Slow Cooker Pulled Brisket in Sweet Potato Boats

Brisket is one of my favorite cuts of meat since I find it so flavorful and delicious. I have a number of recipes for brisket on the blog but decided to do yet another, this time the pulled beef version. There is an important heads up I give you here. If you don’t let the meat rest, especially with the pulled brisket, you will have dry stringy meat and your peeps will look at you with sad eyes wondering why they must choke down this stuff. So pretty please, follow the instructions and it’ll be lusciously tender and succulent and saucy, not dry at all. In fact, Netanel and Ayelet were with us for Shabbat and he actually said, hey! this isn’t dry at all, yum! Hmm, I suppose that’s his version of a compliment.

All jesting aside, pulled brisket can have a bad name so follow me follow, and together we will succeed.

One more word. Whilst this is great any time of year, now that the holiday of Purim has come and gone, I go into Passover mode in terms of recipes. (Not to stress you, just the opposite, to give you more options, really). This is a gluten free and Passover friendly recipe with easy to come by ingredients.

So start with your brisket(s)

As you can see, they aren’t very big and they are the flat brisket with a bit of fat on top. Don’t remove this, it keeps them moist. Just before pulling the beef, you can cut off any that remains.

Next assemble your sauce ingredients.

Yup, a whole bottle of Coke. This is for the caramelized flavor it imparts and is lovely. Don’t sweat it. So I use a slow cooker bag for ease of cleanup and put right in the bag the brown sugar, ketchup, vinegar, garlic, caramelized onions (they are still frozen in the bag here from my freezer stash), vinegar, thyme and about half the bottle of Coke. Stir it all about.

and stir

K. Now you’ve rinsed off your briskets, don’t bother to pat dry since they are going into this liquid bath. Lay them into the sauce, adding the extra Coke as needed to cover them. Now since mine started to float, I weighed them down with a small stainless pot. Excellent. Cover those babies up and turn your slow cooker on low. A note, you can probably do this on high for a shorter period of time since this will now cook between 8-10 hours (mine took 9 and a bit) but I find the lower temp gives a more succulent brisket. Just sayin’. I checked them after 6 and 1/2 hours to make certain the low was really low enough and at 8 hours again and there was too much “pushback” meaning it wasn’t sufficiently tender. I used a wooden skewer. So ignore them a bit longer and when you poke them and they have a nice give, turn off your crock pot, carefully remove the briskets to a shallow container or dish that can hold plenty of liquid and pour some of the liquid over the brisket and WALK AWAY! Yes, I know the scent is doing you in but this is the resting time. The reason for the shallow dish is to help it cool faster.
Now is your chance to cook your peeled sweet potatoes.

Your choice, microwave or oven. Simply drizzle with maple syrup or honey, sprinkle with salt and cook till completely tender but not falling apart.

For this dish I chose smallish sweet potatoes so I could halve them since I made this a starter. I also scooped a bit of the center out so the filling sits better.

So the brisket’s sitting pretty, soaking in it’s cooking juices for about 30-40 minutes or fairly cooled down. (A little heat is fine). Now take two forks and begin pulling the brisket in opposite directions. Don’t go crazy here, you want biggish chunks since tiny shreds are just less yummy.

Now here’s the important trick. Mix up the additional post-pulled sauce of ketchup. caramelized onions, brown sugar and a bit of hot water. Drain the shredded brisket (or lift it out, either way), and put in a container to reheat with this new additional sauce mixed in.

Plate the sweet potatoes with a generous helping of pulled brisket on top and wait for the compliments. Wonderful as a starter or if served more generously, as a main dish. Of course, if served during the year, you can serve this piled high on a sandwich bun if any leftovers remain. None did in my house!

Slow Cooker Pulled Brisket in Sweet Potato Boats

1 large or 2 small briskets a bit less than 2 kilo (around 4 pounds), rinsed
3 heaping packed tablespoons dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup or tomato sauce
1 bottle (1,5 liter) Coca Cola
3 tablespoons caramelized onions (1 medium onion, peeled, chopped and sauteed in 2 tablespoons oil till deep brown but not burnt, this is enough for the whole recipe)
2 cloves garlic sliced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vinegar
6 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and poked all over with skewer or fork
maple syrup or honey to drizzle
2 tablespoon orange juice
kosher salt
Final topping for beef:
2 tablespoons caramelized onions
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons hot water

Directions:

In a crockpot/slow cooker put a slow cooker bag if you have one, saves cleanup and put brown sugar, ketchup, half the bottle of Coka, caramelized onions, garlic, thyme, salt and vinegar in and mix together. Place briskets into liquid, add as much Coke as needed to cover. Turn crockpot to low and set a timer for 8 hours (you will check and if needed cook another hour or two. Should not need more than 10 hours).

Check to see brisket is tender with a skewer and if ready (NOT falling apart, just fully cooked and tender) and remove beef from crockpot placing into shallow container with sides and pouring some of the beef juices over the brisket, let rest 30-40 minutes. While beef rests, take sweet potatoes and place in microwaveable container with lid with a few tablespoons of orange juice on the bottom, drizzle with honey or maple syrup and sprinkle with kosher salt. Cook sweet potatoes on high about 10-15 minutes or until soft. Check for doneness with toothpick or skewer. After beef has rested, use two forks, and pull beef in opposite directions to shred, still in the sauce. Drain the shredded brisket and mix into beef the final topping of onions, ketchup, brown sugar and hot water till fully combined. Cut the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise, gently scoop out some flesh of the potatoes creating a well or cavity into which you spoon the shredded beef, heaping generously. Serve one half for an appetizer or two halves for a main.