Cheapness at Home: The Road to Briskets and Gravy

One of the predicaments a New Yorker often finds himself in is feeling like it's cheaper to eat out than cook. CheapEatery.com is a prime example of what New York offers in the way of food choices, since here you find all kinds of delicious and hearty meals for less than $10 per person. Try buying all the ingredients for Kung Pao Chicken and cooking it yourself. You'd be $30 in the hole in no time. It's no wonder every city dweller keeps the menu for his local Chinese restaurant, bulletproof glass, MSG and all.

But when the other shoe drops, you don't have much in the way of nutrition. You shouldn't eat Chinese everyday. You shouldn't even eat out every day. Every health magazine tells you, you're eating healthier when you're cooking for yourself. So -- CheapEatery to the rescue again. We're going to give you a series of meals we think you can cook for less than $10 per person. On the menu today? Briskets and Gravy!

We went shopping at Whole Foods to buy these groceries, too, so don't think we're picking up food that fell off the back of a truck. We also recommend that you get in the habit of checking out prices at different markets in your neighborhood. You'd be surprised what the deli sells for $3.25 that Gristedes sells for $5.49, and vice versa.

The recipes below are pretty simple and made for two people. We tried to keep the main ingredient of each course simple so you don’t have to invest in tons of ingredients. And remember, cooking isn’t about making everything according to a recipe. Use your common sense and intuition. You’ll find yourself doing great.

THE MENU:

Beef Brisket with a Dry Rub

Roasted Potatoes with Brisket Gravy

Lemon Butter Broccolini with Garlic

THE RECIPES:

BEEF BRISKET WITH DRY RUB

1 pound beef brisket ($4.99/lb)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon paprika

1 pinch of black pepper

¼ teaspoon garlic powder (or throw in 2 cloves of fresh garlic if it’s easier)

First, throw all the dry ingredients together while your hands are dry. If you handle the rub with wet hands, it’ll start clumping to your fingers and not the meat. If you don’t have garlic powder, mince up 2 cloves of fresh garlic. It will taste great.

Next, prepare the meat. Brisket tends to have some excess fat so take a knife to it and trim off what you think is too much. I like to leave a little bit of fat on there. That’s the flavor and it’ll totally soak into the meat. Rub the spices on the meat but don’t go overboard. You’ll probably have some left over but don’t put it in the slow cooker with the meat. When you cook the brisket, the natural juices will come out of it to make a gravy. Any excess rub will make the gravy too salty.  

Set your slow cooker on low and leave the brisket in there fat side up for about 7-8 hours. Resist the temptation to open up the slow cooker while it’s cooking. Your cooking time will be thrown off every time you take off that lid! If you don't have a slow cooker, put it on the stove with some stock at a really low temperature. You could also stick it in the oven at low heat. FYI, the low setting on a modern slow cooker is around 200 degrees Fahrenheit. When it’s done, the meat will be fork tender. Let it rest for about 10 minutes. Slice the meat against the grain – meaning cut it perpendicular to the direction the fibers are going.

ROASTED POTATOES

4 large potatoes  (about 2 pounds at $0.99/lb)

4 tablespoons olive oil

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground pepper

½ teaspoon ground pepper flakes

The prep time for this is about 15 minutes. So when the brisket is about 35 minutes from being done (not including resting time), start prepping the potato dish. Peel and cube the potatoes. You can leave the skin on if you prefer. In a large bowl, toss the cubed potatoes in olive oil and the dry ingredients until they are coated evenly. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and put them in an oven at 475 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25 minutes. You can cook them 5 minutes more or less depending on how crispy you like them. Turn the potatoes once or twice so they brown evenly. Serve with the natural gravy that comes from the brisket.

LEMON BUTTER BROCCOLINI WITH GARLIC

1 bunch broccolini ($3.49 per bunch)

2 tablespoons butter (salted or unsalted)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon minced garlic

½ lemon zest

1 tablespoon lemon juice

This takes about 20 minutes to prep and cook. So, 10 minutes before the brisket is comes out, start boiling some salted water to blanch the broccolini. Leave the broccolini in the boiling water for 2 minutes and immediately put them in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.

As the broccolini chills, melt the butter in a large sauté pan. Add the garlic and lemon zest. While this cooks for a minute, drain the broccolini and add it to the sauté pan. Cook for about 2 – 3 minutes and add salt and pepper to taste.

THE OUTCOME

We set the timer on the slow cooker so the brisket would be done about an hour after I got home. That gave me enough time to change clothes and start prepping the side dishes. In the end, everything was amazing. We ate like pigs and the meal only cost around $13, not including the dry ingredients. That’s for 2 people with groceries from Whole Foods! The only sad part is that since we only bought 1 pound of meat, there wasn’t a lot leftover. But, we still had some. When we do this again, we'll buy more meat for leftovers especially since it only costs $4.99 at Whole Foods. The leftover brisket scraps, potatoes and broccolini was enough for one person to bring for lunch. Again, it would be easy and inexpensive to buy a little more of each to ensure we had enough for two people to eat it again.

Remember, the initial investment in spices and stuff seems expensive, but if you cook regularly, you'll build up your supply and soon you'll only need to shop for the fresh ingredients you need for each meal.

Happy eating!