Beef Brisket - Urban Deli

When I first started working for Urban Deli we had beef brisket on the menu. After working a few months, the brisket was taken off the menu because we felt it was not always consistent.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of serving a lovely couple, David and Diane. When I went to take their order, David immediately asked, “Do you know where they get their Montreal Style Smoked Meat?”

I answered him and described how we served it. He was excited the minute I mentioned that it came from Lesters in Laval, Quebec. David ordered the sandwich and loved it.

I mentioned to Elizabeth, owner of Urban Deli, how excited he was about his meal. She went over and started talking with David and Diane. When he asked why we didn’t have brisket on our menu, Liz told him she wasn’t satisfied with the consistency. He offered his time to come in and show her how he prepares his.

Who is David?

Liz then found out David is an Executive Master Chef. He had trained in France (his forte is in French cuisine, especially sauces) and is now semi-retired. He and Diane have decided to relocate to Atlantic Canada (location to be determined). Diane is a Maritimer and has always been; David  is relocating from Toronto.

One day, when he was a student, David had the pleasure to work with Julia Childs in the kitchen of Le Sorbonne, where he was studying. This happened in his fourth year of studies. He said she was exactly the same in person as she was on TV and was certainly one of the highlights of his culinary education.

David and Diane had found the Urban Deli when they were looking for smoked meat in Saint John. Diane did an Internet search, found the Urban Deli and showed David our website (which he really liked because it provided him with the information he was looking for on the first page). He had a craving for smoked meat that day, so they stopped in for lunch.

When he talked to Liz about the beef brisket he said, “A deli without brisket is like a deli without cold cuts.” When it was mentioned that the big concern was consistency, he said, “I can help.”

Bringing back the brisket

Two samples of beef brisket.

He went home and prepared two special marinades and two rubs. It was on a Monday that he marinated the beef; on Tuesday, he put on the spices and rub.

He also started the cooking process that day and then smoked it on-site at the Urban Deli.

Then the sampling began. We had two briskets done slightly differently and did a blind taste test. We even gave some samples to customers that were in the Deli that day. We collected the feedback and … Voila!

Today we are now offering the beef brisket as a special.

David is also going to be back to experiment with a few other things. We’re not sure just what those will be yet, but we’ll keep you in the loop. In the meantime, we want send out a huge thank you to David and Diane for visiting the Urban Deli and to David for helping us bring back the beef brisket!