That Brisket Feeling - Pot Roast Beef

Well it can be done. A few posts back I was unhappy about the result of a pot roast where the beef was so hard it almost crunched. I had two cuts of beef, one of which I froze and yesterday I decided to try and cook it again. Bearing in mind that a visitor had posted with good comments about not using supermarket brisket (fair enough) I still had this lump of supermarket gristle which I wanted to make in to a meal. So I cooked the recipe (see Delia Smith's book(s)) but this time I did it 24 hours before eating time. I cooked it on a very low heat for two hours then took it out of the oven and left it to cool in the kitchen over night. This morning I warmed it up on the hob and then put it back in the oven on slow cook for a further two hours. The I just kept it warm in the grill above the oven whilst I turned same up and made Yorkshire puddings. I suspect that the fact that the meat had been frozen also helped in tenderising.

It turned out brilliantly. The meat, whilst not falling off the fork was tender, the gravy sublime (thanks Delia) and it went really well with Yorkshires. So it can be done with a rough cut of supermarket meat, but even so I think next time I'll get the brisket from my favourite butcher.