Julia Child's Smothered Beef Brisket

Total Time: 4 hrs 40 mins Preparation Time: 40 mins Cook Time: 4 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 -2 garlic clove, pureed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 4 lbs lean flat 2-inch-thick center-cut beef brisket, trimmed of most fat but leaving 1/8-inch layer on the fatty side
• 1 1/2 cups sliced onions
• 1 cup sliced carrot
• 2 cups fresh italian plum tomatoes, cored and chopped

Recipe

• 1 in a small bowl, mash the salt and thyme into the puréed garlic with the flat side of a large kitchen knife.
• 2 beat the oil and pepper into the garlic mixture and spread this mixture over both sides of the brisket.
• 3 toss the vegetables in a large bowl with a little salt and thyme.
• 4 spread half of the vegetable mixture in the bottom of a roasting pan.
• 5 place beef, fat side up, on top of the vegetables.
• 6 cover with the remaining vegetables.
• 7 cover the pan tightly with foil.
• 8 (this dish may be prepared to this point in advance and refrigerated.).
• 9 when ready to cook, cook--basting with pan juices every 1/2 hour--in a 300° oven 3-4 hours until a fork goes into the meat easily; by the end of cooking, the meat will have shrunk.
• 10 **** if you are not serving the meat until the next day, transfer the meat with its vegetables to a smaller pot; degrease the juices and pour them over the brisket and chill, uncovered, until cooled; then cover and keep in the refrigerator up to 2 days. to reheat, put this dish in a 350° oven for 20 minutes, basting 2-3 times with its juices. ****.
• 11 remove the beef with its vegetable topping to a cutting board.
• 12 pour the juices into a saucepan, degrease, and rapidly boil down almost to a syrup.
• 13 if you wish, you can thicken the juice into a sauce with 1-1/2 tbs cornstarch blended with 2 tbs of either wine or stock.
• 14 carve the meat across the grain into thin slanting slices.
• 15 accompany each serving of meat with 1-2 spoonfuls sauce and vegetables.