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The Brisket Book: A Love Story with Recipes
Almost every cookbook has a brisket recipe, but brisket doesn’t have a cookbook—until now. With 30 recipes (some from notable chefs), as well as tips, quotes, stories, cartoons, sidebars, and lots of photos and illustrations, The Brisket Book is a witty and entertaining homage to a Sunday-supper staple.
"A fun little book, very entertaining with terrific recipes from friends, family and chefs. It is indeed as intended, 'A Love Story with Recipes.'" --Sara Moulton, Good Morning America
"There's no longer a need for frantically searching for the best brisket recipes. Stephanie Pierson, author, food writer and brisket lover, has written a cookbook filled with only the best brisket recipes, accompanied by illustrations, poems, cartoons and musings. The Brisket Book has a recipe for everyone, and it'll turn you into the star of any potluck." --The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
" The Brisket Book is subtitled "a love story with recipes." It literally had me laughing out loud with its cartoons, jokes, stories and more. If you are Jewish, Irish, or even a Texan, brisket is your soul food. The book pays homage with recipes, wine pairings, poems, and everything you need to know to make a version that will make you fall in love." --Cooking with Amy
"Packed with history, wit, and expert opinions (including a list of 50 things about brisket that people disagree on), this book presents one of the world's great comfort foods in all its lovable, chameleonlike glory, with recipes for corned beef, smoked brisket, Korean brisket soup, brisket burgers, and myriad Jewish braises, including Nach Waxman's supposedly "most-Googled brisket recipe" of all, smothered in onions and virtually no liquid. It is undoubtedly, as the subtitle claims, "A Love Story with Recipes." -- The Philadelphia Inquirer
"This book will put you passionately over the moon for a meat cut that is often taken for granted...full of colorful, lively and sometimes surprising images; the pages are a joy to leaf through for their energetic mix of images, photos and text." -- Chicago Tribune
Food writer, cookbook author, and brisket zealot Stephanie Pierson contends, "Some foods will improve your meal, your mood, your day, your buttered noodles. Brisket will improve your life."
Brisket is so easy to warm up to, no wonder everyone loves it. Families pass brisket recipes down like heirlooms. Chat rooms are full of passionate foodies giving passionate opinions about their briskets--and each one claims to have the best brisket recipe ever! When Angel Stadium of Anaheim introduced a BBQ brisket sandwich, it promptly won a national contest for best ballpark cuisine. This lively book offers everything from brisket cooking tips to chef interviews to butcher wisdom. Color photographs, illustrations, and graphics ensure that brisket has never looked better. The recipes include something for Beef Brisket with Fresh Tangy Peaches, Scandinavian Aquavit Brisket, Sweet-and-Sour Brisket, Barbecued Brisket Sandwiches with Firecracker Sauce, a Seitan Brisket (even people who don't like meat love brisket), and a 100% Foolproof Bride's Brisket.
If brisket does indeed improve your life, then The Brisket Book promises to be the ultimate life-affirming resource for anyone who has savored--or should savor--this succulent comfort food.
"A fun little book, very entertaining with terrific recipes from friends, family and chefs. It is indeed as intended, 'A Love Story with Recipes.'" --Sara Moulton, Good Morning America
"There's no longer a need for frantically searching for the best brisket recipes. Stephanie Pierson, author, food writer and brisket lover, has written a cookbook filled with only the best brisket recipes, accompanied by illustrations, poems, cartoons and musings. The Brisket Book has a recipe for everyone, and it'll turn you into the star of any potluck." --The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
" The Brisket Book is subtitled "a love story with recipes." It literally had me laughing out loud with its cartoons, jokes, stories and more. If you are Jewish, Irish, or even a Texan, brisket is your soul food. The book pays homage with recipes, wine pairings, poems, and everything you need to know to make a version that will make you fall in love." --Cooking with Amy
"Packed with history, wit, and expert opinions (including a list of 50 things about brisket that people disagree on), this book presents one of the world's great comfort foods in all its lovable, chameleonlike glory, with recipes for corned beef, smoked brisket, Korean brisket soup, brisket burgers, and myriad Jewish braises, including Nach Waxman's supposedly "most-Googled brisket recipe" of all, smothered in onions and virtually no liquid. It is undoubtedly, as the subtitle claims, "A Love Story with Recipes." -- The Philadelphia Inquirer
"This book will put you passionately over the moon for a meat cut that is often taken for granted...full of colorful, lively and sometimes surprising images; the pages are a joy to leaf through for their energetic mix of images, photos and text." -- Chicago Tribune
Food writer, cookbook author, and brisket zealot Stephanie Pierson contends, "Some foods will improve your meal, your mood, your day, your buttered noodles. Brisket will improve your life."
Brisket is so easy to warm up to, no wonder everyone loves it. Families pass brisket recipes down like heirlooms. Chat rooms are full of passionate foodies giving passionate opinions about their briskets--and each one claims to have the best brisket recipe ever! When Angel Stadium of Anaheim introduced a BBQ brisket sandwich, it promptly won a national contest for best ballpark cuisine. This lively book offers everything from brisket cooking tips to chef interviews to butcher wisdom. Color photographs, illustrations, and graphics ensure that brisket has never looked better. The recipes include something for Beef Brisket with Fresh Tangy Peaches, Scandinavian Aquavit Brisket, Sweet-and-Sour Brisket, Barbecued Brisket Sandwiches with Firecracker Sauce, a Seitan Brisket (even people who don't like meat love brisket), and a 100% Foolproof Bride's Brisket.
If brisket does indeed improve your life, then The Brisket Book promises to be the ultimate life-affirming resource for anyone who has savored--or should savor--this succulent comfort food.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published October 4, 2011
18 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 25, 2017
I guess the thought of holidays & family dinners compelled me to read this book. It was well researched and written. Oddly kept my interest til the end, guess even briskets can be mysterious.
March 15, 2012
The Brisket Book: A Love Story with Recipes by Stephanie Pierson celebrates the brisket and offers up a mixture of recipes, nostalgia and history. As a kid, brisket always meant corn beef and cabbage, usually bought on sale in March because of St. Patrick's day. As an adult, it almost always means my husband is cooking his version of his mother's recipe, a modified Jewish recipe that includes bell peppers. In either case, brisket means a big pot of decliousness.
And it's with those similar memories and emotions that Stephanie Pierson opens The Brisket Book. She explains her own emotional ties to the dish and shares some memories of others interviewed for the book. From there she goes through the basics of the cut, the history of the dishes and thoughts on different methods of cooking brisket.
At home I've only ever had the dish cooked in a pot with vegetables and some sort of gravy but the book includes recipes for smoking and barbecuing. It's a good addition to the family cook book collection for anyone who has a family brisket recipe who wants to learn more about the dish and maybe learn a few new ways of preparing it.
And it's with those similar memories and emotions that Stephanie Pierson opens The Brisket Book. She explains her own emotional ties to the dish and shares some memories of others interviewed for the book. From there she goes through the basics of the cut, the history of the dishes and thoughts on different methods of cooking brisket.
At home I've only ever had the dish cooked in a pot with vegetables and some sort of gravy but the book includes recipes for smoking and barbecuing. It's a good addition to the family cook book collection for anyone who has a family brisket recipe who wants to learn more about the dish and maybe learn a few new ways of preparing it.
August 20, 2018
A Good Brisket is Hard to Find - No More!
I have to confess that I have more cookbooks and recipe files that I can use. So why pick up another cook book? Well for one, this book is laugh out loud funny. For another, my love life is doing fine but my brisket was getting a little pedestrian and a lot tough. I was in a rut of using the same recipe my inlaws taught me 20 or so years ago along with my mother's habit of turning the leftovers into brisket hash two days later.
As the book explains, a good brisket should fall apart at the fork, so slow cooking is a must. Start low and start early. Use lots and lots of onions. Pre-browning appears to be optional, and the book recommends a number of flavourings, the most basic being to cover the brisket in a tomato based sauce, but simmering in wine or stock works as well. Add root vegetables or squashes - one Cuban variation recommends plantain! Feel free to amalgamate ideas..
So far I've tried about a half dozen of the variations but in terms of technique Nach Waxman's approach of slicing the meat mid process to create a greater surface area for browning does an excellent job of enhancing the flavour inside. End pieces are a favourite with my crowd - another suggestion is to turn the oven on broil for about 15 minutes to blacken the outside just a bit, and then return to low temperatures for the rest.
Admittedly the number of recipes is not large and half of these are for people with smokers. Maybe when the barbeque needs replacing. And yes there are barbeque recipes too - but the kind that uses wood chips and coal - mine is gas. However that Big Green Egg sure sounds interesting.
It's a good book to have or at least read through, even if only for the interviews with the brisketeers which will bring a smile your lips. These people, and there are brisket cookoffs represented here as well, know their brisket.
And the best part - I no longer have leftovers for brisket hash. Mmmmmmm. :-)
I have to confess that I have more cookbooks and recipe files that I can use. So why pick up another cook book? Well for one, this book is laugh out loud funny. For another, my love life is doing fine but my brisket was getting a little pedestrian and a lot tough. I was in a rut of using the same recipe my inlaws taught me 20 or so years ago along with my mother's habit of turning the leftovers into brisket hash two days later.
As the book explains, a good brisket should fall apart at the fork, so slow cooking is a must. Start low and start early. Use lots and lots of onions. Pre-browning appears to be optional, and the book recommends a number of flavourings, the most basic being to cover the brisket in a tomato based sauce, but simmering in wine or stock works as well. Add root vegetables or squashes - one Cuban variation recommends plantain! Feel free to amalgamate ideas..
So far I've tried about a half dozen of the variations but in terms of technique Nach Waxman's approach of slicing the meat mid process to create a greater surface area for browning does an excellent job of enhancing the flavour inside. End pieces are a favourite with my crowd - another suggestion is to turn the oven on broil for about 15 minutes to blacken the outside just a bit, and then return to low temperatures for the rest.
Admittedly the number of recipes is not large and half of these are for people with smokers. Maybe when the barbeque needs replacing. And yes there are barbeque recipes too - but the kind that uses wood chips and coal - mine is gas. However that Big Green Egg sure sounds interesting.
It's a good book to have or at least read through, even if only for the interviews with the brisketeers which will bring a smile your lips. These people, and there are brisket cookoffs represented here as well, know their brisket.
And the best part - I no longer have leftovers for brisket hash. Mmmmmmm. :-)
November 19, 2011
Subtitled “A Love Story with Recipes” this collection of recipes and observations is so much more than that - it’s an enthusiastic guide to the best in briskets, rich and juicy with recipes, stories, humor and tips. You’ll find everything from Temple Emanu-El Brisket (page 91) to Aunt Gladys’s Brisket (page 92) to Barbecue Green Chile Brisket (page 124) plus a great many more, and you’ll want to try every one.
There’s a list of 50 Things About Brisket That People Can Disagree About, and suggestions for what to read when you’re eating brisket. There’s even a listing of suggested wines (high and low in price) for each brisket. Nothing has been overlooked!
Now that we’re speaking of wines, Pierson recommended Frog’s Leap Rutherford Merlot - superb pairing! This is a marvelous wine with tempting notes of rich black berry and traces of cocoa powder. There is a rumor of ripened red berries and cherries abetted by a tad of mocha, herbs, and spice. Find it at www.frogsleap.com.
It goes without saying that in order to achieve optimum results with any of these recipes you must have the best brisket to be found. Again, we followed Pierson’s advice and found Brandt Beef (www.brandtbeef.com). Amazing quality! As noted by a Manging Partner of the Master Chef’s Institute, “When tested against competitors in their specific category, Brandt Natural Beef’s line rated highest in the flavor, texture and tenderness categories.” We’ll second that! Unlike past briskets, and we’ve had quite a few, Brandt’s brisket is vastly superior, ultra flavorful, juicy and fork tender.
We’re always delighted when a cookbook includes sources and recommendations - we especially appreciate the above two that certainly added to our dining pleasure.
Until reading The Brisket Book I never realized how many people thought they had the best brisket recipe in the world - do believe they’re all here. One of these days I want to meet the fellow who said, “I gave up meat years ago, and I can honestly say that my mother’s brisket is the ONLY thing I miss.”
Brisket reigns supreme in this 208 page volume enlivened with dozens of photographs and illustrations. With this book author/journalist Stephanie Pierson has brought us the first and only book entirely devoted to brisket, and she’s done it with rare attention to details plus robust good humor. Enjoy!
- Gail Cooke
There’s a list of 50 Things About Brisket That People Can Disagree About, and suggestions for what to read when you’re eating brisket. There’s even a listing of suggested wines (high and low in price) for each brisket. Nothing has been overlooked!
Now that we’re speaking of wines, Pierson recommended Frog’s Leap Rutherford Merlot - superb pairing! This is a marvelous wine with tempting notes of rich black berry and traces of cocoa powder. There is a rumor of ripened red berries and cherries abetted by a tad of mocha, herbs, and spice. Find it at www.frogsleap.com.
It goes without saying that in order to achieve optimum results with any of these recipes you must have the best brisket to be found. Again, we followed Pierson’s advice and found Brandt Beef (www.brandtbeef.com). Amazing quality! As noted by a Manging Partner of the Master Chef’s Institute, “When tested against competitors in their specific category, Brandt Natural Beef’s line rated highest in the flavor, texture and tenderness categories.” We’ll second that! Unlike past briskets, and we’ve had quite a few, Brandt’s brisket is vastly superior, ultra flavorful, juicy and fork tender.
We’re always delighted when a cookbook includes sources and recommendations - we especially appreciate the above two that certainly added to our dining pleasure.
Until reading The Brisket Book I never realized how many people thought they had the best brisket recipe in the world - do believe they’re all here. One of these days I want to meet the fellow who said, “I gave up meat years ago, and I can honestly say that my mother’s brisket is the ONLY thing I miss.”
Brisket reigns supreme in this 208 page volume enlivened with dozens of photographs and illustrations. With this book author/journalist Stephanie Pierson has brought us the first and only book entirely devoted to brisket, and she’s done it with rare attention to details plus robust good humor. Enjoy!
- Gail Cooke
March 21, 2014
Is it possible to write an entire book about nothing but brisket? About meat, sure. About beef, yes. But about just one cut of beef? Stephanie Pierson is so enamoured of beef brisket (be it braised by a Jewish grandmother or smoked on a barbecue by a Texan pitmaster) that she produced a 208-page text about nothing else. Having read this text, one is assured that there is very little left about brisket which one does not know. There are a great many recipes but as interesting are her interviews with masters and mistresses of the craft. The recipe from Chris Kimball of "Cooks Illustrated" may be the definitive statement on all things braised brisket. Her writing is entertaining and a bit quixotic; the book includes brisket jokes. She concludes with brief chapters on sides, drinks (pairings, she would say) and why brisket is an erotic stimulant.
October 11, 2011
While the book notes three distinct ways to prepare brisket (braising, smoking and curing) only braising gets real attention here. Just 2 of the recipes are done in a smoker, and the VERY FIRST RECIPE in the book is for a fake meat seitan brisket. Odd.
March 30, 2017
This reads like a writer's notebook before they write the book: a collection of quotes, musings and pictures. This is a better resource than a read.
The love story? It's between the world at large and that cut of meat, brisket. I love brisket. I get it.
Pierson has collected many, many recipes, and I haven't had a chance to try them all, (A grass fed and finished brisket runs about $70 over here) but I'm sure I'll be back for some of them.
The love story? It's between the world at large and that cut of meat, brisket. I love brisket. I get it.
Pierson has collected many, many recipes, and I haven't had a chance to try them all, (A grass fed and finished brisket runs about $70 over here) but I'm sure I'll be back for some of them.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews