Easy, Breezy Brisket: Baking With Bubby, Bubby Beverly & Daughter Mollie

In our YouTube series, Baking With Bubby, we feature our Taglit-Birthright Israel alumni, with their bubbies, exploring how their families pass on recipes, traditions, and laughter in the kitchen. You can enjoy more family stories, episodes of Baking With Bubby, and recipes on our Facebook Community, Around the Table. 

We all know that food plays a significant role in Jewish culture, linking past and present generations. Traditional Jewish dishes are not only a way to satisfy hunger but also hold historical and religious significance, serving as symbols of our cultural identity and community. As we gather around the table with our loved ones, we partake in the legacy of our families, traditions, and cultures. 

Bubby Beverly Strauss and her daughter Mollie O’Grady, who went on a Taglit-Birthright Israel trip in 2006, are all about making cooking simple yet delicious. So simple, in fact, that Bubby Beverly chalks measurements up to handfuls, not cups or teaspoons!

All About Bubby

Bubby Beverly has three grandchildren and is pretty much the Bubby of Boca Raton, Florida! Full of energy and ready to have fun, she prides herself on being a Bubby to all. Mollie and her kids love cooking with her anytime they visit!

With Bubby Beverly, food comes from the heart. She cooks what feels right. She cooks out of necessity. And she loves the customs of cooking too.

Food and Family

Seeing her children put the Passover dessert table together, contribute recipes to the beloved recipe box—a decorated tin of generations of recipes—and watching her grandchildren carry on family traditions are Bubby Beverly’s favorite food-inspired moments. She believes teaching her grandkids about Judaism through hands-on activities like cooking, holiday activities, and family-time beats book learning any day. How else can you preserve distinct and unique family traditions that go beyond a certain prayer or dish?

“It’s the best feeling ever to have the family together and to be filled with love,” Bubby Beverly says, reflecting on her daughter and three grandkids.

“I feel like cooking with the grandchildren, since it’s my happy place, that I’m sharing my happy place with them. Are they messy? Yes. Do they not follow the exact measurements? Yes.”

But she doesn’t seem to mind—especially as a cook who eyeballs her ingredients. Sifting through the recipe box, she laughs alongside Mollie.

“Measurements are hereditary.” 

Tradition, Tradition

“I love being Jewish. I love who I am. I love who our people are. And for me? Passover is hugely important.”

It makes sense because Passover is a holiday all about food, family, and faith—this Bubby’s top three values.

Bubby Beverly hosts the first two nights and cooks for more than 80 people. Everyone in Boca Raton knows Passover at this Bubby’s is a real treat! In fact, night one is such a hot commodity for Bubby’s Passover-goers that not everyone gets a seat at the table! Why? That’s the night her secret brisket gets served.

At her family home in Florida, Bubby Beverly shares that prepping for the holiday takes her around three weeks. Hours of cleaning, freeing the cabinets of Hameitz, planning, and preparing are necessary before the holiday (since Passover is a day of cooking and eating from night to dawn). Making her brisket in advance eases the craziness, so Bubby Beverly spends several prep days cooking and stocking up the freezer.

Funny Family Fact

Mollie was actually on Food Network’s “Worst Cooks in America” with Bobby Flay to prove that her cooking doesn’t compare to her mother’s (and she’s okay with that).

In fact, Bubby Beverly brings such heat to the kitchen that Bobby Flay actually asked Mollie’s mother—yep, Bubby Beverly—for her famous brisket recipe while Mollie was on the show!

“Everyone can have the best brisket if they follow my secret,” grins Bubby Beverly.

So, are you ready to learn this Bubby’s brisket secret? Follow her recipe down below!

The Recipe 

Bubby Beverly’s Brisket:

1. Chop a large onion and place it in the bottom of your baking pan.
2. Place your brisket on top of the onions, fat side up.
3. Cover with 1-2 packages of Lipton onion soup.
4. Mix A1 sauce, chili sauce, and ketchup “‘til it looks right,” and spread all over the brisket. 
5. Tightly cover the pan with foil and bake for 3 hours at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
6. Take it out, slice it up, and place it back into the gravy mix at the bottom of the pan.
7. Freeze until ready to serve.
8. When taking it out to serve, put it back in the oven for 4-6 hours. Then, dish up and dish out!

Enjoy your brisket!

You can follow Mollie O’Grady on IG at @mommie_mollie3 or on Facebook at Mollie Rose O’Grady; you can follow Beverly Strauss on IG at @bubbibevy or on Facebook at Beverly Bergman Strauss!