Oven-Roasted Beef Brisket, Chilean Plateada

Versión en español

Today I’m sharing one of the dishes I grew up eating, a staple of the Chilean cuisine: Chilean Plateada or Oven-Roasted Beef Brisket. Plateada is a beef cut that doesn’t exist in the USA. The closest is a boneless short rib, but I decided to use brisket, a lot more easy to find at the supermarket.

The Plateada was one of my grand mother’s star dishes. I remember perfectly well how she always kept a watchful eye to make sure the basin with water placed in the oven didn’t dry, so to maintain a moist environment and obtain a juicy brisket. She used an open baking dish, I use a cast iron pot with a lid, so I trap the moisture inside the pot. Comforts of modern life and big ovens.The Plateada in my family was a weekend lunch, usually accompanied by spicy mashed potatoes or boiled potatoes and assorted salads: Chilean salad: tomato and onions, cabbage and olives, avocado and celery and carrots with raisins. And of course excellent red wine. I think there is nothing better than those at ease lunches that they stretch and linger where you just end up dusting the tablecloth to serve dinner.

Visit our collection of Chilean recipes here.

Oven-Roasted Beef Brisket, Chilean Plateada

6 persons
Ingredients:

• 4 pounds of brisket or boneless short rib
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1/2 cup olive oil
  
• 3 tablespoons vinegar, I used apple
  
• 4 sprigs of fresh thyme or Mexican oregano, 1 tablespoon of dried thyme or dried Mexican oregano
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
  
• salt and pepper
• 4 tablespoons oil
• 1 onion, sliced
  
• 1 cup of water

Preparation:

1. In a bowl mix the minced garlic, 1/2 cup of oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and thyme. Add the meat and rub with the seasoning. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours.
2. Heat oven to 300F or 150C.
3. Remove meat and reserve the marinade.
4. In a large pot, heat four tablespoons oil over medium heat. Brown the meat on both sides, about 5-8 minutes per side.
5. Add onion and water and the marinade juices, simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Continue cooking in the oven for 2 hours and a half to 3 hours. Do not uncover, because the steam is essential so that the meat stays tender. Cook until the meat can be separated with a fork.
7. Or skip the oven and cook in the pressure cooker for 25-30 minutes until the meat is tender.
8. Let the meat stand covered 20 minutes before slicing and serving.