Wanna win a bar bet? Tell ’em you can cook a heavenly brisket high and fast on the grill instead of low and slow in the oven, says grilling guru Steven Raichlen, author of the new cookbook “The Brisket Chronicles” (Workman Publishing, $30). The trick, Raichlen says, is this Korean preparation, which is done by slicing frozen brisket paper-thin and cooking it in a matter of seconds.
Serve with a “fireworks” of sauces and condiments, or banchan, and enjoy wrapped in lettuce leaves, taco-style. “It’s simply one of the most amazing brisket dishes on Planet Barbecue,” Raichlen says.
Steven Raichlen’s Korean Grilled Brisket
Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients:
2 pounds brisket point, or cross section of point and flat together
1 head green leaf lettuce, such as butter lettuce or romaine, separated into leaves, washed, and spun dry
Korean Cucumber Salad (recipe follows)
Condiments:
Coarse sea salt
Toasted (dark) sesame oil
Wasabi Soy Dipping Sauce (recipe follows)
Ssamjang (chile jam) or gochujang
Directions:
Using a sharp knife, trim the brisket, leaving a layer of fat at least ½-inch thick; you’ll need more fat than usual here because you’ll be direct grilling the brisket and you want to keep it moist. Save a few pieces of that fat in the refrigerator for greasing the grill grate.
If you have an electric meat slicer, wrap the whole brisket point in plastic wrap and place it in the freezer. If you plan to use a food processor, cut the brisket point along the grain into chunks just narrow enough to fit in the processor feed tube. (Take note of which way the grain of the meat—the meat fibers—runs: When it comes time for slicing, it’s very important to cut it across the grain.) Wrap the chunks in plastic wrap and freeze until solid, several hours or overnight.
If using an electric meat slicer, unwrap the brisket and use the slicer to cut the frozen brisket across the grain into paper-thin slices. As they come off the slicer, they’ll naturally curl. Arrange the slices on a platter. If using a food processor, install the thin slicing blade. Place the unwrapped, frozen brisket chunks in the feed tube (the grain of the meat should run vertical and parallel to the feed tube). Turn on the processor and slice the meat. (The slices won’t be quite as pretty as those made on a meat slicer, but you will get the requisite thinness.) Arrange the slices on a platter.
Transfer the platter of sliced brisket to the freezer and keep it there until ready to grill. (The brisket can be sliced and frozen several hours ahead.)
Just prior to grilling, heat your grill to high. Brush or scrape the grill grate clean. Grease the grate with reserved chunks of brisket fat. Place the sea salt in a small bowl and the sesame oil in another. (Or if you like sesame sea salt, place the salt in a small bowl and gently pour the sesame oil over it so the salt remains in a pile in the center.) Set out the remaining condiments in bowls.
When the grill is hot, arrange the brisket slices on the grate and grill until browned on both sides, 30 seconds per side, or until cooked to taste. For even more fun, place the hibachi in the center of the table (outdoors only) and have each guest grill his or her own meat.
Enjoy immediately, using chopsticks to dip a grilled brisket slice in salt, sesame oil or Wasabi Soy Dipping Sauce, then place it on a lettuce leaf spread with chile jam for even more flavor, if you like. Add some cucumber salad. From there, just roll it up and pop it into your mouth.
Korean Cucumber Salad
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon coarse kosher or sea salt
2 Kirby (pickling) cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and thinly sliced
¼ medium onion, thinly sliced crosswise
Directions:
Place the vinegar, sugar and salt in a nonreactive mixing bowl and whisk until the sugar and salt dissolve. Stir in the cucumber and onion. Let the salad marinate in the refrigerator, covered, for at least 10 minutes or as long as 4 hours before serving.
Wasabi Soy Dipping Sauce
Makes about 3 cups
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons wasabi powder
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water, divided use
½ cup sugar
1 cup soy sauce
½ cup rice vinegar
2 serrano chiles, stemmed and sliced crosswise paper-thin
½ medium onion, cut into ¼-inch dice
¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro or mint
Directions:
Combine the wasabi powder and 2 tablespoons warm water in a small bowl and stir with chopsticks to form a paste. Let stand to thicken, 5 minutes.
Place the sugar and remaining ½ cup warm water in a mixing bowl and whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Whisk in the soy sauce and rice vinegar and let the mixture cool to room temperature. Stir in the chiles, onion and cilantro or mint.
To serve, ladle the dipping sauce into as many small bowls as you have eaters. Spread a dab of wasabi paste onto the edge of each bowl, so that each person can add as much wasabi as he or she desires.
Wasabi Soy Dipping Sauce can be made a few hours ahead of time (store it in a sealed container in the refrigerator), but it tastes best served the same day.
— Recipe courtesy of Steven Raichlen’s “The Brisket Chronicles” (Workman Publishing)
