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.
I am cooking three 12 lb. briskets using this recipe for some bands that I am going to see. I ran into a problem with the fact that brisket is almost impossible to find here in NW pennsylvania! I ordered them saturday and they were supposed to be in this afternoon (monday) but didn't make it in and won't be in until around 2 p.m. tomorrow (tuesday). I am needing these cooked by wednesday noonish/early afternoon. Does anyone have suggestions for cooking times for cooking all 3 in the oven at once?
thanks
court
We live in Houston, Tx and have eaten a great many briskets, this is by far the best I've ever eaten.
Super easy, moist and has a little kick! I cooked 3 briskets at one time using a my largest roasting pan, came out perfectly, roasted as per original recipe.
I was looking for a brisket recipe and immediately came to your blog. I'm in Texas, so I knew you'd have something good. Just made it this past weekened, and I have to say OMG, it was one of the best briskets I've ever had. My partner said it tasted like a brisket from a restaurant. Thanks so much!
Side note, I've also added you to my blogroll as a favorite blog.
Love everything you create, you are an inspiration. Thank you!
I have been in Texas 3 years and have yet to cook a brisket until I found your recipe. It was awesome and will be using it again! The brisket was a hit at my dinner party!! Thanks for all of the great recipes and I love your blog!
11/18/11…….Mrs. B / Fort Worth, Texas
My husband informed me on 11/16 that though he had made a financial contribution to his office Thanksgiving party, he was asked to bring a brisket today because the employee who normally prepares it would not be in attendance. I went out yesterday and found a 12 pound brisket and decided to try this recipe. I considered tripling the ingredients; however, decided to use the same amounts given for the 4 pound brisket. I was a bit nervous because it took several hours before any aroma was wafting through the house (I guess because of the low temperature); however, once it started….the aroma was heavenly. I put it on around 1pm and around 2am, I got up and trimmed the fat off the top. I then added the rest of the liquid smoke, sprinkled a little salt, pepper, garlic powder, cayenne and a few more fresh jalapenos, covered it again and let it cook until 4:30am. I let it rest for an hour and then sliced it and arranged it in the pan. Now let me tell you, I grew up with a grandmother who cooked EVERYTHING from scratch and I often brag about how we could eat her brisket with a fork and how it melted in our mouth. We lost her in 2004, but if she was still here, I believe that I would have to challenge her to a brisket cook-off!!!!! My husband and I had the most tender, succulent and flavorful brisket with our coffee this morning. I looked at 10 recipes yesterday and went with this one (mainly because of the mention of Oak Cliff) and I'm glad that I did. If this recipe doesn't work for you, chalk it up to user error because this is fail safe. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!