Passover Brisket Recipe

My mother never made much brisket. For Pesach, it was some type of beef roast. There would have been gefilte fish, chicken soup with matzo farfel. Maybe there was a potato kugel or noodle kugel.

Brisket is something I started to make when I got much older and it’s become my seder tradition.

Here’s how I make it.

Brisket Preparation

Sprinkle kosher salt over a 5 - 6 pound piece of brisket. Not too much salt, we don’t wanna kill the guests.

Put the brisket in the refrigerator, uncovered, for a day or two. This seems to help flavor and tenderize the meat.

Brisket Sauce Recipe

Ingredient	Amount	Volume
Ketchup	160 grams	1/2 Cup
Water	480 grams	2 Cups
Apple Cider or White Vinegar	60 grams	1/4 Cup
Sugar	60 grams	1/3 Cup
Sliced Onions	Lots	1 Onion
Chopped Garlic	Lots	1 Whole Bulb

I don’t put any salt in the sauce. There’s salt on the brisket and people can add their own salt to taste. Nothing kills a dish more than too much salt.

Heat up the sauce in a sauce pot until it simmers and the sugar dissolves.

Baking the Passover Brisket

The brisket must be in the pan with the fat cap on the top.

Pour 2/3 of the sauce over the brisket. Save the remaining sauce to baste the brisket as it bakes.

Cover the brisket pan lightly with aluminum foil.

Bake at 275F/135C for about five to six hours until the internal temperature of the brisket is at least 190F/90C. * You have to cook it at a relatively low temperature so that meat becomes tender.*

Every hour or so, add more sauce. Don’t let the pan run dry. Add water if you run out sauce.

Serving

Very Important - Make sure to slice against the grain when serving.

In the picture below, the grain is running up and down. You cut from left to right. That’s against the grain. If you slice the brisket with the grain, it will be a chewy, inedible disaster. Don’t do it. To see how the grain the running, flip the brisket so that the fat cap is on the bottom.

Enjoy!!!

For history of this family, visit Emlekezik.com