Sous Vide Brisket- Happy New Year!

Sous vide brisket, round two.

This is my first post in quite some time, and it’s not pretty or elaborate, but, I’m happy about it. It’s been a long time goal to start posting again, even if only for my own benefit of being able to share and duplicate a recipe.

Promised the kiddo a corned beef last September just after she headed off to college and was homesick for REAL FOOD. The stores had briskets on sale for 2.99/pound, but I missed them. So last week they were on sale again and I was able to snag one.

We cut it into 6 pieces, saving the flat for the corned beef, probably a 4-5 pound piece; put that in the freezer to brine in a few weeks.

Two of the smaller pieces he immediately stuck in a bag and started the sous vide. He coated them heavily with Montreal steak seasoning – all that we had left which was probably almost a whole cup and provided a heavy coating .

Set it a 154 at noon on a Friday, and took it out about 8:30 Sunday morning, which just happened to be New Year’s Day, so we had a faboulous brunch – very tender and tasty brisket, with mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach, and some mimosas to toast in the new year.

– 2 two-pound pieces of brisket, fat trimmed but not too much

– Approximately one cup Montreal steak

Place the seasoned brisket in a one or two-gallon bag, depending on the size/cut of the briskets, and the size of the container. We use a small ice chest with a home cut in the top that allows the sous vide to just fit in the bag perfectly, so, we typically use two gallon bags simply due to the depth of the ice chest.

Monitor the water level and the temperature over the next few days.

Somewhere between the 36-45 hour time frame, remove the briskets from the sous vide water bath, and remove the briskets from the bags and place on your cutting board.

Slice to your desired thickness, and serve.

To make the gravy, we strained the juices from the bag to remove the seasoning, and made a light gravy using some cornstarch. Used about a two teaspoons of cornstarch dissolved in a few tablespoons of cold water, added to the gravy, and bring to a boil for a few minutes. It was a little salty, but perfect over mashed potatoes, or as an au jus for a hot roast beef sandwich…. The possibilities are endless!

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2015 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 17,000 times in 2015. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Beignet Bourée and Shrimp Etouffee

This looks delicious. I don’t think I could say it any better, or would do it any differently!

Cajun Food, Louisiana History, and a Little Lagniappe

Shrimp BoureeWe cook some different dishes down here in south Louisiana. Boudin, jambalaya, gumbo – all distinctly Louisiana cuisine. One Louisiana culinary creation we serve at the Coffee House in The Cajun Village is a “Beignet Bourée”. This dish is essentially a combination of two Louisiana favorites: beignets and just about any Louisiana entree you can think of. At the Coffee House, we like to serve Beignet Bourée with Shrimp Etouffee. Below are recipes for the beignets as well as the etouffee. All you have to do is stuff/top the beignet with rice and etouffee, and your Beignet Bourée is ready to serve!

Beignets

The secret is in the rolling process. The recipe is about as simple as they come – flour and water to make the dough, oil for frying, etc. The only real trick to making a tasty beignet is in the rolling process; the dough can’t be too thick…

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