Lesson in Hebrew and Yiddish coming up, with thanks to The Way We Cook, by Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven:
“Nes gadol haya sham.” Translated, these are the words of Hanukkah, the first letters of which, in Hebrew, are the letters you see on the dreidels that children spin on this holiday. To celebrate, we eat traditional potato latkes (shredded potatoes fried in oil), and very often, they accompany braised sweet and sour brisket.
To make a big deal out of something, a big fuss, is to make a “tsimmes” — and in cooking, a tsimmes is a mixture of highly flavored foods cooked together long and slow. Usually, this is a combination of sweet potatoes, carrots, prunes and other dried fruits. But this dish here is a variation on that. It’s a tsimmes of brisket and vegetables together. The meat cooks with the carrots, sweet potatoes, prunes, apricots, honey, pineapple juice, and orange juice. And after chilling the dish overnight and skimming off the fat, here we’re adding a kugel – a potato pudding that is usually baked in its own dish – on top of the meat. It turns brown and crusty in the oven. You can begin this tsimmes up to 3 days ahead but make the kugel just before serving.
These are the two parts of this dish. This recipe combines them.
For our last holiday giveaway, we have a lovely cookbook to send one person whose name will be drawn at random. To be eligible, post a comment on any of our blog posts this month and we’ll let you know right after the new year!
Have a delicious holiday and happy Hanukkah from Food and Friendship!
- For the brisket:
- 1 6-pound brisket of beef (not corned beef brisket -- that's a whole other thing!)
- 2 quarts water
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 6 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces
- 1 cup pitted prunes
- 1 cup dried apricots
- 1 cup honey
- 1 cup pineapple juice
- 1 cup orange juice
- For the potato kugel topping:
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 medium onions, grated
- 2 russet potatoes, peeled and grated
- 2 - 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (or chicken fat)
- ⅔ cup flour (or matzo meal)
- 1½ cups cold water
- For the brisket:
- Put the meat in a large flameproof casserole and add enough water to cover. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 1½ hours.
- During the last 15 minutes of simmering, preheat oven to 300F degrees.
- Transfer the meat and liquid to a large roasting pan. Add the sweet potatoes, carrots, prunes, apricots, honey, pineapple and orange juices. Sprinkle with salt, cover with foil (shiny side down) and put the pan in the oven.
- Cook for 4½ to 5 hours, adding more water to the pan as needed if the mixture seems dry, until the meat is very tender.
- Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Cover, refrigerate overnight and skim the fat from the liquid the next day.
- Cut the meat on the diagonal into thin slices. Arrange the meat, vegetables, and cooking liquid in a large roasting pan and set aside while you prepare the kugel.
- For the kugel:
- Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
- Combine the eggs, salt, and pepper in a large bowl with a wooden spoon, and stir the mixture for one minute.
- Stir in the onions, potatoes, vegetable oil (or chicken fat), flour (or matzo meal), and water.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate for an hour or until it thickens. The mixture may seem watery but it will thicken as it sits.
- Spoon the potato mixture in mounds over the meat in the roasting pan.
- Bake for one hour, or until the kugel topping is golden brown and the meat and vegetables are hot.
- Serve and enjoy!.