“French Onion” Brisket

I grew up on this brisket at various big family Passover or Rosh Hashanna gatherings - thinly sliced brisket in a soupy, savory stock, perfect for soaking up mashed potatoes. I recently bought 13 pounds of brisket on sale and decided to use half to cook up this classic recipe. I asked my mom and my grandma for input — they both talked about french onion soup mix as the base. My mom emphasized the importance of adding a lot of additional onions. Grandma also talked about her mother (Bubbe)’s recipe, which was cooked with ketchup after being dry brined with salt and pepper, as well as Uncle Russ’s recipe which was more french onion based.

I decided to combine the two, adding A LOT of onions, as well as whole garlic cloves, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. This created a decadent soup based which allowed for a later additional meal of French Onion soup.

Ingridients

• Brisket, 5 pounds

• Salt and pepper

• ~ 1/3 cup Ketchup

• Soy sauce (maybe also fish sauce?)

• Worcestershire sauce

• 2-3 onions, sliced thin

• Bay leave and peppercorns. Maybe an anise too?

• 15 cloves garlic, peeled

• French onion soup mix (I used Kroger brand)

Directions

• One to a few nights before, generously season brisket with salt. Grandma was worried this salting step could make the brisket too salty, but I found the internal salt of my version was actually a bit low. I recommend for the future using copious amounts of salt in this step then washing off excess — this way, the internal of the brisket will be salty and it will not shed too much into the soup.

• I don’t remember if I pre-caramelized onions or just put them in — probably ok either way.

• In an Instant pot (or deep turkey roasting pan) place a decent amount of ketchup. Add a bit of soy, Worcestershire, and fish sauce. Add entire pack of French onion soup mix. Add some water and mix well.

• Put in brisket, garlic, and onions. Brisket may need to be bent to fit. Cover with water. Add spices.

• Cook at 200 degrees in over for several hours, or put on instant pot slow cooker setting for 8 + hours. My meat was tender after 8 hours but microwaving caused it to toughen, so in the future I would slow cook longer. At this point, onions and garlic should be soft and melty.

• Take brisket out of soup then refrigerate. Slice and serve with soup.

• Reserve remaining soup as French onion soup, flavor of the mix is supercharged from the onion, garlic, and other aromatics.

French onion soup: Soup base broiled with cheese and homemade rosemary focaccia