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If you have never had beef brisket you have never lived in Texas. A huge beef brisket is a must have at nearly any summer celebration from Memorial Day to a family reunion, and there are as many arguments about making a good one as there are about whether or not Texas should succeed from the Union.
If you didn’t know THAT was a common conversation then you haven’t even VISITED here. Another thing you must know is that it can be spelled barbeque or barbecue. I will probably spell it both ways in the course of writing this because spell check doesn’t like barbeque and I don’t like little red lines…but barbeque is my normal spelling.
Anyway, brisket is one of those things that is either the best stuff in the universe or absolutely blah. The secret is cooking it a long time at a low temperature.
Now, many guys around here have built their own smokers and such, and have particular ways of handling that. I am not even going there right now because I am way out of my league when you start talking about smokers, wood chips and all. I have done a little of that but it is not my forte by a long shot! However, doing a brisket in the oven? THAT I can do, and I do it very, very well.
The mistake that many people make is to douse the meat with barbecue sauce before roasting. Nope. The barbecue sauce is a go with, a side dish. If you cook the meat in it neither tastes as good as if you do them separately.
How to Choose a Great Brisket
Do not get a brisket that has been trimmed. The fat allows the flavor to be intense. If you get home and find you have an excessive amount of fat, trim sparingly if you must. When you are looking at briskets, pick up the package and see if you can “fold” the brisket in the plastic package (obviously this won’t work if it is on a tray). You want it to be flexible. This will indicate it is tender.
Get a whole one. Yes a whole one. I know it is huge. That is fine..you can freeze what you don’t eat. Brisket is great for OAMC because it freezes very well and thaws even more tender than when it was first cooked. The trick to that is to slice it up and pour the meat juices over it before freezing.
Is it really that simple? Yup.
To Cook the Brisket
Get a large pan. Take the brisket out of the plastic cry-o-vac and rinse it. Blot off the water, you don’t want that.
You are going to wrap the brisket in foil, so you will want to piece together a big enough sheet of foil to totally encompass the meat. It takes 2 or 3 sheets with the edges folded together.
This is how I do the meat. It is spicy. Seasoning a brisket is not rocket science so please adjust according to taste!
Now, lay the meat on the foil in the pan. Douse it with liquid smoke. Be generous, 1/4 a cup is about right, but I have been known to pour on a whole bottle. Drizzle about a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce over it. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Now, hit it hard with cracked black pepper. I love black pepper so I make almost a coating on the meat.
Slice up an onion and lay it over the meat then peel and chop 3 cloves of garlic and lay it over the onion. Sprinkle on about a tablespoon of dried chipotle over the top. Seal up an the foil and allow to stand on the counter for 30 minutes while the oven is preheating.
Preheat the oven to 250. YES! 250. The key to a tender cut is slow, very slow cooking. You will cook your 8-12 lb brisket for 12 hours. Put it in before you go to bed and forget about it.
In the morning you are going to be waking up to the most heavenly odor. That brisket is at this point scenting the whole neighborhood and don’t be surprised if you have neighbors knocking at your door with plates and forks in hand.
When the brisket is done remove it from the oven, unwrap and allow to stand for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
You are going to slice across the grain, thin slices, at a slight angle. There will be a point that some of it will fall apart. That’s o.k..that is what we use to make chopped barbeque sandwiches!
Once the meat is sliced you slather on some barbeque sauce, and start poking it in your mouth. Yeah, it is that good.
Do not slow cook your brisket in a slow cooker..it is TOO moist of a heat and the flavor an texture will not be right no matter what anyone says.
For Once A Month Cooking
Proceed exactly as directed above. Slice the meat up and separate into meal size portions. Save the small bits that break up in a separate bowl.
Now, lay the meat in a casserole dish. Pour about 1/4 c of the juice over the meat. You may need more. You want to have the meat soaking in the juices. Cover carefully and freeze. Be sure to label with what it is and the date.
For the little pieces you can just pour barbeque sauce over that and freeze it as chopped barbeque. It makes fantastic sandwiches when piled atop crusty sandwich rolls.
Thaw in the refrigerator and heat for a quick meal.
I have several recipes for barbeque sauce. I will get the posted later this week. :)
Image: Marye Audet
I am going to do my first Brisket. I make my own wine. If I put wine on brisket , do I still use the liquid smoke. Can I not use foil and use one of those oven bags ? Will it change the flavor using oven bag.?
I modified the recipe slightly. I used 2 packages of Liptons Dry Onion Soup along with the liquid smoke, sealed the roast in heavy duty foil and out in oven at 225F. The 5.25 pound roast was removed from the oven after 6.5 hours. The internal temperature of the roast was 185F at this time. There was no leakage of juice. After 3o minutes resting, I carved the roast and added back the juice. The roast was marvelous! I have tried this recipe in a variety of ways before and believe me this was the very best I have ever done. (Next time I will add salt before cooking)
My daughter picked up a 7 lb Brisket from Sam’s Club thinking it was precooked. She was all beside herself and I told her I would try to find a recipe and cook it for our Easter Lunch. I followed the directions almost as published. After preparation in the oven it went at 250 degree. Around 1:30 AM I changed the temperature to 225 degree until approx. 9:00 AM back to 250 degree. Cooking time approx. 10 1/2 to 11 hours. The Brisket was mouth watering, tender and had a great taste. I would highly recommend this recipe to anyone.
Thanks for sharing the recipe.
quote ‘whether or not Texas should succeed from the Union.’ unquote
Texas is already pretty successful!
I was really eager to try this recipe. Just ruined a beautiful 5 lb piece of 4H brisket! It turned out awful even though I followed the directions to the letter!
Well searched many recipies for beef brisket and this one seems to fit the bill. The brisket is in the oven now ahaaaaaa smelling wonderfull. I’ll post the results as soon as we all can dig into it.
I wish I knew how long to cook a smal brisket. I am very anxious to try this recipe for a small brisket but I have never cooked brisket and have no idea. Can anyone give me more information regarding cooking time?
Thanks,
Glenda in Alabama
Glenda, I’m about to cook my first brisket (about 4 lbs). It’s about half the size recommended in the article, so I’m going to cut the cooking time in half…ill do 250 degrees for about 6 hrs. Ill let you know how it turns out. :) Good luck w/yours.
Tried the Brisket in foil. I didn’t think I would like the smoke flavor. Oh my sooo delish.My husband thought I went through so much to make such a yummy piece of beef.Shhh Thanks
I Tried this but I changed the liquid smoke to red wine. It was a HUGH HIT ! ! !
whichever side down, whatever you like.
It’s better when all that fat cooks off and it might take 24hrs, that fat will drain off, I would start off at a higher heat like around 350 and lower it once you went to bed. Keep the water in the pan or it will dry out and burn up. Whatever seasonings.
do you put the brisket with the fat side down or up befroe you cover it with foil?
u right, i cooked my brisket following the instructions and all my neightbours came to mine place to have a bite.thank u for u wonderful recepit.
Thank you so much for this recipe. I’ve made it three times, and everybody in my family loves it!
I bought a trimmed piece of brisket that only weighs about 2 lbs and found this site trying to get some cooking ideas. Any alterations I should make?
Alrighty, lady! I’m going to try this recipe! I’m actually going to mix it up a bit with Bobby Flay’s brisket recipe (which includes a beer mop). I have not been real successful with briskets in the past so I am crossing my fingers!! Thanks for sharing your recipe. I’ll be back to let you know how it turned out.
What is the way to make sure it is “done.”
I have an 8 lb brisket and can’t wait to try this…but wasn’t sure of how long to cook it. Your recipe says 8-12 hours…but is there a test to see that it is done?
Thanks!
OMG! This was the best I’ve ever had. My SIL loves to invite us over for brisket that she cooks in her slow cooker. It is always tought and horrible. Also, she cuts it so that there are long stringy pieces. Now if I can get her to try this method. So glad I found this site. Thank you.
Do you have any suggestion if I can smoke a turkey breast in the oven and should I use liquid smoke and if you know can you tell me how long and what temp I shuld use and ingredents. Hey I have made maybe 10 briskets and they all but one came out great. I even found the receipe of Cousins and Luthers BBQ sauce. Anyway thank you and Happy New Year to you and everyone.
884 days ago
[...] day…dinner: an enormous beef brisket – I’ve never prepared one before, but this is what I’m doing with it. Should be tasty…I need something yummy for the family I’ll be leaving home for [...]