Delicious cow

Tonight's Menu

• oven-braised beef brisket
  
• sweet & sour red cabbage
  
• green beans from the garden
  

Okay. This took a bit of work, I'm not going to lie, but it was not at all complicated.

I made a dry rub of brown sugar, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, dry mustard, dried oregano, salt and pepper and rubbed it all over the brisket. Then I put it in a roasting pan, poured in some beer, covered it tightly with foil and cooked it for about four and a half hours at 225 degrees F (you'll want to adjust that based on the size of your, ahem, meat).

For the cabbage, I sliced some onion and sauteed it in a large skillet over medium heat with some canola oil until the onion was reasonably soft. Then I added shredded red cabbage, a little bit of water, equal amounts of red wine vinegar and sugar (for half a head of cabbage, use about 2 Tbs. of each), some dried thyme, salt and pepper and then covered it and cooked it, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage was tender. Then I uncovered it and cranked up the heat, stirring until all the liquid had evaporated. I know this doesn't really sound like a summer dish, and I do make it fairly often for Thanksgiving, but it goes really well with slow-cooked, spiced meats like the brisket above.

Okay, now the green beans! Which were from my garden! Woo! Snap off the stem end, give them a good rinse, and set them aside. Then chop up a few slices of bacon and some onion and brown those together in a big pan. When the bacon is crisp and the onion has a bit of color, dump in the green beans along with a tablespoon or so of brown sugar (trust me on this) and add just enough water to cover the beans. Then bring them to a boil, cover, reduce to a simmer and let them go for about 15 minutes or however long it takes to get them to the tenderness you like (just fish one out now and then to test it). Drain them but don't lose the bacon and onion when you do it!