Pot Roast of Aberdeen Angus Rolled Brisket

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Do you hunt down ingredients for a recipe or do you head out shopping first, then plan the dish around what’s on offer? With the luxury of time on my hands, I’d choose the latter anytime as it adds elements of excitement, risk and surprise. Turned out that my December vacation in Edinburgh had simply been daily excursions to seek out a particular butcher, fishmonger or deli to simply be dazzled by their produce.

Thank you Donald MacPherson, the owner of Well Hung and Tender, for producing such excellent meat. While searching for a lean rolled topside with intention of making roast beef, I was recommended the rolled brisket instead, a better portion unless I was feeding a family of five. The brisket would work better as a pot roast I was advised as I paid. “Just fill water up to half the height of the meat and cook it on low heat for two hours.” The new ownership of this brisket led me to the dirty carrots.

Perfect to be served with mashed potatoes to soak up the luscious gravy that combined the savoury oiliness of the beef and sweetness of the root vegetables.

For the recipe :

Pot Roast of Aberdeen Angus Rolled Brisket

1 Rolled Brisket
2 carrots, sliced chunky
2 parsnips, sliced chunky
1 large onion, cut into wedges
about 1 litre water, part substitutable with red wine

Add lugs of olive oil into the pot and let it heat until oil begins to smoke while you season lightly the brisket with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Then carefully place the brisket into the pot and sear about 30 seconds each on all sides. Remove from pot.

There should be still oil left in the pot, otherwise add more to sweat the onions till soft and slightly caramelised around the edges. Place the seared brisket into center of pot and fill with water and some wine if you like. Arrange the chunky carrots and parsnips to surround the brisket. Allow the liquid to boil on high heat for two minutes then turn the heat down till very low and allow to cook covered for another 2 hours.

If you have an oven, which I didn’t have a suitable one in this kitchen, you can place the covered pot into a pre-heated oven of 180C for 1.5-2 hours for the slow cooking portion of this recipe.