Shredded Chilli Beef Brisket

Many weeks ago the special in the Derby Market was Beef Brisket on the bone. This is a real Flintstones joint of meat huge bone , craggy burgundy coloured meat with inches of yellow marbling.  Irresistible but totally intimidating… so as with anything I need more time to consider it and it went in the freezer.

But there was some considerable nagging about the amount of space it was taking up so I did some research , lots of BBQ and smoking recipes from the USA, and of course I have cooked rolled brisket before as a slow casserole dish, but this needed something a little more.  A few recipes suggested brisket shredded makes a fajita meat but again they were talking about smoking or BBQing the joint.

The small freezer compartment was now full of 1.5kg of beef and bone and finally the other weekend I was slow-cooking a pork joint and since the oven was on I decided to risk the brisket, too large for any pot , I rubbed it with paprika & black pepper put it in  inch of water filled roating tin and tented it with foil.

After 3 hours at the bottom of the oven and cooling it over night , I removed the meat from the bones in large chunks , there was plenty of fat most of which I removed which I saved for the birds. The meat had definitely benefit from slow cooking it was just beggining to come off the bone the it’s high fat ratio mean it was  begginng to break down into meaty fibres. At this point I popped the meat (now boneless)  into the freezer to finish cooking another time

Finally this Friday I took the meat out and once defrosted  laid the brisket in a roasting dish with a mixture of equal parts paprika ,chilli powder, garlic salt,  brown sugar , balsamic vinegar , dried chilli flakes and ground coriander ( a mix that is very good on ribs)  and a enough water to half cover the meat  and  roasted for a further hour until the water had evaporated the meat and spices had begun to caramise and could be pulled apart with a form , about an hour

The beef was out of this world salty, sweet, spicy,  flakey and chewy all at the same time , a cross between the most tender meat and hints of jerky. It was tempting just to eat it straight from the roasting tray. But that would be gluttinous

I decided to serve the beef in some wraps but with tomatoes out of season for another couple of months, I made a crispy salsa with red cabbage, lime juice , fresh chilli and coriander leaves. Delicious with warm wraps and cooling yogurt .I will definitely be making this again probably with boned-brisket and I may need to find more delicious dishes that don’t take 3+ hours to make.

Shredded Chilli Beef Brisket

1.5kg Bone in beef brisket
2 tbsp paprika
2chilli powder
2 tbsp garlic salt
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2bsp dried chilli flakes
2 tbsp ground coriander

1. Rub the meat with black pepper and paprika
2. Cover with foil and place at the bottom of the moderate oven (150degC)  in an oven dish for 3hours
3. Allow to cool overnight and the pull the meat off the bone
4. Place the meat in a deep roasting tray
5. Mix together equal amounts paprika , chilli powder, garlic salt, brown sugar , balsamic vinegar , dried chilli flakes and ground coriander
6. Rub over the beef with the mix, and pour over water to it comes half way up the meat roast at 190deg until the water had evaporated and the meat has caramalised about 1 hours