I'm back. And tday is Sukkot, the Jewish holiday meant to be celebrated by eating in an open air hut. Somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind I vaguely remember doing this, as a young child, at my Grandmothers neighborhood in
Manhattan. The local Jewish community had a communal sukkah they built each year in, I think, a playground. No Sukkah Depot back then (no, I’m not making that up - $1,250 gets you a 12x20 Royal Sukkoh - online).
I remember stuffed cabbage and brisket pot roast. Apparently eating stuffed food symbolizes the harvest, but I’m not a big fan of stuffed cabbage. If I have to choose some stuffed foods, I’m going for lobster stuffed with crab (not tacos) or some pan fried Chinese dumplings. Seeing as both of those are blatantly treif, that doesn’t seem right though. But I’m still not eating stuffed cabbage if I have a choice.
Why brisket? Because it’s a Jewish holiday, and they always have brisket. Like their Irish counterparts, Jewish immigrants were a bit light on dough and so went for what was then about the cheapest cut of beef you could buy. And so a pot roast made with brisket became a holiday meal fixture.
I love brisket, but I now have a huge problem with it– it’s expensive. I broke down and bought one to smoke last week, and it was $4.99 a pound. I could have bought Angus NY strips for that. It’s supposed to be one step above trash. The butcher used to all but it to you. Same price as NY Strip? That’s just wrong. Not going to do it.
I have a better plan. A chuck-based pot roast turns into stuffing for tenderloin. You get your pot roast, you get your stuffed item, you eat tenderloin cost-averaged down to less than the price of brisket. Hah! Nothing’s more traditionally Jewish that a bargain. And it’s mind-bogglingly fabulous.
Beef Stuffed With Beef
One 7 bone or blade roast (probably about 4 pounds)
4-6 tablespoons flour
2-4 tablespoons oil
3 chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, chopped
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 bottle Heinz chili sauce
1 cup red wine
1 3-5 pound section of tenderloin
Preheat the oven to 325. Season the roast with S&P and pat it down with flour. Heat oil in a large ovenproof dutch oven, and brown the roast until nicely brown. Remove. Add the onions and mushrooms and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes, then add the chopped garlic. Saute another minute then add the chili sauce and wine, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and add 2 tablespoons flour plus about ½ teaspoon more salt. Return the roast to the pan, cover, and bake for 4 hours. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a bit. The meat will shred easily with a couple of forks. Shred it and mix well to combine well with sauce. If there are burned bits stuck to the bottom, splash in some wine and scrape them up to combine in – that’s good stuff.
Raise the oven heat to 400. Clean the dutch oven, or get a clean roasting pan. Butterfly the tenderloin and pound it so it’s flat and about ¾ inch thick. Spread a ½ thick layer of the shredded beef then roll up jelly roll style and tie with string. Sprinkle with S&P then heat some oil in the roasting pan and brown the tenderloin quickly over high heat. Transfer to the oven and roast for about 30 minutes or until it’s done to no more than medium rare (120 = pretty rare; 135 = medium rare; more = you’re hosed). Remove and let stand for 15 minutes before serving with something that combines fruit, earth and full body like Ridge Geyserville Zinfandel.
