A Pinch of This, A Pinch of That: Gussie’s Brisket Story

As soon as you opened our front door, you always knew what my mother, May Blieden, was cooking for Shabbat dinner. The aromas told the story long before you reached the kitchen.  Sometimes it was chicken soup with chicken, and other times it was Grandma Gussie’s brisket recipe, accompanied by potatoes and carrots, bubbling away in the Dutch oven.

When my mother died from cancer when I was just fourteen, I had to learn to cook almost overnight. I had never even touched the stove before. But suddenly, I was responsible for making Shabbat dinners for my father and three siblings, and sometimes even for my three cousins, Aunt Lois, and Uncle Arthur. My father hired housekeepers who cooked for us, but there were many moments when we were on our own.

So, how did I learn to cook? I did what any desperate teenager would do: I called Grandma Gussie.

She never used exact measurements. Everything was “a pinch of this” and “a pinch of that.” And of course, in her heavy Yiddish accent, she would add: “taste it and see what it needs.” I know those calls made her happy. I can still picture her smiling through the phone as she guided me step-by-step. And I think it also brought back memories of sharing her recipes with my mother, whom she always called a “balaboosta”, a Yiddish term for a capable and resourceful homemaker and mother.

This is the very same Gussie who appears throughout my books. She was Bernie’s mother in May’s Long Wait, the one who prepared the brisket dinner when May came to meet Bernie’s family for the first time. She’s also the heart of Gussie’s Suitcase Packed with Courage, Hope, and Secrets, and she appears again as Arthur’s mother in Arthur’s Apple Tree Accident. Her presence runs like a thread through all these stories, just as she did in our family — imperfect, loving, and woven into who we are, in ways I appreciate more with time.

Whenever I asked how to make a dish, she always started with the same instructions for seasoning the meat or poultry: salt, pepper, garlic salt, and paprika. Knowing now that paprika is traditionally Hungarian, I wish I had asked whether she began using it after coming to America, or whether some unknown Hungarian ancestor influenced her cooking. I also wish I had asked whether she made any of her own mother’s recipes.

There are countless ways to make brisket, but this is Grandma Gussie’s. Simple. Comforting. And full of love.

Grandma Gussie’s Brisket Recipe

• In a small bowl. mix together salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika.
  
• Rub the mixture all over the meat.
  
• Chop an onion and brown in a little oil on top of the stove in a Dutch over
  
• Add the meat and over high heat sear on all sides
  
• Add water to cover the meat
  
• Add a bay leaf
  
• Bring to a boil then cover and simmer for 2 hours
  
• Add cut up potatoes and carrots and cook for another hour or until soft
• Remove the meat from the pan and slice it against the grain
  
• Serve it with the carrots and potatoes and gravy from the Dutch oven.

Every time I make this brisket, I feel connected not only to Grandma Gussie, but to all the women in my family who cooked before her, whether or not their recipes were ever written down. Food has a way of carrying stories forward, just like the letters in May’s Long Wait. I hope that when you make brisket, or any other family recipe in your own kitchen, it brings comfort, connection, and maybe even a memory or two of the people who came before you.

Grandma Gussie

I still have Grandma Gussie’s Dutch oven. I wonder if she cooked her brisket in it?

My mother, May, holding her fourth child.

I also still have my mother’s Farberware Dutch Oven which I use all the time.