Bourbon & honey-glazed brisket with soured cream & chive mash

Let the oven do all the hard work with this slowcooked beef brisket. If you like pulled pork, this is a nice alternative with plenty of beefy flavours. Leftovers make a great hash the next day, too.

Serves 6-8 Prep 15 mins Cook 8 hrs

3 tbsp vegetable oil

2-21/2kg piece beef brisket, rolled and tied (ask your butcher to do this for you)

1 tbsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp English mustard powder

2 tsp dried onion powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon pinch dried ground cloves

6 tbsp light brown soft sugar

100g honey

50ml bourbon whiskey, plus 2 tbsp 2 red onions, sliced

4 bay leaves

4-6 small carrots, peeled and halved or quartered lengthways

100ml red wine vinegar

FOR THE SOURED CREAM & CHIVE MASH

4-6 large baking potatoes, unpeeled 250g soured cream

75g butter, plus extra to serve splash of milk small pack chives, chopped

1 Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large, deep flameproof roasting tin or in your largest flameproof casserole dish. Season the beef well and sear in the tin until nicely browned all over. Meanwhile, mix the paprika, mustard powder, onion powder, cinnamon, cloves, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp honey and 2 tbsp of the whiskey in a small bowl with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Lift out the beef and scatter the onions and bay leaves over the base of the dish, pour in 100ml water and put the beef back on top. Brush the spice paste all over the meat. You can now chill the meat for up to a day, if you like.

2 Heat oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2. Wrap the tin tightly in a few sheets of foil, or cover with a lid, and bake for 6-7 hrs, turning once or twice during cooking, spooning the juices over the meat and topping up with a splash more water if the bottom of the pan is dry.

3 Increase the temperature to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Toss the carrots with the onions around the beef, season then recover with the foil. Pierce the potatoes a few times each and place on the shelf below the beef. Cook for a further 45 mins.

4 Meanwhile, pour the remaining sugar, whiskey, honey and vinegar into a pan. If there is lots of liquid in the tin, add most of this too (but leave some so the meat doesn’t dry out). Season and bubble to make a sticky glaze. Uncover the meat and carrots, brush with the whiskey glaze and cook for another 15 mins until the meat is dark, glossy and very tender, and the carrots and potatoes are soft. Remove from the oven, cover the meat loosely with foil and leave to rest for 15 mins. 5 Put the potatoes in a bowl and, when cool enough to handle, use kitchen scissors to cut them into pieces – you want to keep the skin in the mash for extra flavour but any big bits will be chewy so try to break it down as much as possible with the scissors, then mash well with a potato masher. Add the soured cream, butter, milk and most of the chives, season really well and mash again. Transfer to a bowl and top with a knob of butter and the remaining chives. To serve, either cut into thick, tender slices or shred the meat with two forks, discarding any string as you go. Serve with the mash, carrots and onions and spoon over the juices.

PER SERVING (8) 987 kcals, fat 59g, saturates 26g, carbs 55g, sugars 29g, fibre 5g, protein 51g, salt 0.6g