A new Secret Restaurant Recipe! BBQ Braised Beef
When Victoria and I were writing Secret Restaurant Recipes and Everyday Secret Restaurant recipes, our favorite part was learning techniques from chefs all over the world and getting the chance to recreate some of our favorites at home. It’s always exciting when we relive the years of working on those books and go back to solicit more restaurant favorites. I asked Chef Pinchas Frank, of Entree, located in Lakewood, to share with us his recipe for my favorite BBQ Braised Beef, which would work perfectly during Chanukah as an appetizer to a special evening meal or at a party. This is a simplified version for the home cook. -Leah Schapira
- Ingredients:
- 2 ½ pounds cubed meat from a 3 bone flanken*
- 1 ½ cups water
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup sugar
- Sweet Glaze:
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup ketchup
- Tempura Rice:
- 16 ounces sushi rice
- 1 cup rice vinegar (not seasoned)
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 cup tempura mix (such as Sushi Maven)**
- Oil, for frying
- Prepare the meat. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Place cubed meat in a baking pan with the water, soy sauce, and sugar. Cover well and bake for 3-3½ hours or until meat is soft.
- Remove meat from oven. Mix half the liquid from the pan with sweet glaze ingredients. Discard remaining liquid. Place sweet glaze into a large skillet with the meat. Cook until glaze thickens. If glaze isn’t thickening, you can add a little tomato paste or some cornstarch slurry (½ tsp cornstarch to 1-2 tablespoons of cold water) to thicken it. Coat meat in glaze.
- Prepare the tempura rice. Cook sushi rice according to package directions. Meanwhile, in another saucepan, combine rice vinegar and sugar. Cook until thickened and syrupy. Mix into cooked sushi rice, and spread on a baking sheet to cool.
- Once rice is cool, form into 3-inch circles about ½-inch thick. They should resemble small hockey pucks. To form the pucks you’ll want to wet your hands and keep a bowl of water next to you so you could keep on dipping your hands. Pat the rice very well. (Editor's note: At this point I froze the rice patties for 10 minutes so they would retain their shape during the frying process, although the chef does not.)
- Heat oil in a saucepan or deep fryer. Mix tempura mixture according to package directions (or make your own, see **note). Coat rice patties in mix and fry for 3-4 minutes.
- To serve, top each tempura rice cake with 5-6 pieces of meat. Garnish with petite greens and some roasted sesame seeds.
*3 bone flanken is softer than 5 bone flanken. If you are considering just buying boneless flanken, ask you bucher which cut of meat he uses. Many sell second cut brisket as boneless flanken.
**Tempura flour is simply wheat flour that has leaveners, such as baking soda, and thickeners, such as cornstarch or tapioca mixed in. If using regular flour, add 1 teaspoon baking soda and 2 tablespoons cornstarch per 1 cup.
Chef Pinchas Frank is the executive chef of Entree Restaurant, located at 399 Monmouth Avenue in Lakewood. For more info, to view the menu, or for reservations, visit www. entreerestaurant.com.
how can these be served shabbos day?
I don’t think this recipe would work for shabbos day :(.
Looks yum! Would boneless flanken work if its made from 2nd cut brisket?
Made this recently! This meat is delicious!! I used a cheaper cut of meat and cooked it low and slow and it was yummy! Making the rice Patties we’re not too difficult don’t be afraid of the steps in this recipe . Not as simple as a 9×13 but not much more difficult:)
which type of meat did u use that was cheaper?
A chuck roast