Hunk of Meat Monday: Chile Spiked Brisket

Yum, I actually did some more cooking this weekend! Dad gave me a half brisket out of our last fattened calf and decided to see what damage I could do with it. But I'm not exactly one dedicated to laborous cooking (gotta be the quick and easy, nothin wrong with meat and potatoes) so where else to find a good recipe than Twitter! Have to thank Jamie Gunter (Twitter) from Florida for recommending this recipe from About.com. Yeah I would have much prefered a brisket on the grill or smoked, but it's summer, I'm tired, lazy, and won't turn down a great beef crockpot recipe!

Watch out ya'll it's a two-day recipe so you'll have to plan ahead, plus any thaw time if the brisket comes from the freezer.

Ingredients

• 4 to 5 pound beef brisket
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 3 chipotle chiles, minced
• 3/4 cup dark beer
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 to 8 red potatoes, cut in half or quartered if large
• 1.5 cups baby carrots

Preparation
First Day: Place brisket in the crockpot with onions. Mix the next 8 ingredients and pour over brisket. Cover and cook on low 10 to 12 hours.
Second Day: Add potatoes and carrots, cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.
Serves 6 to 8

Now for the Tried and True Changes:

• Don't over do it on the cinnamon or tomato paste (oops!)
• I cut slits in the brisket and placed some garlic in the slits before cooking. Added awesome flavor!
• I really don't like my beef over cooked, so I stuck with 12 hours total cooking on low. Put it on Saturday night a bedtime, perfect for Sunday dinner. Cooked on low it turned out with a pink center and super juicy. Added the potatoes and carrots before I headed out to feed Sunday morning.

Would have brisket been better in the smoker? Yeah, but this is pretty awesome for some crockpot cookin! I'd recommend it. And sorry for the lack of photos. I got a lil excited because it smelled awesome and had eaten and packed it up before I thought about posting this. So we'll just settle for a photo of the cattle who provide our briskets (From Gate to Plate!)