“I think the holidays are the times when we pass down all of our traditions.”

Ellen Mendelsohn, a born and bred Baltimorean, looks to the holidays as a way of passing down traditions, spending time with loved ones and looking back at fond memories.

Every Passover, Ellen makes the brisket for her family. It’s a family recipe and one that is very near and dear to her heart.

“I’ve been making the brisket for twenty-five years,” she says. “Because it was twenty-five years ago that my mother passed away.”

According to Ellen, her mother made the best brisket. At some point, Ellen’s mother decided Ellen should learn the family recipes.

“It was terrifying because I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Since then, Ellen has been keeping her mother’s brisket recipe alive, and looks forward to passing down the recipe to her children.

Her recipe is special, in that it calls for placing cloves of garlic into the meat during the prep process. She remembers when her son started culinary school, and his reaction when he learned how Ellen had been preparing the brisket.

” ‘You can’t cut meat,’ he said. Yes I can… this is the brisket you’ve been eating all your life.”

Ellen laughs, and says that after that, her son never said anything again.

Aside from family recipes, Ellen treasures the holidays she spends with her family as she gets to see her children and grandchildren embrace traditions she remembers when she was younger.

“You remember when you did it,” she says. “We remember with great fondness, the Seders when we were young, and we were the little kids.”

Check out Ellen’s Brisket recipe below and be sure to view our Passover page for even more delicious recipes!

Ellen Mendelsohn’s Brisket Recipe
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

Brisket (first cut that still has its layer of fat)
2 Cloves of Fresh Garlic
Ketchup
Water
1 onion
Salt
Pepper

Instructions:

Purchase a first cut brisket that has not been trimmed of its layer of fat. This keeps the brisket moist and is key to a mouth-watering gravy.
Cut 2 cloves of fresh garlic into small slivers.
With a small paring knife, make tiny cuts/indents on the non-fat side of the brisket and insert a sliver of garlic into each one. Space them inches apart and try to have between 6 to 9 slivers on each side. User your best judgment. I have never found the brisket to be too garlicky.
Before you turn the brisket over, be sure to sprinkle each side with salt and pepper.
Turn the brisket over and repeat this process on the fat side. Be sure your slits cut through the fat and into the meat.
Cut an onion into large slices and put them in the bottom of your roaster pan.
Place the brisket on top of the onions, fat side up.
In a small glass, combine 2/3 cup of ketchup with 1/3 cup of water and mix. Pour this mixture into the sides of the brisket. You should have a shallow level of mixture on the bottom of your roaster.
Tightly cover the roaster. Even if it has a top, I cover it with silver foil and then place the cover on top of that.
There is no set time on how long to cook the brisket. It all depends on the size of your brisket. I find that mine usually take 3 hours. I will start checking around 2-2 1/2 hours, poking the meat with a fork until the fork slides easily into the brisket.

Notes

The liquid in your pan makes a delicious gravy. When your brisket is finished, drain the liquid through a sieve and store in a separate container.
Try and make the brisket the day before you serve. I let the brisket cool, slice it across the grain (very important) and wrap it tightly in aluminum foil.
Put the wrapped brisket and the gravy in the refrigerator overnight.
To heat the next day, pour the gravy over the brisket, let it come to room temperature, cover it and place it into a 350 degree oven.