Brisket Special at Zabar's - Cooking The Books!
(Customers Eat Them Up!)

Brisket everywhere!

Brisket event at Zabar's on Saturday,January 21 and another one (yay) coming up on Saturday, January 28. What could be better than being in Upper West Side culinary mecca and selling The Brisket Book? It was - alas - a snow day - as you can see from the fashion statements on the few shoppers who are stocking up on  staples (caviar; Scottish smoked salmon; whitefish salad), but things got much better when the snow stopped and everyone decided that they would be able to live with approx 1 inch of snow. What did I learn? (Brisketeers are always learning.) That one woman told me she comes from a brisket tradition and a large family, where they currently have 18 brisket recipes in circulation. Well, there are not enough Jewish holidays for this family! And she did not buy a book, of course. Another woman spent about 15 minutes telling me her brisket-making woes - I was kind enough to share with her the 5 key steps to assuring a really good braised brisket:
1. Whatever cut you buy, make sure there is about 1/4 inch of fat on the meat.
2. Keep it juicy enough (wine, broth, Coke, whatever) not to let it dry out. But don't drown it.
3. Tight seal on Dutch oven. (Some exceptions to that but that is the rule of thumb.)
4. Cook it low and slow.
5. Cut (better the next day and easier to do) against the grain.
And she seemed extremely grateful but then said, "So why do I have to buy a book?" And she didn't. 
      Well, what did I care? The kind Appetizing people (I was just to the right of the gravlax) kept slipping me free samples of the day: Brook Trout Pate from Maine and smoked mussels - also from Maine. So I was well-fed. Owner Saul Zabar was there and made sure I was happy and caffeinated - I was. And General Manager David Tait kept an eye on me the whole time. Brisket never had it so good!