Barry Wine's stringed beef brisket

Make the brisket: Salt and pepper the meat. Brown the meat in batches in half the hot peanut oil in a sauté pan. Remove the meat and set aside. Brown the carrot, leek, celery, garlic and onion in the remaining oil in the same sauté pan. Remove the vegetables, and deglaze the pan with 1/3 cup of wine.

Place the meat, vegetables and deglazed juices in a stockpot. Add the remaining wine, stock, bay leaf, dried thyme and 1/4 cup of the Cognac. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook until the meat is tender, about 2 hours.

As the brisket cooks, make the spicy tomato sauce: Drizzle a little olive oil on a cookie sheet, and place the sliced tomatoes on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, and place the fresh thyme and half the sliced peppers evenly over the tomatoes.

Bake in a 300-degree oven for 40 minutes, until the tomatoes are concentrated, dryish and wrinkled.

Puree the tomatoes with the thyme and the cooked pepper in a food processor, slowly adding the remaining olive oil. Strain this mixture through a fine strainer. Add as much of the remaining peppers as needed to suit your taste. Purée, then set aside. Let the sauce come to room temperature.

After the brisket is cooked, remove the meat. Using a fork, split apart to shreds. While doing this, allow the sauce in the pot to reduce over low heat, uncovered, until thick enough to coat a spoon.

Adjust the seasoning, and return the meat to the sauce. You can do this a day or so ahead.

Add the remaining Cognac and serve the meat mounded on a platter with the spicy tomato sauce.