Easy Recipes for Stay-at-Home-Dads: Super Bowl Brisket

Now, ordinarily, I don’t watch much football on television. We’ll watch baseball (though living on Chicago’s north shore with the Cubs I continually ask myself why) and the occasional soccer game (a habit that began with the last World Cup, a period I found myself pretty well glued to the set). Most Sundays, however, when there is a game on, we make our bi-weekly run to Costco (the shoppers there are as sparse as Tuesday mornings at 10:30), do some skating at the local rink or I try my luck on the Sunday NY Times crossword.

The Superbowl is the one exception to the above. Having lived in various places (Massachusetts,Connecticut,New York,Pennsylvania,New Jersey,Rhode Island,Virginia,San FranciscoandSan Diego) during my life I am usually pretty conflicted about whom to follow (this year’s match-up of the Giants and the Patriots proving especially difficult). My son maintains he watches the game for the commercials, my wife because she does not want to sit alone in the living room and the dog because we usually eat from television trays during the game.

In the past I have made slow cooker chili and microwave nachos which are served during halftime (as I am usually three beers into the game by then, making dinner in the morning and letting it cook throughout the day has its advantages). This year I am going to break with tradition and cook a barbeque beef brisket in the oven. The entire recipe takes about five hours and, though somewhat similar to the recipe I shared last summer for grilling brisket (see “The Fine-Hour Beef Brisket”) but I have made several changes to facilitate indoor cooking.

Super Bowl Brisket

Ingredients: (about 10 servings)

4 to 5 pound beef brisket (though we have used a pot roast to good result)

1 teaspoon ground mustard

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½ cup red wine

½ cup Worchester sauce

2 cups water

1 cup catsup

2 teaspoons chili powder

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon Liquid Smoke

Hamburger buns

A disposable aluminum roasting pan (about 13”x 9”)

Aluminum foil

1. The recipe, as noted, takes about five hours. As such, I usually take the meat out of the refrigerator about an hour before cooking, placing it on a platter on the counter out of reach of the dog.

2. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

3. Mix the mustard and the ginger together in a small bowl and rub the mixture over the entire roast.

4. Place the roast in the uncovered aluminum roasting pan and bake for two hours.

5. Remove the pan from the oven and place the roast on a cutting board allowing it to rest for about 15 minutes.

6. In a separate bowl, mix together the wine, water, Worchester sauce, catsup, chili powder, and the Liquid Smoke.

7. After slicing the entire roast thinly and across the meat’s grain, replace the strips in the aluminum pan and pour the contents of the bowl over the meat. Tightly cover the pan with the aluminum foil then replace it in the oven where it should cook for another three hours.

8. Remove the pan from the oven and take off the foil. Using a slotted spoon, remove the slices and place them on the buns. Pour some of the sauce over the buns.

We serve the sandwiches with oven fries (see my post of last March entitled “Friday Ribs Sauce”) and a salad.