On October 20th of this year, 2011, we had some quiet time together and enjoyed a small brisket cooked in a crockpot, instead of the usual recipe that we use, which means using an oven. We used the brisket that is being sold in Trader Joe’s around us, the producer is Teva, a kosher meat producer and whose product can be fatty at times. Like we spoke about last time, I want some fat on my brisket, so that it self bastes itself and this cut of meat, has a fat cap, and some fat marbled in the meat itself. The issue with cooking the beef in a crockpot is not having enough room, as we have an old crockpot and the oval format does not allow for much meat or braise. The braise did not taste right at first, so I had to add in more cranberry and sugar, and that helped a bunch, but it really did not taste as good as our normal braise. I guess this is because we did not have enough sugar cooking with the meat for enough time. We enjoyed more of the vegetable kugel, brown Basmati rice, and fresh green salad with the brisket. To pair with these dishes, we opened a bottle from one of the leading QPR (Quality to Price Ratio) kosher wineries; Recanati. The winery’s official tag line, is good kosher wine at a reasonable price, it is also a winery whose wines (other than their Yasmin wines), are always a safe bet.

The wine note follows below:
2009 Recanati Cabernet Sauvignon (Israel, Galilee) – Score: B++
The nose on this electric purple to black colored wine is rich with oak, smoky notes, raspberry, blackcurrant, blackberry, ripe plum, and mint. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine has a lovely plush and almost concentrated mouth feel from the now integrating tannin, blackberry, blackcurrant, and mint. The mid palate is balanced and rich with more black fruit, oak, nice tannin, and mint. The finish is long and spicy with blackcurrant, blackberry, mint, tannin, plum, and oak taking center stage, and some spice and vanilla on the backup vocals. This wine will be on stage for a few more years – but come early to the party to make sure you do not miss anything along the way. Great bottle for the price and a great bottle for daily consumption, in my opinion beat out all other 10 dollar kosher cabs.