Tom Kerridge’s SLOW-COOKED BEEF BRISKET

Mexican food is ideal for informal sharing meals and easy to scale up for a feast. This beef brisket by Tom Kerridge is a perfect slow-cooked Sunday lunch, full of flavour and the oven does most of the work too. When cooked, it’s so tender you can literally pull the meat apart with a fork. A winner every time. 

Read our interview with Tom to find out what his secret ingredient is!

Serves 6-8.

Prep time: 45 mins

Cook time: 3.5 hours in the oven                                         

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2.5kg piece of beef brisket, cut into 6 equal size pieces
• 2 large onions, peeled and each half cut into quarters
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp hot smoked paprika
• 3 dried guajillo chillies, stems and seeds removed
• 2 dried ancho chillies, stems and seeds removed
• 6 dried chipotle chillies, stems and seeds removed
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 1 litre beef stock
• 2 tsp Mexican oregano
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C fan. 
2. Season the brisket well on all sides with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large non-stick casserole pan. When the oil is hot, add the beef to the pan in batches and sear over a high heat until browned on all sides. Remove the beef from the pan and set aside.
3. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and stir gently for 4-5 minutes or until softened. Add the cumin seeds and stir well. Reduce the heat to medium and add the paprika, stir well for another minute before adding the tomatoes and half of the beef stock. Bring this mixture up to a simmer, then add all the chillies, tearing any large ones into smaller pieces, and cook for 10 minutes or until the chillies have softened.
4. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly. Transfer the mixture to a jug blender and blend until smooth. Pour the paste back into the pan, stir through the remaining beef stock and bring the sauce back up to a simmer. Put the meat back into the pan and add the Mexican oregano along with some seasoning. Turn off the heat, place a lid on the pan and put it in the oven for 3.5 hours, making sure to turn the meat over half way through. 

When cooked, remove the pan from the oven and pull the meat apart using two forks. Stir well and season to taste. If you’d like the sauce to be looser add a splash of water and stir through.