Monday, January 4, 2010

Slow-cooked Oven Baked Brisket


This weekend I cooked what has to be one of, if not The Best Tasting hunks of meat I've ever made.

It was a 7 pound brisket and it was wonderful.

After all of the holiday goodies and sweets and snacks and chips, I was ready for some Regular Food. The last time we were home I had bought a brisket on sale and froze it when we ran out of time to grill/bbq/smoke it. I had intended to get it out this time and have my husband smoke it, but time and weather didn't co-operate (again) so I decided to do it in the oven.


Once I had it thawed, I put it in a cooking sprayed pan, fat side down. I stabbed it all over with a fork, then poured about 3/4 of a bottle of Italian salad dressing all over it. I used whatever is cheapest--brand name on sale and with a coupon, or store brand, it all works. I also sprinkled it lightly all over with Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning (any good season-all type of spice mix would do) and some Worchestershire sauce. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.


When I got ready to cook it, I turned it over so that the fat side was up, and spooned a little of marinade from the pan over the top. Cover with foil, and put in the oven at about 325 degrees.
After a couple of hours, I sprinkled about a tablespoon of liquid smoke, re-covered with foil, turned the oven down to 275-300, and went shopping.


After a total of about 8 hours in the oven, this is what I had. It smelled so good, I only wish you could have been there to see it and smell it--and yes, taste it, too!

(A good general rule is 40 minutes per pound, but as long as it's well-covered and the oven is turned low, any extra time just makes it that much more tender.)

I let it rest in the pan juices for 20-30 minutes while it cooled enough to handle, but I couldn't resist forking just a bit off the end--doesn't this look good?

Once it cooled enough to handle well, we lifted it out onto the cutting board, and I cut away most of the fat, and scraped off the rest--I think I could have literally scraped it off with a butter knife, it was so soft.

Unfortunately, after it was sliced my hands were dirty and I forgot to take pictures after I washed them.

The first night, we chopped up some and heated it with a bbq sauce and a little of the pan juices and made bbq sandwiches.

The rest I put in a container and poured the pan juices over it and refrigerated it. The next day, I heated it all up in the juices, and we had sandwiches again--some with bbq sauce and some without.

By Sunday night it was falling apart and I scooped some up in a bowl and ate it with a spoon. Yes, it was that good.

Brisket makes the best bbq sandwiches; french dip style sandwiches; sliced bbq to eat with baked beans and potato salad; or eat it like a roast, with the juices over rice or mashed potatoes. It can be inexpensive if you catch one on sale--around home that's usually during bbq season, but they freeze well and can be cooked in other ways. I've even cooked a small one in the crock-pot, similar to the way I do slow cooker pot roast. I usually try to find the "market-trimmed" briskets, but you want the big slab of fat on one side, it makes the meat really tender and flavor-ful--and will make your puppy dog happy if you feed it the scraps!

What have you been cooking lately?

This post is linked to:

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
at Blessed with Grace

Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

Tuesdays at the Table at All the Small Stuff

Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom

Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum

Welcome to Our Krazy Kitchen

Until next time, good cooking, and good eating!

18 comments:

  1. WOW!!! your brisket looks so TENDER!!! and MOIST!!! My family will love eating this on football Sundays.
    I have become a follower of your blog, I love to share recipes and ideas. Come by and visit maybe you can do the same.
    THANKS!!! for sharing.
    Geri

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  2. As for what I've been cooking lately, I should tell you about this delicious Boston Butt that I made in the oven the other day. Normally, I smoke it, but with Louisiana's colder days lately, I decided to do it indoors.
    First, I wet the BB down with Worcestershire sauce. Cranked up the oven to 500. Then I patted a crust of brown sugar onto the BB. Placed it in a roasting pan, then poured apple cider (not vinegar) into the bottom of the pan (not over the meat). Put it in the oven, covered, lowered the heat to 200 and cooked it for 5 hours. DELICIOUS!
    As for your brisket, it looked delectable. I'll share my aunt's recipe for brisket, because it's unbelievable.
    3-4 lb. lean brisket.
    2 packages of Lipton’s dry onion soup mix.
    1 bottle of Heinz Chili Sauce
    Put brisket in heavy duty foil. Sprinkle the onion soup mix all over the brisket. Pour the chili sauce to cover the brisket. Wrap the brisket tightly in the foil. Put it all in a roasting at 250 for about 5 hours.
    Since I also normally smoke my brisket, when I made this for people who usually eat nothing but smoked brisket, they were flabbergasted by how tasty it was!
    Love your blog...read it every day!

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  3. We LOVE brisket and yours looks heavenly :)

    Blessings!
    Gail

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  4. Charlene, that brisket looks wonderful!! I am now so hungry and wish I had bought a brisket, while at the grocery store, this morning! Thanks for the recipe and linking up to TMTT.

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  5. I just saw some brisket in the store today, the way you cooked it looks wonderful! I just might give it a try.

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  6. Boy does that look good! I like that you can you the cooked brisket meat in alot of different recipes.

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  7. This sounds wonderful..Thanks!

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  8. Oh, yes. Yes. This sounds soul satisfying.

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  9. I bet my house full of men would love that brisket. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
    ~Liz

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  10. I have never cooked a brisket but this looks and sounds delicious and easy. Thanks for sharing!

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  11. I am licking my lips for a bite of your brisket. Last night they had on the cooking channel a show about a brisket cooking contest. It was so interesting. Thanks for sharing your brisket with me.
    Joyce

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  12. I have a friend who loves brisket, but I've never made it.

    Now, after seeing your pictures and reading your commentary, I do believe I'm ready to try!

    I'll watch for sales and next time I see some, I'll buy a slab and give it a try.

    Thanks for the photos, the description, and linking it all to Food on Fridays!

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  13. This looks and sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing your secret with us. Have a fabulous Foodie Friday.

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  14. Oh how I love a good brisket - now you're making me hungry for dinner.

    :)
    ButterYum

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  15. I have a venison roast in the freezer that would work well with this recipe. I've never heard of that creole seasoning, but will check it out or see if I can use an alternative. It really does look like a delicious dish!

    Shirley

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  16. This looks so good! I am so glad that I've found your site. I cannot wait to try this recipe -- my husband would love it! And the peach cobbler recipe looks so good.

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  17. This was delicious! Thank you so much for sharing!

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  18. I always do my brisket marinated in creamy Italian dressing it falls apart cuz it's so tender,i do use rub salt pepper onion and garlic powder it's to die for

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