Pressure Cooker Beef Brisket served three ways

Brisket of beef is an economical cut of meat that’s full of flavour. But bringing out the best in it usually requires long, slow cooking over many hours.

In this post I show you how to reduce that time to just an hour using an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker. I also suggest three different ways to serve the resulting tender beef.

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When buying meat, my advice is always to buy the best quality you can afford. In my experience, the cheapest meat is often not the best value due to the lack of flavour and the fact that it may have been produced at greater cost to animal welfare and the environment while squeezing the farmers that produced it. Luckily, brisket of beef is a great value cut. When sourced from a quality producer it should be full of beefy flavour. This means it can be stretched even further with the addition of plenty of vegetables.

The brisket used in these recipes was from beef raised by Dunwood Farm in the Staffordshire Moorlands and bought from their excellent shop The Village Butcher Ipstones which specializes in locally sourced, higher welfare, native breed meat.

COOKING THE BRISKET

Brisket is a cut that comes from the chest of the animal and, being a hard-working piece of muscle, requires considerable cooking to render down the fat and connective tissue. This is usually done by slow braising or pot roasting which, besides producing tender, soft meat also creates a delicious liquor. In the oven or slow cooker, that’s going to take anything from 3 to 5 hours but I cut this down to just an hour using my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker. Don’t worry if you don’t have a pressure cooker: adapting the recipe to the manufacturer’s instructions for your slow cooker should be straightforward or, if using a regular oven, cook at 160 degrees centrigrade and check regularly to make sure there’s plenty of liquid left, topping up with more stock if necessary.

While the brisket does take some time to cook, most of that is hands-off time where you can be doing something else and cooking the brisket is incredibly easy.

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In the UK, brisket is most often sold boned and rolled, and for this recipe I unrolled the meat and cut it into a few large pieces so that it would cook evenly. Brisket is also the cut used for making pastrami (and corned beef) and once you unroll it, you’ll perhaps recognise the shape of those slabs of pastrami you see in delis. If you’ve seen any US recipes for slow cooked beef brisket then you’ll know that they tend to use the unrolled brisket too.

As I hope you can see from the images of this fine piece of beef, the brisket has a great marbling of fat and that’s what is going to give you wonderful flavour in the meat and in the resulting cooking liquor. I removed some of the tougher sinews from what was the outside of the rolled brisket and some of the larger pieces of fat. My piece of meat started out at 1.7 kilogrammes and weighed 1.5 kilogrammes after trimming.

After cutting the brisket into manageable pieces I sprinkled with salt and pepper and then browned them in some olive oil, in batches, using the Saute function on the Instant Pot.

After setting aside the browned meat, I threw in some chopped onion and got that really nicely coloured too before putting the brisket pieces back into the pot, along with some beef stock. As I rarely have beef bones I don’t tend to make my own beef stock, so use a couple of beef stock cubes. I use very low salt stock cubes so that if I need to reduce a sauce or gravy then it shouldn’t end up being too salty. As my stock cubes are very low in salt, I do add a little salt to the pot, plus lots of freshly ground black pepper.

I set the Instant Pot to cook at high pressure for 60 minutes and that’s it. Once the pressure has naturally released, I carefully remove the meat using tongs and set aside before dividing it up to use in the various recipes.

The brisket should be incredibly tender and, as you can see from the video, this one came apart easily with two forks and was deliciously moist inside. At this point I think the cook deserves a little taste; just try not to eat it all before starting on the recipes.

If you want to remove some of the fat from the cooking liquor, this is more easily done when it’s cold as it will have settled at the top. I strain the onions from the liquor (keeping them aside for later use – see recipe below) and then leave it overnight before spooning off the fat and dividing the liquid into meal-sized portions, freezing some if necessary.

I don’t waste the removed fat though, and use it to roast or saute potatoes, make Yorkshire puddings and sauces; either portion it up and freeze, or refrigerate and use within a few days.

If not eating the brisket meat straight away, you can freeze that too, either left in large pieces or in slices – you’ll find it easier to slice when cold.

The excellent flavour of brisket lends itself to so many great ways of eating it, most obviously in the Western tradition where a gravy made with the cooking juices is poured over the sliced meat. This is usually served with vegetables and goes wonderfully well with mashed potatoes. As well as this classic, I’ve given two recipes with a more Asian flavour and which, I think, show the versatility of brisket. You’ll find all the detailed recipes, each serving two people, at the end of the post.

Beef Brisket with onion gravy

This is the classic way of serving brisket and it’s great comfort food.

For my gravy I start off with the reserved onions which I strained from the cooking liquor. They’ll be meltingly soft and deliciously brown and all I do is combine them with some of the liquor, whizzing it up with my stick blender. Just add as much liquid as you need to get the consistency you want. After transferring to a saucepan to reheat, check the seasoning; I usually add a little more salt and pepper.

Sliced meat is very quickly reheated in a microwave (I even precook my Christmas turkey and reheat slices in this way) so just serve the warmed brisket slices with the gravy poured over. We enjoyed it with some roasted carrots.

Flatbread wrap with beef brisket, soured cream, pickled chillies & chilli sauce

Don’t just think of brisket as suitable for cold weather food like stews and braises: it’s also delicious in a light and summery wrap. I love the combination of flavourful meat with crunchy pickles, veg, chilli sauce and cooling soured cream or yogurt, and a great quality, beefy brisket can stand up to these punchy flavours quite easily.

Because of its fat content, I think brisket’s best hot in a sandwich so I put it in the microwave for about a minute before placing it on a warm wrap and adding whatever else I fancy.

As we had some leftover roasted carrots from the previous recipe I included these, but other roasted veg which would be good are peppers, onions, aubergine, tomatoes, mushrooms – just about anything really. I added some batons of cucumber, shredded spring onion and pickled jalapeno for crunch, plus chopped coriander, grated cheese and soured cream.

A few dollops of sweet chilli sauce completed the wrap but if you want it really hot then squirt in some fiery sriracha sauce before rolling up and enjoying.

Vietnamese-style Pho with Beef Brisket & Vegetable Noodles

I’ve only just got into making pho, the Vietnamese soup which has an intensely flavoured broth at its heart plus a little meat, rice noodles and lots of fresh garnishes. This recipe is little more involved than the others but it’s still not a lot of work and is so worth it. It’s also a great way of using up small amounts of meat once you’ve got your stock made.

In my version, I take the remaining brisket cooking liquor and flavour it with a range of spices (including star anise, fennel seeds, cloves, coriander seed, black cardamom and chilli flakes) and, as is traditional with pho, onions and root ginger which have been charred in the oven first.

These are gently simmered together for 30 – 40 minutes, the broth strained off and seasoned with soy sauce and fish sauce. If I think it needs it, I add some ground allspice and/or some Chinese five spice powder – not authentic, but this is a simplified version so I don’t mind a little cheating.

Instead of the lightly cooked rice noodles usually served in pho, I like to make vegetable ‘noodles’ using a julienne peeler to create long, thin strips of raw carrot and courgette. These are put in the bottom of a big soup or pasta bowl where the heat of the warm broth poured over will take off a little of the crunch but still leave them fresh-tasting with some bite. I like to add thinly sliced red onion to the carrot and courgette and some pak choi, greens or shredded cabbage.

I place some lightly warmed sliced, cooked brisket over the vegetables then pour over the strained, spicy, meaty broth.

The joy of pho is its freshness which is provided by the herbs (here, coriander, mint and chives), spring onion and fresh chillies sprinkled over the top, plus freshly squeezed lime juice. At the table, each person customises their own bowl by adding more fish sauce, soy sauce, lime juice and chilli sauce to taste.

If you’ve never cooked beef brisket before, I hope these recipes have inspired you to give this wonderful cut of meat a go or, if you’re already familiar with the traditional brisket and gravy, perhaps you’ll try my fresh, Asian-inspired recipes.

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Recipe 1: Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Beef Brisket

Course Main Course

Servings 6 people or more

Ingredients

• 1 brisket of beef (approx 1.5 - 2 kg) unrolled if necessary & trimmed of excess sinew & fat
• salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium onions roughly chopped
• 600 ml beef stock (low salt if possible)

Instructions

1. Cut the beef brisket into approx 4 large pieces. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

2. Add the oil to the inner pot of the Instant Pot (IP) and switch it on. Press the Saute button.
   

3. When the oil is hot, brown the pieces of meat in batches removing to a plate when done.
   

4. Add the chopped onions to the IP and stir, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Cook the onions until they're starting to brown and soften.

5. Add the beef stock to the pot and stir well. Return the meat to the pot, adding more stock if necessary so that the meat is almost covered. Add a little salt (if using low salt stock) and freshly ground black pepper.
   

6. Bring to the boil, then press the Keep Warm/Cancel button.

7. Lock the IP lid in place, making sure the lever is pointing to Sealing and NOT Venting. Press the Manual button and use the +/- keys to set the time at 60 minutes.

8. After the time is up, turn off the IP and leave for the pressure to release naturally. Switch to Venting, then carefully remove the lid.

9. Carefully remove the pieces of brisket, slice and serve it with the cooking liquor or proceed with your chosen recipe.
   

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Recipe 2: Beef Brisket with Onion Gravy

Course Main Course

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

• Cooking liquor from Recipe 1 Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Beef Brisket
• One third of the cooked brisket from Recipe 1 sliced
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Strain the cooking liquor through a sieve to separate the onions from the liquid.
   

2. Put the onions in jug, add a little of the reserved liquid and whizz together with a stick blender. Add more liquid as necessary to make a gravy of your desired consistency.
   

3. Transfer to a saucepan and gently reheat. Check seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.
   

4. Put the cooked, sliced brisket on microwaveable plate and heat for approx 1 minute.
   

5. Serve the warmed brisket with the onion gravy poured over.
   

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Recipe 3: Flatbread wrap with beef brisket, soured cream, pickled chillies & chilli sauce

Course Main Course, Snack, Bread

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

• One third of the cooked beef brisket from Recipe 1 sliced
• 2 flatbreads or wraps warmed
• 4 tbsp cold roast vegetables e.g. carrots, aubergine, courgette, onion peppers
• 2 spring onions shredded
• 1 quarter cucumber cut into batons
• 2 tbsp pickled jalapeno chillies sliced
• 1 tbsp coriander leaf roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp grated cheese
• 1-2 tbsp soured cream or yogurt
• sweet chilli sauce or hot sriracha sauce to taste

Instructions

1. Put the cooked and sliced beef brisket onto a microwaveable plate and heat for approx 1 minute.
   

2. Divide the beef between the two wraps along with the vegetables, pickles, coriander and grated cheese. Drizzle over the soured cream and the chilli or sriracha sauce to taste.
   

3. Roll up and eat straightaway.
   

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Vietnamese-style Pho with Beef Brisket & Vegetable Noodles

Course Soup, Main Course

Cuisine Asian

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

For the broth:

• 2 medium onions quartered, skin left on
• 2 slices root ginger each approx 1-2 cm thick
• Two thirds of the strained stock from Recipe 1
• 1.5 tsp fennel seeds
• 1.5 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 stick cinnamon or 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 8 cloves
• 4 star anise
• 2 black cardamom
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 10 black peppercorns
• 1 tsp sugar
• pinch salt
• ground allspice/Chinese 5 spice powder to taste optional
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce

To serve:

• 1 large courgette cut into long shreds, preferably with a julienne peeler
• 1 large carrot cut into long shreds, preferably with a julienne peeler
• 1 medium red onion peeled, halved & thinly sliced
• 2 handfuls greens eg pak choi, spinach, cabbage shredded
• One third of the cooked brisket from Recipe 1 sliced
• 4 spring onions thinly sliced or shredded
• 2-4 tbsp herbs e.g. coriander, mint, chives, Thai basil roughly chopped
• 1-2 red chillies sliced thinly
• 1 lime, juice only
• sweet chilli sauce or hot sriracha sauce to taste
• fish sauce to taste
• soy sauce to taste

Instructions

For the broth:

1. Preheat the oven to 220C then place the quartered onions and sliced ginger on a baking tray and cook until lightly charred (approx 20-30 min).
   

2. Put the strained brisket stock in a saucepan and add the fennel & coriander seeds, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, cardamom, chilli flakes, peppercorns, sugar & a pinch of salt.
   

3. Add the charred onions and ginger to the saucepan, bring to the boil then turn the heat to low, cover and gently simmer for 30-40 minutes until the stock has a good, spicy flavour.
   

4. Strain the stock and discard the onions, ginger and spices. Return the stock to the rinsed saucepan. To increase the flavour, add a little ground allspice or Chinese 5 spice powder.
   

5. Stir in 1 tbsp of the fish sauce and 1 tbsp of the soy sauce. Keep the broth warm.
   

To serve:

1. Divide the prepared carrot, courgette, onions & greens between two large bowls.
   

2. Reheat the brisket slices in a microwave (approx 1 min) and place on top of the vegetables in the bowls.
   

3. Pour the hot, spiced broth over the vegetables then dress with spring onions, herbs and sliced chillies.
   

4. Serve the pho, allowing each person to add lime juice, fish, soy and chilli sauces at the table according to their taste.