Red wine and beef

Seems like I tried a marinade with red wine in the past and it did not give a brisket much red wine flavor. Would it work better as part of a mop? Do you have any recipes?

Chris,

If you're after increased flavor, then IMO, I'd opt for the marinade. Brisket is a big, heavy piece of beef, so let it marinate for a good 24 hours. Here's a quick recipe and you can adjust/substitute as you wish:

* 1 1/2 cups red wine
* 1/2 cup olive oil
* 1 1/2 tablespoons mustard
* 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon wine vinegar
* 1 tablespoon horseradish
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1 teaspoon onion powder
* 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Paul

Yes, give it time. Another thing you can do is to concentrate the flavor of the wine upfront. Reduce 22-3 c of wine, e.g., to 1.5 c before using in the marinade. Use something on the lighter side like pinot noir or merlot) if going this route so as not to overdo.

Thanks for the recipe and the tip on concentrating the wine.

I heated the wine over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes to take it from ~3.5 cups to ~2.5 cups. Then marinated a 6.8 lb brisket for about 20 hours with the marinade, gave a light dusting of salt, pepper, and brown sugar, and cooked it for about 11 hours with about 3 chunks of hickory. Used the remainder of the wine with some lemon juice and vinegar (1/2 cup reduced wine, 1 tbs lemon juice, 1 tbs vinegar) for a spray baste at the halfway and 3/4-way marks.

It made for some great brisket, including a couple complements like the best BBQ folks have had in Portland.

That said, I'd like to get yet more wine flavor, as I had trouble tasting the wine over the hickory. Would longer marinate time, more concentration, or a smaller/different cut of meat, and/or slower cook time help the wine flavor?

Concentrate the wine further; use less wood. Increasing marinating time won't have much effect since your time is good now; brisket is a good cut of meat for marinating; a slower cook won't make much of a difference.