Alto Wines has partnered with food editor Vickie de Beer to create a range of recipes that highlight characteristics of the Alto range of wines. For this recipe, Alto Rouge’s flavours of berry fruit with cigar box and dark chocolate flavours followed by vanilla and oak spices are utilised in a flavour-packed marinade that dresses a slow-cooked, and then braai’d, beef brisket. The marinade is sweet and spicy – a perfect companion to the smoky, roasted brisket.

Alto Rouge Barbecue Sauce (375ml)

250 ml Alto Rouge
45 ml olive oil
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
5 sprigs of thyme, leaves taken off the stalk
5 sprigs of rosemary, leaves taken off the stalk
30 ml fennel seeds
10 ml anise seed
2-3 star anise seed pods
10 ml smoked paprika
3-5 allspice berries
2 bay leaves
10 ml cumin
200 g tomato sauce (ketchup)
20 ml soya sauce

1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Fry the onions for 3-4 minutes, add the garlic and fry for another 2-3 minutes or until the onions are cooked.
2. Blend the spices together in a spice grinder or bash them with a mortar and pestle. Add the spices to the onion mixture and fry for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the tomato sauce, soya sauce and wine. Bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Take off the heat and let it cool.

Slow Cooked and Roasted Brisket

1 x 4,5-5 kg whole brisket off the bone – do not remove the fat layer
45 ml smoked paprika
30 ml whole anise seed
5 onions, peeled and sliced into thick rings
20 ml salt flakes (e.g. Maldon)
5-6 bay leaves
375 ml of the Alto Rouge barbecue sauce

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160°C.
2. Place the brisket on a clean chopping board and rub the spices and salt all over.
3. Pack the onion slices and the bay leaves in a big, oven-proof roasting tin and place the brisket fat-side down on top of the bed of onions.
4. Cover with foil and cook in the oven for 6 hours. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
5. Prepare a fire like usual with medium coals. Baste the brisket all over with the Alto Rouge barbecue sauce and grill over the fire for about 10-15 minutes on each side all the while basting it with the barbecue sauce. Remove from the fire and place on a serving platter, pull the meat apart with two forks or just slice it as thinly as possible.