Thursday, August 7, 2008

Brisket

I've been experimenting with brisket. I had no idea what I was doing at first but after some experimentation the results are quite good.

Find a good sized brisket about 5 to 8 pounds and make sure it has a good thick fat layer 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick on one side.

Place the brisket in a large glass cake pan or cassarole dish, salt and pepper both sides and sprinkle liberally with garlic powder and paprika. cover and refrigerate from 2 to 8 hours.

From here you can make it in the oven, on the barbecue pit or smoker.

Here's my quick method.
Start soaking the wood you are going to smoke with in a bowl of water.

Lay your brisket on the grill over the hottest part of the coals and cook it for 90 seconds on each side. this will seal in the juices. Then wrap the brisket in two layers of heavy duty foil fat side up with enough extra foil to leave the top partially open but not let the juices out.

Move the brisket away from the coals to a part of the grill where it can get indirect heat (if you don't have a smoke box) and place your wood in a perforated pie tin so it can sit on top of the coals and begin to smoke.

Close the lid and let it smoke for an hour. After an hour, carefully flip the brisket in the foil and smoke for one more hour adding more wood and coals if necessary.

Then close the foil and let brisket cook covered over low indirect heat for another 90 min.

Oven method: wrap tightly in heavy duty foil and cook 4 hours on the top rack at 200 degrees.

When cutting, make sure to slice against the grain of the meat. This will make for a very tender pieces.

Optionally you can pour the juices from the foil into a bowl and mix with 1 1/2 cups of your favorite barbecue sauce and pour over the top of the sliced meat. However many folks like theirs plain.

Enjoy!

7 comments:

Papa Frank said...

Yum!!! Cooked right brisket is nice and tender and sooooooo good. It's nice when an inexpensive cut of meat can be that good. However, cook it wrong and you can slice it extra thin and lace your sneakers with it.

nanc said...

brisket is the best!

i've used the rub it liberally with kosher rock salt and garlic powder - wrap it in foil and place it in the oven at 175-200 degrees for eight to ten hours - remove from oven, cool and refrigerate - and then open smoke it much like you have here the next day.

papa frank - any tough brisket can be chunked up and put into a crockpot with onions and peppers for hours and is great for burritos.

hammer - you sure have some great meat recipes for a vegan!

Anonymous said...

Pulled Pork, Beef Brisket, Memphis Style Pork Ribs, an Appetizer of BBQ Chicken Wings, spicy sausage, pecan pie. Yummy

nanc said...

^^serious food critic!^^

Anonymous said...

Claude's Marinade is yummy for brisket!
very smokey.

Z said...

nanc..perfect solution of any tough meat...
ZMom bakes brisket in advance for guests...cuts it thinly after it's refrigerated and easier to slice, then just warms it up before serving..it's easier to slice that way and better for having sat in its sauce all day or overnight.

cube said...

Brisket is one of my favorites too. Yum.