Instant Pot Korean Brisket and a Tale of Two Beefs

The first time I cooked brisket was for a New Year's Eve party (I always test recipes when I'm having company over for dinner - probably not the best time to get adventurous in the kitchen!). It was delicious but dry and rubbery. 

Then I met the Instant Pot and Melissa Clark. 

Everything that I have cooked out of her Dinner in an Instant cookbook has been a hit. Flavorful, simple and perfectly suited for a pressure cooker. In her intro she says, 

The key to successful pressure cooking is choosing recipes in which softness and succulence is the goal, and which traditionally take hours to get there. It (an Instant Pot) can't cook a whole chicken very well, and it doesn't do crisp or crunchy. So don't ask it to and you won't be disappointed.

In essence: just because you can cook something in a pressure cooker (ie. cake) doesn't mean you should. 

Well this Korean Brisket recipe she has sure highlights the strengths of the Instant Pot. It was melt-in-your-mouth good. 

Beef is one of those ingredients that my clients love and fear. For decades it's be touted as an artery clogger, sure to shorten the lifespan of anyone who indulges in it due to the saturated fat content. As it turns out, we haven't gotten the whole story. 

For one thing, we know now that the sugar industry suppressed data about how sugar is the foodstuff most closely linked to heart disease, not fat.

​Additionally, not all fats are created equal. 

You know how proteins are made up of individual amino acids? Fats are made up of fatty acids. Whether it's a saturated fat or an unsaturated fat is determined by what kinds of fatty acids are found in the fat. Each of these fatty acids has unique characteristics, including whether it promotes or protects against heart disease. 

What determines what kinds of fatty acids get laid down in the fat tissue of a cow? Just like humans, animals are what they eat. Diet and environment determine the health of the animal and the benefit - or harm - eating that animal might cause.

A Tale of Two Beefs

Animals raised in an industrial food system are fed grain and silage, fuel that makes them gain weight more quickly but is generally lacking in nutritional value. Additionally, ruminant animals (bison, cows, goats and sheep) cannot digest grains well. Their digestive systems were developed to harvest nutrients and energy from grass and other plants found in a pasture. We moved these animals off pasture and into confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs or feedlots) in the 1950s when we started engineering grains and got really good at it. We needed an outlet for this bounty and livestock was an easy diversion.

Now, cattle and other ruminates can't eat grain without antibiotics. Ruminates ferment their food to digest it. They chew their cud. When a ruminate animal eats corn it produces more acid, which can wear away at the protective mucosa in its digestive tract. Over time this can cause major problems for the animal. Antibiotics keep infections in a feedlot down. They also make the animals gain weight more quickly. The use of growth hormones in food production also promotes more rapid weight gain. Where we once raised cows for 4-5 years on pasture, we can now get them to market weight in 14 months or less in a CAFO. 

The engineered feed grains we grow in this country don't have much nutritional value to offer. Grass-fed, pasture-raised cattle produce beef that's higher in omega-3 fats, vitamin D, carotenoids (forms of vitamin A) and lower in saturated fat overall. The saturated fats found in grass-fed beef are comprised of fatty acids that protect against heart disease: palmitic, stearic and oleic acids. 

Cows fed corn - and inevitably raised in an unsanitary and stressful environment characteristic of a feedlot setting - produce beef that is higher in omega-6 fats. These aren't inherently harmful but become inflammatory when out of proportion to omega-3 fats. Since corn-fed beef - and a standard American diet - is deficient in omega-3 fats, this is easily attained. Corn-fed beef is also higher in saturated fats that promote heart disease: lauric and myristic fatty acids. 

This is a long-winded way to say: when it comes to eating beef and other meat, the source matters. Buying grass-fed beef and pasture-raised meats, dairy and eggs delivers the most nutritious food to your table. You can find these products at your local food co-op. My favorite source is direct from the farmer. I buy a meat CSA from Sunshine Harvest Farm.

Back to the brisket.

Melissa combines Korean spices with the home-down goodness of a savory roast. If you make this recipe, be sure to serve it with the kimchi coleslaw she recommends. Get the complete recipe here.

Tag me in a post if you make this brisket - I want to know how much you love it!