From My Family’s Table To Yours: Grandma’s Brisket Recipe

Welcome to my family’s kitchen and dinner table. I’m excited to share my grandmother’s Brisket and Kugel Recipes with you. Her brisket is a sweet, oniony, mushroom and tomato sauce dish of savory love and goodness. Our family’s kugel is the perfect starch pairing and is tastefully filling.

I can still remember sitting on a folding chair in my grandmother’s kitchen watching her cook this traditional brisket meal that has meant so much to my family. This dish wasn’t just for the Jewish holidays we observed. My grandmother would make this dish as the weekend meal when I would visit her and my grandfather and this recipe reminds me instantly of the incredible scents from my childhood.

Everyone was welcome at my grandparents’ home. Friends and family flocked there for her famous brisket.

Here are a few hints to prepare brisket like my grandmother:

1. As with any recipe, get all of your ingredients ready before you begin to prepare this dish.
2. Low and slow is how food should be cooked with incredible effort and love.
3. Pour the ginger ale liberally because it acts as a meat tenderizer. Please don’t skimp on it.

I have the greatest job in the world. I get to work in the 700+ test kitchens across the country in our Morrison Healthcare accounts. Serving great food to patients, their families and caregivers is important. We serve patients soup for their first meal after surgery, new mothers their first meal after giving birth to their beautiful baby and caregivers a well-deserved replenishment after a rewarding shift helping patients heal. As I write this post for our Power of Food blog, I am preparing this exact brisket recipe for hundreds of volunteers and fundraising event patrons to raise $75,000 for The Jewish Community Center of Savannah. Do I have a cool job or what?

Now, go all the way and give my grandmother’s kugel recipe a try too. A lot of people don’t know what a kugel is. So let me solve this mystery without you having to “Google it”. Kugel is a baked pudding or casserole, most commonly made from egg noodles or potato. It is a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish dish, often served on Shabbat and Yom Tov. You and your family will enjoy this kugel dish with brisket. Both are great as leftovers too.

Our family has a great time with these recipes, my boys Joshua and Austin are even featured in the recipes, I want to give them credit for helping me in the kitchen.

I invite you and your family to prepare and enjoy my grandmother’s Brisket and Kugel recipes.

Jeffrey Quasha

Jeffrey is the Corporate Research and Development Chef with Morrison Healthcare. He has worked under two Master French Chefs, served in 5-star hotel kitchens and led large culinary teams during the London Olympics. In addition to his culinary degree and extensive experience, Jeffrey has a degree in criminology and criminal justice. He enjoys living his passion– serving great people great food. We’re glad Jeffrey is on our Morrison Healthcare Culinary Team.

Here’s a little more information about October’s Jewish Holidays this year. We hope you give Jeffrey’s Grandmother’s Brisket and Kugel Recipes a try.

October Jewish Holidays:

Monday, October 3^rd

Rosh Hashana – The Jewish New Year

Saturday, October 8^th

Shabbat Shuva- Shabbat that falls between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (Shabbat of Returning)

Wednesday,   October 1

Yom Kippur  – The Jewish New Year