THE JOYS OF EATING KOSHER BRISKET

Kosher Brisket! How can we describe this meat to one who has never had the pleasure of tasting it and who does not know how to cook it? We must first go to The Torah and talk about its origins from over 5,000 years ago, about Jewish cooking and which foods we are allowed to eat and which foods not, and why?

In The Torah, we as Jews became blessed to eat Kosher Brisket, it all started because of the triumph of the Prophet Jacob who struggled with an Angel and won the fight. He overcame evil and wickedness as G-D instructed him to change his name from Jacob to Israel, the name Jacob meaning "holder of the heel," referring to his brother Esau's heel, and the name Israel meaning "May God prevail, he struggles with G-D, G-D perseveres; contends. In the Torah when Jacob was in his nineties as a token of blessing G-D changed his name to Israel."

When Jacob fought with this Angel, he tried to overcome evil, and the socket of Jacob's thigh became injured in this struggling and fighting.

We then were instructed by The Torah to never eat the back end of the thigh meat of an animal, the area of an animal of this thigh socket, in this way we honor Jacob's fight for righteousness and show him compassion for his injury that was a result of this  fight.

We cannot eat "round" meats or pot roasts, these meat cuts come from the back end of an animal.

Instead we are instructed to eat meat cuts that come from the front of the cow. Brisket meat is a cut that is located on the chest area in the front of the cow.

But, is it dry? Is it tough? What kind of meat is this anyway? Brisket yes, is dry and tough if you do not know how to cook it. Brisket must be marinated in dry white wine overnight in a bag in your fridge and cooked for at least 4 hours. Tin foil must be used to cover the meat slab while cooking so the moisture of the juices stay inside the meat and it does not dry out. This softens an otherwise "tough" piece of meat into a meat that is so soft it melts in your mouth!

The "Break the Fast Meal" after Yom Kippur is the time to eat this scrumptious meat dish, slurping up the slippery sliced grilled onions with your pursed lips, licking the tomato sauce smeared on the top of the meat slab, swallowing it like a drink, savoring its spicy smooth taste.

A "Rite of Passage" in every Jewish girl's life is the learning of her Mother's Kosher Brisket recipe, it passed down from generation to generation. Which spices your Mother used that other Mothers do not, what makes your Brisket special, a family inheritance, a secret to only tell to your Daughter and for her to tell her Daughter.

To be the one blessed enough to then eat this special "Family Recipe of Kosher Brisket." To have the blessedness never to eat a tough or dry piece of Brisket, to have this taste in your mouth as a memory when you are Fasting on Yom Kippur knowing that at the end of your successful Fasting you will be treated with this Kosher Brisket that makes it all worth the effort!