Molly Yeh's Preserved Lemon Brisket | Girl Meets Farm | Food Network

For the juicy star of our Rosh Hashanah feast, I am making my preserved lemon brisket. It truly explodes with flavor. It's a little spicy, a little sweet, pretty bright. This honestly might be the best brisket I've ever had. To start, I've got my big hunk of meat here. This is a five-pound brisket that I'm seasoning all over with kosher salt. You've got to have brisket at any big Jewish holiday. It's always braised, so it's always cooked in a liquid. It gets super juicy, and it really just gets better over time. So it's one of those things that you can prep a day, even two days in advance, and then reheat it for the big meal. My dutch oven here is heated to medium-high heat. I'll add a good drizzle of neutral oil. Whenever you're braising brisket, you want to sear it first. That's going to enhance the flavor. I'll gently lower this in. I'll let this sear on medium-high for about five minutes per side until it's golden brown. Oh, that is the smell of the Jewish holidays. Smell of brisket searing in oil. I love it. There have been so many times where Rosh Hashanah coincides with harvest for Nick, so he's out on a tractor. So in order to get him some brisket, I'll wrap up some tacos or make him a brisket sandwich. Oh, this brisket is so good. I might do that thing where I hide the leftovers from Nick and pretend that they don't exist so I can eat them all. Okay, let me peek at the bottom to see if this is brown. Oh yeah, it's ready. That's a great crisp crust. I'll let this sear on the other side now until I get that kind of color all over. So the thing about brisket is that it's so tough. So if you try to eat it before it's ready, it's not very good. It's too chewy. You won't really be able to enjoy it. But if you give it enough time, it kind of melts down into meaty, delicious, melty, and glistening. Now that it's seared on both sides, I'll remove it from the pot and then build my braising liquid. I've got a finely chopped yellow onion and some carrots that are cut into larger chunks. I'll stir this around and allow these veggies to soften. Onions bathing in brisket juices. Oh yeah, there are really good smells happening here. The onions are soft. I'll toss in some garlic cloves and I've just smashed these to release their oils and then loads of spices. I've got some smoked paprika here, about a tablespoon of that, two teaspoons of crushed red pepper, and then a teaspoon each of chili powder and cumin seeds. The combination of these spices almost mimics harissa, that smoky Tunisian pepper paste. I'll add another teaspoon of salt and then stir this around and allow the spices to toast. Now that the spices are smelling strong, I can start to add liquid ingredients. I've got a can of whole peeled tomatoes and I like to get the whole tomatoes and then break them up myself with a spoon. That way you can get some bigger chunks and smaller chunks. And then I've got three qualities of sweetness here that'll be a perfect match to the sour, funky preserved lemons. Some pomegranate juice, which is fruity, has great dark notes, quarter cup of molasses, so cozy, and then two teaspoons of brown sugar. The star of this brisket show, preserved lemon. So preserved lemon is just lemons and salt that have mingled for a while and it's a common ingredient in Moroccan cooking and I just love it because you get lemon flavor that's a bit more mellow than just a fresh lemon and you also get funkiness and saltiness. It's delicious. I'm adding two tablespoons of this. You can buy preserved lemons, you can make them really easily. I'll stir this around. All right, I'll get the brisket back in here. This looks so good. I'm nestling it in fat side on top so that that fat can soak down into the meat. It's perfectly, this is gonna be amazing. I'll bring this up to a boil now and then reduce to a simmer, cover it up, and stick it in the oven at 325 degrees for three to three and a half hours until it's fork tender. It's gonna be a long three to three and a half hours. This brisket has been braising low and slow for the past three hours and it's almost time for Rosh Hashanah dinner. Oh yeah, this looks awesome. I'm getting some meat-tastic smells in my nose. I'll carefully remove it to a cutting board and then I'll let this hang out while I complete my sauce. I'm tossing in two cans of chickpeas which add delicious creamy texture and they look fun and festive like a ball pit for brisket. I'll stir these in, bring this up to a boil, and then allow it to simmer until the liquid is thickened and the chickpeas are soft. That looks like a delicious stew all on its own. All right, I'll slice up the brisket. You always want to cut it against the grains so you don't get long stringy bits and it doesn't take much effort because it is so tender. Look at that juiciness and it's just gonna get even better when it catches all of the braising liquid. Oh, that's hot. And then I'll ladle this chickpea mixture all over the brisket and this sauce is just gonna create the moistest, juiciest, most flavorful bite of brisket you ever did have. I'll finish with a sprinkle of parsley so that it's festive. Holy cow, it's time for dinner.