The Gravy In This Pot Roast Is Rich And Delicious! 

My boyfriend Jim really loves pot roast. His mother made it often when he was growing up, and it was one of his favorite meals. I didn’t grow up eating pot roast, because my mother made brisket. Brisket and pot roast are very similar, but the difference is in the cut of meat. Here is a simple and delicious pot roast recipe which he said was as good, if not better, than his mother’s pot roast, and that is quite a compliment!

• 3 - 4 pounds of rump or bottom round foast beef
• 1 tablespoon light olive oil or other vegetable oil
• kosher salt
• black pepper
• 1 large onion, cut into a medium dice
• 1-8 ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 cups beef stock (I used Kitchen Basics)
• 1/2 cup water

Season the meat on all sides with kosher salt and pepper (I use regular ground pepper for this). Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a dutch oven or pot. Add meat and diced onions to the dutch oven or pot and brown the onions and the meat (on all sides) over a medium to high heat for about 10- 15 minutes. The onions should be really browning along with the meat. You should have lots of browned bits on the bottom and along the sides of the dutch oven or pot. Then take the meat out (temporarily). Add the beef stock and water to the dutch oven or pot. This is called deglazing.  Keep the flame on low, and use a wooden spoon to mix all the browned bits in with the liquid. Those browned bits are what really give flavor to the pot roast and the gravy. Add the tomato sauce, and mix in with the wooden spoon. Put the meat back in. Smoosh the meat around in the gravy. Cover the dutch oven or pot. At this point, you can either cook the pot roast on the top of the stove over the lowest flame if you are using a regular pot. If you are using a dutch oven, then place it in the oven at 325 degrees for 2 1/2-4 hours, depending on the thickness of the roast. If you are cooking the pot roast on top of the stove, turn the meat every 1/2 hour. Even if you are cooking the pot roast in the oven, you can turn it over every half hour, but this is not necessary. Check the meat after 2 1/2 hours to see if it is tender. A fork should go in quite easily when it is done. Thicker pieces of meat will definitely require more time.  When it is done, take the pot roast out of the pot or dutch oven to rest on the counter for a few minutes.

Then make the gravy. You can do two things. You can serve the gravy as is right from the pot, which is basically au jus, or you can make a thicker gravy using about 1 1/2 cups of the pan drippings.  To do this, take about 1 1/2 cups of the au jus out of the pot, and put it through a sieve or strainer. Then pour the liquid into a small saucepan. Whisk in about 2 tablespoons of flour until you can’t see any of the flour. Bring to a simmer, and simmer for about 3-5 minutes until thickened. If the gravy is too thick, add a little water. If you think it’s too thin, turn the heat off, add a little more flour, whisk it in, and then simmer for a few more minutes. (For those who like au jus or the natural gravy, you should still have some of that left in the pot to serve.)

Slice the roast with a sharp knife into about 1/4 inch thick slices. Place on serving platter and either drizzle some of the au jus or gravy over it, or serve it with the au jus or gravy on the side.

Note: You can make this in a crock pot, but you should do the first steps of browning the meat and onions as stated above. Instead of cooking the meat in the oven or on top of the stove, transfer it into a crock pot, and cook on low for about 4-5 hours until tender.

Serving Suggestions: Serve with either baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, or egg noodles.

This Delicious Recipe For Brisket Is As Delicious As It Is Easy!

This recipe comes from a very special family, the Slotnicks.  If I had to name one or two people (outside of my parents and my children) who helped me out during very tough years in my life, it would be this family.  Richard, Barbara, and their son Michael are just wonderful people.  They were ALWAYS (and still are) there for me and my children, especially my son Benji.  The Slotnicks are mensches (a mensch is a person with a good soul). 

I have been lucky to eat Barbara’s delicious food on more than one occasion.  I ate this brisket once at their house, and it was delicious.  The secret of this recipe is that it uses really easy ingredients to create a flavor that is rich and delicious!  Please try this.  You won’t be disappointed!

3 12 oz. cans of apricot nectar

3 packages of Lipton’s onion soup mix )

4 - 5 pounds of brisket, first cut (one or two pieces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Pour 1 can of nectar and 1 packet of onion soup mix in the large pan you will be using to bake the brisket.  Stir the soup into the nectar to dissolve.  Place brisket fat side down into the pan.  Sprinkle the second packet of onion soup mix over the brisket.  Then pour the second can of nectar over the soup mix.  Repeat with last packet of soup mix and last can of juice.  Make sure the soup mix is mixed in well with the nectar.  There will be a lot of liquid.  That is okay.  Cover the pan tightly with heavy duty aluminum foil. 

Bake 3 1/2 hours.  Take out.  Check meat.  If your fork goes in very easily, then the meat is tender and it is done.  If you feel there is a little resistance when you put the fork in, cover the meat again, and bake it for another half hour.  If most of the liquid has evaporated, add some more water before you put it back in the oven.  Take out, and make sure meat is tender.  Let it cool in the gravy for about a half hour.  Then take the meat out, put it on a plate, and let it cool another half hour to hour before you slice it.  If you do not have enough gravy in the pan because it has evaporated and reduced, then you can add some water to reconstitute the gravy.  The reduction in the pan will be very rich, so adding some water will not hurt the taste of the gravy. 

When the meat is cool, slice it about 1/4 inch thick.  Then carefully place the slices back in the gravy. 

Note 1:  You can cook this up to three days in advance of serving it.  It will keep fine in the refrigerator. 

Note 2:  If you are having a hard time figuring out how to slice the brisket, turn it over.  You will be able to see how the grain is running by looking at the flat side of the brisket.  Look at the lines that are running parallel to each other in the meat.  Then, slice the meat so that your slices make a right angle with the parallel lines in the meat.  Once you figure out how you will be slicing the meat, you can turn it back over and begin.

Note 3:  I use an electric knife to slice my meat. 

Note 4:  If you like thicker or thinner slices, slice it accordingly. 

Note 5:  I have occasionally had to cook my brisket for up to 4 1/2 hours, believe it or not.  Sometimes the meat will be tough, and it just might need that extra time to become tender.

If You Make This Meatloaf Recipe, You Will Never Cook A Dry Meatloaf Again!  

This is another favorite recipe of my mother’s. And this was one of the few meat dishes that my father really loved. When I make meat loaf, this is the recipe that I usually use. I think this recipe came from one of my mother’s wonderful friends, Anita Lapidus. The first time I had this was at a fund raising dinner at the wonderful temple we belonged to in Plainfield, New Jersey, Temple Beth El. They served this meatloaf as the main course. We loved it, so my mother started to make it regularly. Now, I make it for my mother, she freezes the leftovers, and uses it for dinners during the winter.

• 2 pounds of good chop meat – I use 85% lean
• 2 tablespoons Lipton’s onion soup mix
• 8 ounces unsweetened applesauce
• 1 small can tomato sauce (8 oz.), plus enough ketchup to make 1 ½ cups
• ½ cup plain bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl, mix together the meat, the onion soup mix, the apple sauce, about 1/2 cup of tomato sauce and ketchup mixture, and bread crumbs - as gently as possible. Spoon some of the reserved tomato sauce mixture on the bottom of a 13 x 9 in. Pyrex baking dish. Put the meat mixture in the dish. Shape the loaf so that it is about 10 inches long by about 7 to 8 inches wide by about 4 inches high. Brush the remaining tomato sauce mixture all over the top and sides of the meatloaf. Bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes.

This Meat Sauce is the Tastiest Meat Sauce  You Will Ever Eat!    This recipe was adapted from my Aunt Sally’s recipe for her spaghetti and meat sauce.  If I had to name the all-time favorite family recipe of my immediate family and my Aunt Sally and Uncle Nat’s family, it would be this recipe for spaghetti with meat sauce.  My cousins Paul, Bobby, and Janie, and my brother Kenny and I all loved this dish.  And when you are dealing with picky eaters, and my cousin Janie and my brother Kenny would both get first place in that category, that’s pretty good.  

    My mother made this recipe at least once or twice a month.    My father also adored this dish, and it was one of the few meat dishes he really loved.  I can picture my wonderful father sitting across from me eating his spaghetti and sauce with pure delight as he sopped up some of the extra sauce with one piece of garlic bread after another.  My father always had a piece of garlic bread in his left hand at all times!  I still remember the bowl that my mother used to serve the sauce in.  It was a pink, plastic bowl.  (Just the other day when I was over my mother’s house, I checked up in the kitchen cabinet to make sure that pink bowl was still there.  I was actually relieved when I found it.  It’s amazing how we can associate certain inanimate objects with some of our most treasured memories.) Anyway, back in the day when my mother brought that bowl of steaming, red, thick sauce over to the table, I thought I was in heaven!  I couldn’t wait to spoon a ton of that sauce on top of my plate of spaghetti.  

    When I began to cook for my own family, of course this became one of my children’s favorites.  Of all my children, my youngest son Benji was the one who really went crazy for this.  He literally would (and still does at 18 years old) pick the plate up and lick every last drop of sauce off the plate.  Benji could eat this 3 times a week and never get tired of it.  I loved watching Benji eat his food!   Of course, I also enjoyed cooking this dish for my parents.  I got such pleasure looking across the table at my parents as they enjoyed my spaghetti and meat sauce the same way my parents kvelled (Yiddish for beamed) as they watched me devour my plate of spaghetti when I was a child. 

    The meatballs were something I added because my children started to request them.  My mother contended that there was no need for meatballs, since there was so much meat in the sauce.  But my father loved the meatballs, and so did my children, my husband, and I.  So the meatballs stayed, and I’ve been making the meatballs ever since.  These meatballs are light and juicy and tasty.  Everyone who eats them says they are the best meatballs in the world!  Oh, and don’t forget to try my recipes for my Aunt Sally’s Amazing Garlic Toast and Shirley’s Easy but Delicious Garlic Bread!

for the sauce:

• about 2  pounds chop meat- 85% - 90% lean (original recipe called for 2 1/2 lbs) 
• 2 medium onions or 1 large onion
• 6-7 garlic cloves
• 4-26 oz. boxes of Pomi strained tomatoes or 4-28 oz. cans whole plum tomatoes in either thick puree or tomato juice - You don’t need to do anything with the Pomi strained tomatoes; they are already pureed.  If you are using the plum tomatoes in the can, then you will need to put the tomatoes into the bowl of the food processor with the metal blade, reserving the puree or juice in the cans, and pulse until the tomatoes are just slightly chunky- about the consistency of chunky applesauce.  If you use tomatoes in thick puree, your sauce will be thicker.  If you use tomatoes in juice, then your sauce will be a little less thick.  I use the Pomi strained tomatoes because they are amazing, and they don’t need to be chopped or processed in the food processor!)  
• 3 6-oz. cans of tomato paste- I usually use Contadina or organic if I can find it.
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• kosher salt to taste (about 2 teaspoons)
• freshly ground pepper to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon)
• red pepper flakes to taste (about 1/4 teaspoon)
• herbes de provence or Italian seasoning (about 1/4 teaspoon)
• light olive oil- about 1/4 cup

for the meatballs (meatballs are optional):

• 2 pounds of chop meat (85% - 90% lean)
• 2 eggs, large or extra large
• 1/2-3/4 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup ketchup
• kosher salt, ground or freshly ground pepper to taste

Peel and cut onion into quarters.  Put quartered onions in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade.  Pulse until onions are very finely chopped and look about the consistency of apple sauce.  (In the original recipe, the onions were not this finely chopped, but I started to do this because my children did not like to see pieces of onions in their sauce.) Then peel and crush garlic cloves and set them aside.  Put about 1/4 cup oil in bottom of very large pot.  Sprinkle the red pepper flakes in the oil  Heat for a minute.  Add the onions, and saute for 5 minutes or so until totally translucent.  Add the crushed garlic.  Cook for one minute more.  Add the 2  pounds of chop meat.  Cook for 2 minutes or so.  You do not really want to brown the meat too much.  (I use a potato masher to make sure the meat does not clump up while it is starting to cook.)  Add all of the Pomi strained tomatoes, or all of the plum tomatoes which you have processed as well as the reserved puree or juice.  Then add the tomato paste.  Mix well with a spoon or a potato masher to totally incorporate the meat with the tomatoes. (I use a potato masher because it works great!)  Add salt and pepper.  Cook covered over a low flame for about an hour, mixing every 15 minutes or so.  Then add some more seasonings, the 1 teaspoon of sugar, and a light sprinkling of herbes de provence, and maybe some more salt.  Cook for another half hour to hour,  mixing every 15 minutes.  If you are not adding meatballs, continue to simmer over a very low flame for another 1-2 hours until the sauce has turned a deeper red, and the sauce is done.  Check for seasoning every so often, and add more salt or red pepper flakes if you like your sauce a little hotter.  Your sauce should have cooked somewhere around three hours altogether if you are not making meatballs.

If you are adding meatballs,  prepare them while the sauce is simmering.  You will want to add the meatballs about 1 1/2 hours after the meat sauce has been simmering.  So you have plenty of time to get them ready to go into the pot of sauce.   In a large bowl, place the 2 pounds of chop meat.  Add 2 eggs, about 1/2 cup of bread crumbs, about 1/2 cup of ketchup, and about 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper .  Mix gently with a large fork or with your clean hands.  If the mixture seems too dry, add a little more ketchup.  If it seems extremely loose, add a little more breadcrumbs.  Do not over-mix.  Make your meatballs, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.  Set them aside on a large plate until you are ready to place them in the sauce. 

As mentioned above, add the meatballs into the pot after the sauce has been simmering for  to 1 1/2 hours over a very low flame.  Carefully place the meatballs in the sauce.  Cover the pot, and after about 20 minutes, take the top off, and rotate the meatballs gently.  You can be less gentle after the meatballs have cooked and firmed up some.  Continue to simmer the sauce covered on the lowest flame possible for another 2 hours or so after you put the meatballs in.  During this two hours, mix every 15 minutes or so.  Taste periodically, and add more salt, pepper, hot pepper flakes if you think it’s necessary.  When you mix, be sure to get to the bottom of the pot to insure the sauce doesn’t burn. Serve over pasta. 

Note #1:  This sauce is very meaty.  You can reduce the meat to 1 pound or 1 1/2 pounds and the sauce will still turn out great!

Note #2:  Freeze any leftovers in quart containers, dividing the meatballs evenly between the containers.

Note #3:  I usually double this recipe when I make it, and I use 1 huge pot or 2 very large pots.  If you are doubling the recipe, you can reduce the meat in the sauce from 4 to 3 pounds, but still use the 4 pounds of meat for the meatballs, because you can never have too many of these meatballs.

Note #5:  If you enjoy casual entertaining, make this and serve it with salad and garlic bread, and everybody will be happy!  Try my recipes for Aunt Sally’s Amazing Garlic Toast or Shirley’s Easy Garlic Bread!

Cook this easy and delicious hot dog and beans casserole for your next barbecue!

My mother got this recipe from my Aunt Sally.  My Aunt Sally made this every year for her Mother’s Day barbecue.  My mother started the tradition of including this recipe every year for our annual Father’s Day Barbecue when I was growing up.  Father’s Day was the one day of the year when we had both my mother’s and my father’s sides of the family over.  It was a wonderful event even though it was a lot of work.  The guest list included my father’s wonderful family- my Grandma Fried, my Uncle Larry, my Aunt Florence, and my three cousins, Karen, David, and Debbie.  Then we had my mother’s equally wonderful family- my Grandma and Grandpa Hindes, my Uncle Nat, my Aunt Sally, and my three cousins, Paul, Bobby, and Janie.  The reason the occasion was so wonderful and so meaningful for me and for my brother Kenny was because it honored my father, Murray Fried, who was absolutely the best father in the entire world! 

Our menu on Father’s Day was pretty simple.  We had vegetables and dip, chopped liver with party rye, whitefish salad, barbecued london broil (little rolls from Margie’s Cake Box for steak sandwiches), sauteed mushrooms and onions, hamburgers and hot dogs, french fries, potato salad and coleslaw, sliced Jersey tomatoes, sliced red onions, sliced pickles, this hot dog and baked beans casserole, homemade blueberry pies with vanilla ice cream, chocolate chip squares, and fresh fruit.   

This casserole was so easy to make, and it was such a crowd pleaser. Everyone always asked if it was on the menu!

• 12 kosher hot dogs (Hebrew National or Shofar), cut up into 1 inch pieces
• 4 cans Heinz Vegetarian Baked Beans
• 4 teaspoons dark brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons Heinz ketchup
• 1 teaspoon brown mustard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients together; you can do this right in the 9 x 13 baking dish you will be baking and serving this in.  Bake this uncovered for 1 hour or until it is bubbly.  Half way through the cooking time, mix once.  

Note:  You may do all steps except for the cooking 1 or 2 days ahead and keep refrigerated until you are ready to bake it.

Make this tasty, rich beef stew for a meal that will warm you on a cold winter day!

My mother, Shirley Fried, loved this recipe.  She got it from her best friend, Adele Hochheiser.  Adele was a wonderful Jewish cook.  As a child, I loved going over to Adele’s house because of all the delicious food preparations and food goings on there.  I especially loved being there for one of her Friday night (Shabbat) dinners.  The smells in her house were intoxicating.  One of my vivid childhood memories is going over for dinner to the Hochheiser’s on the Jewish holiday of Sukkoth.  We ate dinner in the beautifully decorated succah at least 3 times during my childhood.  What a treat!  Those dinners in the succah were so delicious.  The whole experience of eating dinner with the Hochheiser family, with Al and Adele and their three girls, Gail, Rhonda, and Nancy was wonderful.  The dinner I remember best is when Adele made duck with a cherry sauce. It was elegant and delicious.  Now, getting back to this stew recipe, I really have not changed Adele’s original stew recipe at all.  My ex-husband, Joe Kahn loved this stew, but my mother loved it the most.  I have made this stew for my mother often.  She freezes it and eats it for much loved meals during the winter.  My mother likes to eat it over brown rice.

• 2-3 pounds chuck stew meat
• 2-3 cans Condensed Rokeach Mushroom and Barley Soup
• 2-3 small 8 oz. cans tomato sauce
• 1 large onion, peeled (whole)
• kosher salt
• pepper
• corn or light olive oil

Put a little corn oil or light olive oil in the bottom of a large pot.  Put the stew meat in pot, and season the meat with salt and pepper.  Brown the meat.  Pour off any fat, or drain the beef in a colander and then return to the pot.  Add the soup and the tomato sauce.  Peel the onion, pierce it with the prongs of a fork to allow the juices to flow out of it as it cooks, and add it to the pot.  Add a little water, so that the meat is almost covered with liquid.  Bring to a simmer over a medium flame, and then cover the pot.  Cook about 2 1/2 to 3 hours over a very low flame or until the meat is very tender.  Season to taste with additional pepper.

Note:  You don’t need to go too heavy on the salt, because the salt content in the soup is very high already.

This recipe was adapted by me from my Aunt Florence’s brisket recipe.  I loved brisket growing up.  Although I liked my mother’s brisket a lot, it didn’t hold a candle to my Aunt Florence’s, which I was lucky enough to eat every Passover at her house.  When I saw that platter of brisket arriving at the table, my mouth was watering.  The meat was such a dark brown, rich color, and the flavor of the meat when it hit my tongue was heavenly; there really are no sufficient words to describe how good that brisket tasted to me.  I was always worried there wouldn’t be enough for me.  Luckily, there usually was.  Anyway, I started making this brisket around 1978 right after I got married.  I couldn’t wait to start making my aunt’s amazing brisket.  I followed my Aunt Florence’s recipe, but I did change the cooking method.  She cooked the brisket in a pot for the whole cooking time.  But I decided to start the cooking on the stove, and then transfer the pot into the oven for a few hours.  This method resulted in the brisket having the same incredible dark brown color and rich taste, but the meat was much more tender.  My brisket became the talk of the family.  I had achieved great heights in cooking when I mastered my aunt’s incomparable brisket!

• About 5 pounds brisket, first or thin cut- you can use 1 big piece or 2 smaller pieces
• About 5-6 medium to large onions
• About 2 fat or 4 thin carrots
• Kosher salt, pepper, garlic powder

Season both sides of the meat pretty heavily with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Peel and quarter the onions and put them in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade.  Pulse the onions until they resemble the consistency of chunky apple sauce.  Put the onions on the bottom of a large dutch oven or very large oven-proof pot.  Then, slice the carrots into very thin sticks or grate them  onto the top of the onions in the dutch oven.  Place the meat on top of the onions and carrots.  Pour about 1 cup of cold water around the meat.  Cover the dutch oven.  Put the heat on medium, and bring the water to a boil.  Cook on a high simmer about 30 minutes with the cover on.  Then take the cover off and cook on high heat until all the liquid evaporates.  The onions and carrots and meat will start to brown.  Lift the meat up with a strong metal spatula and mush the vegetables around.  Turn the meat eventually when it’s really brown on the bottom.  It will almost be burning a little, as will the vegetables.  When that starts to happen, add more cold water, about 1 cup.  Notice the color of the gravy.  It probably will be a light to medium brown.  That isn’t dark enough.  Let the new liquid reduce down and evaporate.  The meat and vegetables will be browning more.  When all liquid is evaporated add another cup of cold water.  If the gravy is dark and rich, you are ready for the next step.  If you still think the gravy is not dark, repeat the reducing and browning process one more time.

When you have decided that your gravy is dark and rich, add one more cup of water.  There should be lots of gravy now around the meat.  Cover the dutch oven or pot (I use aluminum foil first and then I put the cover on top of that).  Put the dutch oven into the oven at about 350 degrees.  Let it cook for about 2 hours.  Take it out, uncover it, and check it for tenderness.  put a fork in.  If it is done, the fork will go in very easily.  It probably won’t be tender enough at this point.  Add some more water if the gravy has reduced too much.  Cover the meat, and put it back in the oven for another 30 minutes.  Check again, and put it back in the oven for another 30 minutes.  It might be ready at this point.  The meat usually needs at least 3 hours in the oven.  Sometimes, depending on the meat, I have actually kept it in the oven for 4 or 5 hours.  Now, if one of your pieces of brisket is tender before the other, take that piece out and let it cool on a late.  When the rest of the meat is done, take it out and put it on a plate.  The meat should cool for about 1 hour before you slice it.  Use an electric knife and slice it against the grain about 1/4 inch thick.  Pour all the gravy into whatever dish you plan to heat the meat up in when you serve it.  You can also pour the gravy into a disposable aluminum roasting pan, if you plan to heat it up in that.  Trim any fat off your slices, then place them in the gravy and smoosh the gravy into the meat.  If you think the gravy has reduced too much, you may add some water to it to make some more gravy.  You can put the meat into the refrigerator up to 3 days before you will be reheating and serving it.  I usually take the brisket out of the refrigerator one or two hours before I start to reheat it.  You can cook this and freeze it, but I don’t think it tastes quite as good.   

I am famous for my brisket.  I have a few different recipes that I use, but this is one I developed because I wanted a recipe that would be less involved and easier to make.   I make this often because it is so easy to make, and very delicious.  I make this for Thanksgiving, Rosh Hashana, Passover, and whenever my family requests it.  Cooking brisket is not hard to make if you follow the steps.  If you take your time, and have a little patience you will serve a dish fit for a king or more importantly for your family and friends! 

Important note:  Read this entire recipe through a few times to make sure you understand it before you start.

• About 4-5 pounds of thin cut brisket of beef (one large or two smaller pieces)
• Kosher salt, pepper, good garlic powder (I use McKormick), paprika
• 2 very large onions or 4 large onions
• 2/3 of the tomatoes in a 28 oz can of whole plum tomatoes
• water
• 5 large carrots
• 1 envelope of Lipton’s Onion Soup Mix

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Season brisket on both sides with Kosher salt, pepper, garlic powder, and just a light dusting of paprika.

In bowl of food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse the onions until they are the consistency of  chunky apple sauce.  Pour the onions into the bottom of a roasting pan or a very large dutch oven. 

Rinse out the bowl and metal blade of the food processor. Place the metal blade back in, and put about 2/3 of the tomatoes into the bowl (You will not be using any of the juice or puree in the can).  Pulse the tomatoes until they are pureed.  Pour the pureed tomatoes into the onions in your pan.  Add about 1 cup of water, and mix it in with a spoon.  

Place your seasoned meat on top of the onion mixture.  Peel and cut the carrots into thick slices, and place them around the brisket .   Cover the roasting pan tightly with heavy duty aluminum foil.  If you are using a dutch oven, then place the top on.  Put in preheated oven for about 3 hours.  Take the pan out.  Uncover the brisket carefully so you don’t get burned by the steam.  Open the one packet of onion soup mix, and strain the powder in the mix, and discard the onions.  Pour the powder into the liquid in the pan, and mix with a spoon to dissolve the powder.  Your brisket will not be done yet.  If your liquid or gravy has evaporated, then you will need to add more water.  If there is plenty of liquid, which there should be at this point, you’re fine.  Just check the tenderness of the brisket by putting a fork into the meat.  If the fork goes in very, very easily, then your meat is done.  But I’ve never cooked my brisket for less than 3 1/2 hours.  Recover the pan.  If your foil is too loose, add new foil.  Cook for another half hour to hour, and then take it out.  Check it again.  If you don’t think the fork goes in easily enough, cook your meat for another 1/2 hour, and check.  You may still need to cook it more.  If you do, cook it for another half hour, and check again.  I would say that I usually cook my brisket for about 4 1/2 hours altogether.  When your meat is tender, take it out using a sturdy spatula.  Put it on a cutting board to cool for an hour or so.  Reserve all gravy and carrots.  Then  slice the meat against the grain with an electric knife.  Your slices should be about 1/4 inch thick.  Cut off any fat after you slice the meat.  Place the slices of meat gently back in the gravy, and smush/squeeze the gravy into each slice as you go.  I suggest that you transfer your gravy into a large oval or rectangular ovenproof baking/serving dish with 2 inch sides, before you start placing your slices in the gravy.  This way, when you heat the brisket up for serving, you can heat it in the same dish you will serve it in.  The alternative- which is fine - is to transfer the gravy and carrots into a disposable aluminum roasting pan before you slice the meat.  Then slice the meat and place your slices into the gravy in the disposable aluminum pan.  When you are preparing your meal, you will heat the brisket up in the disposable pan, and then you will have to transfer the meat, the gravy, and the carrots to a serving platter.  

Note:  I usually make this 1 to 2 days in advance of serving it, because the meat becomes more tender and and the flavor will intensify as the meat sits in the gravy in the refrigerator.  When I reheat the meat for serving, I let it sit out on the counter at least 1 - 2 hours to bring it closer to room temperature.  Then I heat it covered for about 40-50 min. at 350 degrees until it is hot.