Brisket and Love: A Tribute to Beatrice Beckenstein Levine, or “Granny Bea”

Published by Monday, October 3, 2011 Permalink 0
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by Jonell Galloway

Rosh Hashanah beef brisket brings back so many fond memories. It makes me think of how by mother-in-law would start preparing the brisket and the feast days before we arrived. The children were accustomed to eating European food, and in their earlier years had serious misgivings about brisket.

Granny Bea’s brisket was saucy like this one, but the sauce was not beer. It was made with carrots and onions that had been slow-cooked to the point that they formed a sweet sauce, “making it healthier,” she would say.

It was all made with such love and we felt that love in the air as we ate; it created a bond so strong that it will stay with us forever. Every time I hear the word “brisket” I remember the good old days, when she was alive, when we received all her love through her food and her loving, gracious manner, and tried to give it back to her as nobly as we could. Now we can only do that in our thoughts and prayers.

And now when the children hear “brisket”, I can see on their faces that they too feel that love, that bond.

Food made with love and shared in a spirit of love does that to you. Food helps you transmit your love; it also teaches you how to receive love.

This is dedicated to my mother-in-law, Beatrice Beckenstein Levine, the apple of my eye. I love(d) you, and I think of you every day and my heart still gets all warm and I shed a tear or two, and a taste of your brisket comes to my mouth. I’m going to ask for Granny Bea’s brisket once a week when I get the heaven.

Click here to read Mark Bittman and Daniel Meyer’s version of an up-to-date beef brisket.

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