This is very slightly adapted (near as makes no difference) from Jamie Oliver’s recipe. The only real change I made was to add some allspice berries and fennel seeds to the initial brine instead of ground allspice.

Do it exactly like Jamie’s. It’s lovely. In fact I’m not sure I could really spot my changes if I’m honest, although it was always going to be subtle.

Go and have a look at a recipe for a Ruben Sandwich. You’ll never have a burger again. Well, you know…but this is beautiful.

Method

Stab the meat all over to let the brine into it.

Put the salt, sugar, allspice berries, fennel seeds and all the other brine ingredients in a pan and cover with 2 litres of water. Give it a stir and turn on the heat.

Bring to simmering point with a lid, stirring so the salt and sugar are melted. Keep it simmering for a few more minutes to get some flavour from the berries and seeds. The turn it off and let it cool completely

Put the brisket in a sealable plastic container and pour the cooled brine over it. Put the lid on and put it in the fridge for 5-7 days.

Tip the brine away and rinse the brisket under the tap. Then soak it for 10 minutes in clean water.

Tip that water away and out the meat in a saucepan and cover with water adding the onions, bay leaves and peppercorns.

Bring it to the boil and gently simmer it for 2-3 hours.

Do not throw the liquor away.

Use the meat however you like: this looks nice, but you can keep any meat you don’t use back in a Tupperware container in the cooking liquor for a week or so.

Tip: As I use it again during the following days, I slice some meat and put it in a little pan, add some of the liquor and gently heat it up.

That’s it!

Ingredients

A chunk of brisket, unrolled and trimmed of excess fat

Brine

• 200g cooking salt
• 100g sugar (I used brown caster, but any sugar will do)
• a handful of allspice berries
• a teaspoon of fennel seeds
• a dozen black peppercorns
• a couple of cloves
• 1tsp mustard seeds
• a small bunch of fresh thyme

The cooking liquid

• 2 onions, quartered
• 2 bay leaves
• 12 black peppercorns