Reheating braised brisket

November 22, 2023 6:37 AM

I would like to reheat this Thai-style braised brisket in a palm sugar/fish sauce/tamarind sauce tomorrow for Thanksgiving dinner and could use some advice on reheating.

I plan to braise the brisket this afternoon and serve it tomorrow and would love any advice on how to do this -- from the research I've already done, it seems like the recommended method is to reheat in a low oven in the original braising liquid. My principal questions are:

- Should I slice it today after cooking or tomorrow after reheating (i.e. should I reheat it whole or sliced)?

- If I'm reading the recipe correctly, it seems to call for using all the leftover braising liquid to make the gravy, so should I wait to make the gravy until after reheating tomorrow? I was hoping to make the gravy today but if I do that I'm not sure what liquid I will have left to reheat the brisket tomorrow?

(And if I make extra braising liquid for the reheating process, it seems like it would inject further saltiness and sweetness into the beef which doesn't seem ideal?)

- Any advice on the actual reheating part is also welcome (temp and time). It definitely sounds like I should keep it covered to avoid any further loss of moisture liquid, but if you've ever done anything similar would love your advice. Thank you!!

(If your advice is to just make it tomorrow -- I won't. There's already enough slated for the oven tomorrow, I am cooking somewhere else than my own house, and I am willing to sacrifice quality somewhat to make my life hugely easier.)

posted by andrewesque to Food & Drink (4 answers total)

Best answer: I would slice it -- it will reheat much faster that way.

Corn starch thickened sauces don't reheat all that well in my experience, so I would wait to make the gravy if that's at all possible. If it isn't actually possible, then you can reheat it, it might just get a bit congealed.

If you are going to make it ahead, you could use the braising liquid from the brisket to make the sauce and then use the second batch of braising liquid to do the reheating. That way you get the benefit of the meatier flavour for the sauce but you don't wash out the flavours of the meat by braising it in water. That said, you could probably just use a smallish amount of beef stock with only a minor change in quality and any flavour washed out of the beef would be returned by the sauce anyway.

In terms of temperature, it's going to be pretty flexible so just go with the temperature that other people are using the oven at, provided it isn't very hot for broiling, browning, etc. Anything under 400 is likely perfectly fine and will only alter how long you need to leave it in. If you want to be faster in the oven, heat the braising liquid in the microwave before you add it back to the pan.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:47 AM on November 22, 2023

Best answer: Brisket is always much better the second day, but that's assuming you rest it in the braising liquid overnight. When I make brisket, I always let it cool and then slice it. Then I layer it back in a pan and pour the braising liquid over it, and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Reheat in the liquid, covered with foil, the next day. Cooling before slicing is very important!! If you try to slice warm brisket, it will shred into little bits.
posted by maayan at 7:43 AM on November 22, 2023 [8 favorites]

Well, that's Chanukah sorted. Thanks for the recipe. I agree, braise, cool, slice, reheat.
posted by cyndigo at 12:14 PM on November 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Just to follow up, I did exactly as recommended (braised, sliced when cool, rested in braising liquid overnight, reheated in the liquid in a ~350F oven which took less than 30 min, and made the gravy right before) and it turned out perfect!

My only mistake was not making enough as it was absolutely the first thing demolished at the Thanksgiving table. Thanks all!
posted by andrewesque at 10:16 AM on November 24, 2023 [1 favorite]