauce from the pot over top, and then garnish with cranberry sauce and fresh rosemary.

To make the cranberry sauce:

1 bag fresh or frozen cranberries (12-oz)

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup orange juice

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon cinnamon or a 2 cinnamon sticks

3 slices of orange rind

Combine sugars, water, orange juice, cinnamon, and orange rind in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over med-high heat while stirring occasionally. Add cranberries and the let boil for about a minute. Reduce heat to a simmer and let cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. You can cook for longer if you want them to get thicker. Ladle some out with your brisket and serve the remaining sauce on the side.

This is one of our holiday favorites! The sweet and sour cranberry pairs so well with the brisket. We like to have it alongside some fresh rolls or focaccia and with a nice dark vegetable like kale or chard. Enjoy!