Month: September 2025

Brisket with Sweet-and-Sour Sauce

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Adapted from The Essential New York Times Cookbook by Amanda Hesser (2021)

  • 1 large onion, quartered
  • 1 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled
  • 6 large cloves garlic
  • 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 cup dry red wine
  • 1 1/2 cups Coca Cola (regular – not diet)
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 tablespoon coarsely ground black peper, or to taste
  • One 6-7 pound first-cut brisket, rinsed and patted thoroughly dry.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place all ingredients except the brisket in a food processor and process until smooth.

Place the brisket, fat-side-up, in a heavy roasting pan just large enough to hold it and pour the sauce over it. Cover tightly and bake for 2 hours.

Turn the brisket over and bake, uncovered, for 1 hour and check for tenderness. If it is fork-tender, you’re done! If not, cover loosely with foil and continue baking. Depending on the thickness of the brisket, this can take up to an additional hour. Keep checking every 20 minutes or so.

Once the brisket is done, take it out of the sauce and allow it to cool. Then wrap it in foil and refrigerate overnight. Pour the sauce into a container, cover it and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, transfer the brisket to a large cutting board and trim off the fat. Slice the brisket with a sharp knife against the grain. Remove any fat that has congealed on top of the sauce. Place the sliced brisket in a baking dish or roasting pan and pour the sauce over it, letting it run down between the slices.

At this point, you can reheat and serve using the instructions below. If you prefer to serve it later, wrap the whole thing in foil and freeze it or keep it in the refrigerator for a day or two until ready to heat and serve. If you decide to freeze it, thaw it in the refrigerator for about 24 hours before reheating.

When ready to serve, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the brisket and sauce, covered, for about 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Serves 12

NYTCB Project – It’s Been a Minute!

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So it’s been over a year since my last post. During that time, many of you have asked about the status of this little project. My answer has changed over time, but the essence of it is that we have slowed our roll considerably. There are several reasons for this: I spent last summer looking for a job and started a new teaching gig in August, so my quest for novelty, which was a huge motivator for this project, was satisfied in other ways over this past year. In addition, Keith and I became empty nesters (again), so I’m just cooking less, and when I do cook, I often want to revisit recipes I love, including many of the 288 recipes we had already made from the book (more about that below). At the same time, we are both trying to stave off the seemingly inevitable weight gain that comes with our stage in life, so delving headlong into that long (long!) cake chapter didn’t seem like a good idea. These changes have made it necessary for me to think a lot about whether and how to proceed. I have come close to quitting a few times, but something keeps me from throwing in the dishtowel. For now, I’ll just say that I have decided to rethink my approach to the project, choosing to focus on seasonal recipes and look for new and different ways to foist our cooking on others. Stay tuned if you want to see how that goes. In the meantime, here is what we have been cooking from the book since last July.

#289 French Potato Salad, 1953 (p. 281) This was a solid potato salad and a nice alternative to the traditional mayo-and-mustard-based varieties. The recipe left a lot of leeway. We used russet potatoes, and 1/3 cup vegetable oil. We skipped the wine and used 2 tablespoons white vinegar and 2 tablespoons champagne vinegar. We used chopped parsley and red onion. Rating: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#290 Eggplant Parmesan, 2012 (p. 264-65) I’ve tried several eggplant parm recipes and this is one of the best. I used canned San Marzano tomatoes and they worked very well. We will definitely make this again! Rating: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#291 Strawberry Jam, 1877 (p. 620) I’m still figuring out how to make jam. This was very good, especially with very fresh strawberries. I think I may have cooked it too long. Will keep trying! I am grateful to my lovely family and friends who have served as jam-and-jelly guinea pigs. You know who you are. If I haven’t come after you with a jam jar yet, your day is coming. Rating: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#292 Country Captain, 1963 (p. 470-71) This dish is cozy and flavorful, but heavy. Don’t skip the chutney! Rating: 3/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

#293 Braised Ligurian Chicken, 2003 (p. 506) This is a delicious dish and the olives are the best part. Resist the temptation to use pitted olives (as explained in the headnote). The first fry of the chicken should be skin side down. Rating: 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#294 Huguenot Torte (Apple and Pecan Torte), 1965 (p. 801) This was absolutely delicious and was best served warm. I used McIntosh Apples and served it with Tea Ice Cream (p. 769). Rating: 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#295 Fish Steamed Over Vegetables and Fresh Herbs (p. 449) This is a great weeknight recipe that is equally delicious in cold or warm weather. We have made this twice already. I cut the eggplant smaller the second time and liked it better. We used orange roughy both times and cut the recipe in half due to our empty nestitude. Rating: 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#296 Finnish Bridal Cookies, 1962 (p. 734) These were a big hit at a family party. I used a variety of different jam flavors (thanks to one of my students who gifted me a variety pack of tiny jam jars) and they all worked well. Rating: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#297 Angel Food Cake, 1880 (p. 793) This well-written recipe yielded a light, flavorful cake. I used vanilla extract instead of almond extract and served it with strawberry ice cream (p. 774). Rating: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#298 Sauteed Asparagus with Fleur de Sel, 1998 (p. 241) This was simple and tasted great, if a little too butter-forward. We still prefer roasting our asparagus, but this is a decent alternative. Rating: 3/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

We also enjoyed revisiting recipes that we have come to love. Here are some notable repeats:

  • Lemon Garlic Kale Salad (so many times), p. 201
  • Cheese Straws (almost as many times), p. 78
  • Parmesan Crackers, p. 82
  • Strawberry Ice Cream, p. 774
  • Tea Ice Cream, p. 769
  • Lemon Cake, p. 832
  • Almond Cake, p. 829
  • Dorothy Jewiss’s Coffee Cake, p. 664
  • Perfect Batch of Rice, p. 326
  • Roasted Cauliflower, p. 248
  • Bademiya’s Justly Famous Bombay Chile-and-Cilantro Chicken, p. 486
  • Sheet-Pan Tarragon Chicken with Sherry Vinegar Onions, p. 517
  • Brisket in Sweet-and-Sour Sauce, p. 583
  • Confit of Carrot and Cumin, p. 244
  • Clementine’s Tuna-Macaroni Salad, p. 455
  • Jasmine Tea Rice, p. 361
  • Dried Apricot, Cherry and Cranberry Infusion, p. 42
  • Ginger Lemonade, p. 26
  • Brown Butter Salmon with Lemon and Harissa, p. 461
  • Mediterranean Lentil Salad with Lemon-Thyme Vinaigrette, p. 291
  • Whole Grain Banana Yogurt Muffins, p. 687
  • Fresh Blueberry Buckle, p. 872

Until next time (whenever that may be)!