Zahav’s Coffee Braised Brisket
Out of all the cookbooks on our shelf, my favorite is probably Zahav. When Noah interviewed at Penn, this was our fancy meal. We ate lots of good food on that trip, but Zahav was by far the most memorable, most eye opening. The day we came back, I ordered this book, and the same weekend, I cooked all my favorite dishes from the restaurant and shared them with our friends. The recipes were very true to what they served in the restaurant. Over the past few months, this is probably the book I’ve cooked the most from.
We had plans to make brisket for a little family zoom Passover gathering, but on the day of, we were still working through a ton of ramen leftovers and are just now getting to the brisket.
Though you won’t be able to eat it until the third day, it’s super simple and requires minimal active time. To me, this is a perfect recipe for quarantine time, since I normally just don’t have the mental fortitude to plan 2 days ahead and commit to a 3 day project (and decide what I’m eating 3 days in advance!) and then worry about a braise for 4 hours. But I enjoyed making this. Overall, it’s very low effort, high reward.
Brisket, straight out of the oven
I placed it fat side up. Also I wish I cracked my eggs a little more so the whites could get stained a beautiful crackly pattern like tea eggs.
Michael Solomonov’s Mom’s Coffee Braised Brisket
Day 1: Season meat overnight
Mix together spices:
1.5 Tbsp coffee, finely ground
1 Tbsp cardamom, ground
1 Tbsp black cardamom, ground
1 Tbsp kosher salt (less by volume if finer ground)
Rub all over:
3 lb brisket, with a nice layer of fat on one side
Place in a large gallon ziplock and chill overnight.
Day 2: Braising
Preheat oven to 475F. Place brisket on top of a rack set on top of a tray (so air circulates), and roast until exterior has browned, about 20 minutes.
Sweat (but not brown) in large dutch oven:
1.5 large onions, sliced
3 carrots, sliced
10 garlic cloves, sliced
Add and cook for a few minutes until darkened:
1/4 cup tomato paste
don’t burn it!
Add:
browned brisket
6 large eggs, in their shells
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup dried apricots (or if you’re me, 1.5 cups spicy tamarind candy lol)
2 cups brewed coffee
enough extra water to cover the brisket about half way
Bring liquid to a boil, cover pot tightly with a lid, and transfer to oven.
Lower the oven to 300F, and braise for about 1 hr.
At the one hour mark, gently tap the eggs so there is a network of small cracks, and keep braising them.
Braise for a total of 3-4 hours, or until brisket sheds easily with a fork.
Let brisket cool in its braising liquid overnight.
Always cool braised meats in its braising liquid, so it doesn't dry out.
Day 3: Eating
Slice the cold brisket, and return to braising liquid.
Heat on stove until warmed through. Serve with the peeled eggs and freshly grated horseradish.
Notes:
I didn’t have black cardamom, so I used about 2 T green cardamom seeds. The original recipe also calls for dried apricots that I thought I had but didn’t, but I think my combination substitute generally served the same purpose, except they melted into the sauce more than apricots would. I didn’t have tomato paste, but I happened to have the leftover liquid of a can of whole peeled san marzanos, so I cooked that down for a long time.
It didn’t really brown in the oven? The spices rubbed on the exterior darkened a little, so I just pulled it before it burned.
Tastes infinitely better the third day, as all braises do. You aren’t desensitized to the aroma, and the texture is better too.
It’s amazing how the coffee and cardamom become so harmonious with the meat, and the gentle bitterness that remains complements the richness perfectly. Today, we served it with a crisp tangy crunchy cabbage slaw, and I made laffa bread (leavened… oops) from this same book. I imagine it’d be really good with fennel dressed in schug (also a great recipe from this book!) but they didn’t have fennel at the market today :(