My oven-baked brisket
Brisket is one of those things that every Texan eats and every Texan has a definitive recipe on how to cook it.
We smoke it, we braise it, we roast it and we bake it. But no matter how we prepare it, the toughness of the cut insures that the procedure will be low and slow, which means that it will cook at a low temperature for a very, very long time.
For me, brisket was always a Sunday treat. When I still lived in Dallas, after church we’d go over to my grandparents’ house in Oak Cliff and we’d have a Sunday dinner of brisket that had been slow cooked with carrots, potatoes and onions. Or sometimes, to jazz it up, it would have been slow baked in a tangy barbecue sauce. It was always good.
As I grew older, I learned that the choice cut at a Texas barbecue is the brisket—silky and moist, seasoned with ample salt, pepper and smoke. I love both types of briskets, but have been successful in only recreating one type here in my tiny New York City apartment. And even though Mark Bittman wrote in the New York Times that when it comes to your kitchen, size doesn’t matter, I do think that my stovetop smoker is limited to smaller, quicker cuts of meat rather than a brisket.
The briskets you buy in Texas are usually what is known as a packer cut—this means that it’s the full chest muscle (yes, brisket is bovine breast meat) and it’s usually covered in a generous layer of fat and weighs anywhere from seven to 11 pounds. In New York, however, they usually sell these sad little one-pound specimens, completely trimmed and shrink-wrapped onto a yellow Styrofoam tray.
If you beg your butcher, however, you’re likely to get a generous piece of meat still covered in fat—and this is what you want if you’re going to cook a brisket as the fat imparts all sorts of flavor and juice to this tough piece of meat.
I have received countless e-mails from y’all, my dear readers, sharing your brisket recipes. And when I was experimenting with how I wanted to make my brisket, I ended up trying quite a few. I think the common theme in all is Worcestershire sauce, along with a generous dose of liquid smoke. The liquid smoke won’t fool anyone, but I like the layer of flavor it adds.
Here is my oven-baked brisket. It’s the kind of thing you can throw together and then forget about for a few hours, which I love during this busy time of year. I’m sure it would be even better if I marinated it overnight or cured the meat with the rub, but I find that as long as I’m cooking it low and slow, it turns out tender and tasty every time.
How do you make your brisket?
Oven-baked brisket
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons black pepper
- 2 teaspoons cayenne
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 (4-pound) untrimmed brisket
- 1 medium yellow onion, cut into slivers
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup liquid smoke
- 1/4 cup black coffee
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 3 fresh jalapenos, seeded and sliced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 250° F.
- Mix together the salt, black pepper, cayenne and crushed garlic, and rub all over your brisket (more heavily on the meatier side but also a bit on the fat side as well). Allow the brisket to come to room temperature.
- In a large roasting pan, add the slivered onions, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, 1/4 cup of the liquid smoke, black coffee, apple cider vinegar, and half the sliced jalapeños.
- Place the brisket in the pan, fat side up, and sprinkle the remaining jalapenos on top of the brisket.
- Cover the pan tightly with foil, and bake in the oven for 5 hours or roughly 1 hour and 15 minutes per pound.
- Take the brisket out of the oven, and it should be tender to the touch. Let it sit out of the pan for half an hour, and then trim the fat on top and slice against the grain. If you desire a gravy, the pan juice is a fine, fine topping.
Ok, so I'm not a Texan and you may not like the way I cook my brisket…I'm an Okie. This is my all time FAVORITE brisket and everyone that's had it falls in love with it and I get phone calls and emails all the time asking for the recipe. I just cut a brisket in 1/2 and put it in an oven bag (like a turkey one) and pour in a bottle of Italian dressing and then the other 1/2 I put in another bag and just add part of a bottle of Head Coutry BBQ sauce, cook in oven for 4-5 hrs on 350 degrees and they come out perfect every single time and it's easy and super simple and clean up is a breeze!
I made it and loved it! Being a native Texan I was skeptical about the oven brisket but then our smoker broke and I had to do something. I skipped the coffee and peppers and it still came out great 🙂 My brisket had a lot of fat and that is the key to keeping it moist, well that and slow cooking.
Tried your red posole recipe and LOVED IT. Tried your brisket recipe and LOVED IT. I followed your recipe but cooked mine outdoors in my bbq pit. I used lots of mesquite and it came out delicious. So tender and tasty. Can't wait to cook this for my family from Robstown, TX. Everyone says my brother makes the best brisket but I am sure mine will be the best. Thank you so much.
I tried this recipe yesterday because it's very similar to my family's with just a few tweaks. The dry rub, onions, liquid smoke, etc is right on. However, I cooked mine fat-side up just like you suggested and it was one of the toughest briskets I have ever made. I was skeptical of doing it this way, but thought I would give it a try. And I see a few other posts on here that people tried the recipe and had a dry brisket. You should always cook a brisket fat side down in the oven.. that is what makes it tender.. and you should never end up with a dry brisket. You may have to drain the juice a few times while it's cooking depending on how large your roasting pan is (so keep an eye on it). My suggestion is to follow this recipe exactly – but always fat side down! – And yes, I'm a Texan.
I made this brisket and it was absolutely perfect. I too am a homesick Texan and this brisket made me feel like I was back home. I served it with soft white bread, bbq sauce, sliced onions, and pickles. YUMMMMMMMMM!