Onion -Braised Beef Brisket

 September 2025

Recipe from America's Test Kitchen

I had a hankering for brisket. I used to smoke brisket on our gas grill but I haven't used the gas grill for several years so I went looking for another recipe. I settled on this onion-braised brisket recipe. Brisket is lean and needs to be cooked for a long time to become tender. This recipe takes two days to complete and makes a gravy/sauce as a bonus.

The recipe is for a 4 to 5 pound brisket, way too much for the two of us. I purchased a 2.1 pound brisket but didn't reduce the quantity of the rest of the ingredients. For braising I used an 11x8-inch dish rather than 13x9 and lined it with two sheets of aluminum foil. The brisket was dried with paper towels, holes poked in the fat cap with a fork, and both sides were seasoned with salt and pepper. The brisket was well browned on the stove then set aside while the braising liquid was prepared. Sliced onions were cooked in some of the rendered beef fat along with some sugar and salt. Minced garlic was added and cooked until fragrant then tomato paste. Paprika and cayenne pepper were added and cooked then flour was sprinkled over the mixture and stirred until well combined. Chicken broth, red wine, bay leaves, and fresh thyme were added and simmered. The sauce and onions were poured into the foil-lined pan under the brisket. The foil was folded over the brisket which then cooked until the brisket was fork tender, 4 hours in a 300° oven. The brisket was placed in a bowl and the sauce was strained over the meat. Discarding bay and thyme, the onions were placed in a second bowl. Both bowls were stored overnight in the refrigerator. Except for the roasting period it took just over an hour to prepare the brisket.

On the second day congealed fat was removed from the brisket and sauce.  The sauce was simmered and the brisket cut into ¼-inch slices; we got 9 slices. The sliced brisket was placed in an 11x8-inch baking dish and covered with the sauce to which the onions and vinegar had been added. This was heated in a 350° oven until heated through then served. The preparation on the second day took 45 minutes.

We had brisket for dinner four times, reheating the meat and sauce together in the microwave. The brisket and gravy and onions were good. The brisket was a little bland, perhaps it should have cooked longer. The sauce did not stay in the aluminum foil and some of it boiled away in the oven but there was enough for our four meals. The sweet braised onions added a nice element to all meals. While good, I don't expect to use this recipe again. The preparation is rather involved and takes two days. There are other recipes for roast beef and gravy that are just as good and take less time and effort.

Almond-Crusted Chicken Cutlets

 September 2025

Recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Quick Family Cookbook, America's Test Kitchen, 2012, p. 154; also available online.

Chicken cutlets make a good, quick dinner; it is probably my favorite way to prepare chicken breasts. The thin breasts cook quickly and generally come out tender and juicy. Rather than use a recipe that I have  used before I looked in a cookbook that has provided several recipes that we now use regularly and I found a new-to-us recipe that looked worth trying.

I bought 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts weighing 1.35 pounds. I cut them into 6 cutlets plus two tenderloins. They were pounded to uniform thickness, or perhaps thinness. A sauce was made whisking together honey and Dijon mustard, omitting the chopped chives that were in the recipe.  Slivered almonds were ground in the food processor and combined with panko bread crumbs. Eggs and Dijon mustard were whisked together. The cutlets were patted dry and seasoned with salt and pepper. They were dredged in the egg mixture then in the panko mixture. (They were supposed to have been dredged in flour then egg then bread crumbs, but I forgot the flour step, although the online recipe omits this step.) The cutlets were fried in oil for 2-3 minutes a side, drained on paper towels, and served with the honey-mustard sauce.  Total time was 50 minutes.

These were good chicken cutlets, tender on the inside and crunchy on the outside. The honey-mustard sauce was a good addition to the dish. The coating adhered well to the chicken even without the flour layer. The cutlets were also good leftover after re-heating on the stove top in a covered skillet and the sauce was a welcome addition.  We had enough chicken for 3 dinners total.

Vanilla Cream Pie

September 2025

Recipe from The Perfect Pie, Americas Test Kitchen, 2019, p. 46; also available online

Flipping through the ATK Pie book, looking for something we haven't tried it, I came across this recipe for a vanilla cream pie. We enjoy several chocolate cream pie recipes from ATK and this inspired me to try their recipe for a vanilla cream pie.

The recipe for all-butter pie dough was used to make a one-crust pie. After chilling the dough was baked blind. It was a warm day and the dough had softened after rolling and so was not fluted. For the filling sugar, cornstarch, and salt were whisked together. Evaporated milk was whisked into the mixture, followed by egg yolks, and finally milk. A vanilla bean was split in two and the contents and the bean were added to the sugar mixture. It was brought to a simmer while being whisked until it reached 180° (which happened very quickly). Off heat butter was whisked in. The brandy specified in the recipe was not used. After a brief cooling period the vanilla bean was removed and the filling was poured into the cooled crust. The pie was covered with oiled parchment paper and chilled in the refrigerator. 

The pie was good and we enjoyed eating it for dessert for four nights. It was very smooth, creamy, and flavorful. I ate it with whipped cream while Diane had it plain. While the pie was good I don't expect I will make it again. The recipe was wasteful, using only a small fraction of a can of evaporated milk. Also, the recipe specifies using half a vanilla bean. One bean cost $20 so I used a whole bean since I had no plans to make something to use the other half bean. It also took some time to make the pie including the four hour chilling time after everything was assembled.