Red Braised Brisket with Cherry Tomato Salad
In December last year I commented on Chef Mimi‘s Christmas wish list blog. She longed for Sous Vide equipment, I hoped for vouchers to buy cook books. It seems we both had our wishes granted! I chose a handsome edition of Kylie Kwong‘s “Simple Chinese Cooking Class.”
Kwong is a Sydney chef of Chinese descent, a young woman pursing her family’s heritage through cooking. She’s well known in Australia for her wonderful foodie/travel explorations of China which were broadcast on our stellar multicultural TV channel. Kylie is not your average celebrity chef. She’s passionate about her craft, her family, her ingredients. She’s committed to environmental sustainability, bio diversity and organic principles, plus she has single handedly done more to demystify authentic Chinese cooking for the home cook than any other author or chef in Australia.
Visiting Sydney early in the new year we were fortunate to secure a booking at Kylie’s restaurant “Billy Kwong”. We crunched on pickled vegetables and slurped at steamed oysters. We ate dim sum, steamed and fried. Followed on with simple steamed fish, a fried poached egg with chilli, and duck braised with star anise and cinnamon. Some dishes were incredibly simple, the freshness and quality of the ingredients the highlight, others an amalgamation of aromatics and richness. We rolled out the door well sated at the end of the night and buoyed by a one off dining experience, we hardly noticed the modest bill.
Red Braised Brisket with Cherry Tomato Salad I made directly as printed in the book. I made no deviations, no embellishments. I regularly poach a whole chicken in master stock during summer, but my master stock is insipid in comparison to Kylie’s version, but better suited to the delicate flavour of chicken.
This was a very simple dish to prepare. While there was the element of time involved, it was waiting time. In fact the expected waiting time tripled before I was satisfied that the brisket was soft.
So here’s my contribution to this recipe.*
The brisket was fabulous! I have to confess I’d never cooked this cut before, but it was incredibly moist, tender and flavourful, though quite rich. The acidic salad was the perfect accompaniment.
I cooked double the quantity of beef for no other reason than I had bought a whole brisket. I will make Kylie’s Crispy Orange peel beef with the remainder. Look out for the post
Two years ago, after a memorable visit to Kylie Kwong’s restaurant Billy Kwong in Sydney, I began cooking from her “Simple Chinese Cooking Class.” There have been no disappointments, no frustrations, no double takes, just oohs and aahs of delight at the dinner table.
Our favourite recipe has been the Crispy Orange Peel Beef. It’s a recipe that requires some planning. First beef brisket has to be poached in red master stock for a lengthy period, then chilled. The fragrant beef is then broken apart, battered, deep fried and sauced. I’m salivating at the thought.
Kwong implores you at the end of the recipe to store the poaching liquid for future use. This is the third outing for this batch of stock, it’s been used twice already to poach beef brisket. The soy flavour was very strong at the end of it’s second use so I diluted 1 litre of used stock with 2 litres of filtered water for a more subtle flavour.
Poaching duck breast is incredibly simple if the stock is pre prepared, the gently cooked orange and anise infused breast meat tender, moist and delicious. It’s intended that the duck be served at room temperature, perfect to serve with a salad.
Taking the lead from the infusion, I added orange to Asian greens, the zest and flesh of a fresh navel orange and a couple of segments of pickled orange. The sauce, made with sweetened reduced poaching stock and lime juice brought the duck and salad into unison.
Two years ago, after a memorable visit to Kylie Kwong’s restaurant Billy Kwong in Sydney, I began cooking from her “Simple Chinese Cooking Class.” There have been no disappointments, no frustrations, no double takes, just oohs and aahs of delight at the dinner table.
Our favourite recipe has been the Crispy Orange Peel Beef. It’s a recipe that requires some planning. First beef brisket has to be poached in red master stock for a lengthy period, then chilled. The fragrant beef is then broken apart, battered, deep fried and sauced. I’m salivating at the thought.
Kwong implores you at the end of the recipe to store the poaching liquid for future use. This is the third outing for this batch of stock, it’s been used twice already to poach beef brisket. The soy flavour was very strong at the end of it’s second use so I diluted 1 litre of used stock with 2 litres of filtered water for a more subtle flavour.
Poaching duck breast is incredibly simple if the stock is pre prepared, the gently cooked orange and anise infused breast meat tender, moist and delicious. It’s intended that the duck be served at room temperature, perfect to serve with a salad.
Taking the lead from the infusion, I added orange to Asian greens, the zest and flesh of a fresh navel orange and a couple of segments of pickled orange. The sauce, made with sweetened reduced poaching stock and lime juice brought the duck and salad into unison.
Red Master Stock
4 spring onions, trimmed
80 g ginger, thickly sliced,
6 cloves garlic, crushed
4 strips orange peel, all pith removed
8 star anise
4 cinnamon quills
375 mls light soy sauce
250 mls Shao xing wine
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3 litres of cold water
Put all the ingredients in a large pan. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. The stock is now ready for use.
Red Braised Brisket
1 X 450g piece beef brisket
While the stock is infusing, Cut the beef into two pieces. Put the beef into a large pot, cover it with cold water then bring the water to the boil. Boil the beef for 10 minutes. This will remove any impurities. Drain the beef, rinse well, then when the stock is ready lower the beef into the stock. The beef must remain submerged so you may need to weight it down with a plate. Do not cover the pot.
Poach the beef for 1 ½ – 2 hours over a very low heat. Barely a ripple should break the surface. Test doneness with the tip of a sharp knife, you should meet no resistence. *My beef needed 5 hours before it was soft.
Remove the beef from the stock and set aside in a deep container. Strain the solids from the stock, pour it over the beef and chill overnight.
The next day, skim the fat from the surface of the stock, remove the beef from the stock, then pull the it apart into large bite sized chunks. Discard any fat and connective tissue. Put the meat into a small pot, add the hot stock and gently warm through. Remove the meat from the stock with a slotted spoon and arrange on a serving plate.
Cherry Tomato Salad
12 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 teaspoon white sugar
½ teaspoon sea salt flakes
½ bunch coriander, leaves picked
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon fish sauce
Toss all the ingredients together and serve with the Red Braised Brisket
Serves 2 or 4 as part of a banquet
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19 comments on “Red Braised Brisket with Cherry Tomato Salad”
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Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Please Pass the Recipe 
I love Master stocks and this Master stock sounds fabulous. This whole meal just sings.
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It is an amazing dish, but the recipe to use up the leftovers was even better.
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Your red braised brisket sounds great as does the orange beef that you made with the leftover.
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Thanks Karen, it’s a long time since I cooked directly from a recipe book so it was reassuring that the recipes were so successful. Deciding what to try next from the same book.
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I’ll look forward to the next recipe.
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I actually have one of Kylie’s cookbooks, although I have never made any of the recipes. This one, I will definitely make. It looks scrumptious! And I’ve been looking for an interesting brisket recipe. Thanks!
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It was really easy, but incredibly good! Enjoy!
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Which part is the brisket? Do you remember when crock pots were the in thing? That would probably be great for a slow cooking meet. I had one once, but sadly I was stupid and gave it away.
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Amazing the way cooking styles go in and out of fashion. I love traditional slow braised meat from the oven, but this was a whole different kettle of fish, but equally delicious. Tomorrow you can see what I did with the leftovers…… They were sublime!
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Can’t wait!
(that’s a passive cow that’s been divided up. 🙂 )
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Did I misunderstand your question?
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Not at all, I’m just teasing. I saw the picture of the cow with a diagram on its side. (I did try for a smile at the end of that sentence. Here’s another. 🙂
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How wonderful! I’m loving all of the flavors, star anise and fresh ginger.
And, thank you so much for dropping by and “liking” my post.
Allison
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Thanks, it was good, I enjoyed reading your blog, I thought I was following you but apparently not, but I am now!
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Beautiful post! Even through the photo I can tell how well the meat is prepared.
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Thanks Fae it was delicious.
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This sounds pretty incredible, and I bet the meat was melt-in-the-mouth delicious. Like you I’ve never cooked brisket before. And doubt I’d get a piece small enough for two portions. Actually, I’ve never seen it for sale here.
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Look out for it! It’s a secondary cut, so it does require a long slow cook, but well worth the effort
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