Hey guys.  

I am looking for a flavorful beef brisket recipe.  I have a 3.5 pound brisket.  

I would like it to turn out realllll tender, as my last one didn't!  

Thanks Arfcom Chefs!

John

EDIT:  I Plan on cooking it in an oven...thx

it is one of the simplest meats to cook; don't complicate it.  

Rule of thumb, one hour cooking time per pound.

Wrap in foil, never cook over flame (optional, but helps keep moist).  

Use rub of your choice; I use one by Ralphs (from Nevada, but bought locally {Austin, tx})

Don't put any sauce, marinade, etc,  on the meat. The brisket I usually cook are 10-15 lbs. with the fat trimmed some.

Use Pecan, Mesquite, Oak or something similar in the firebox.  I prefer Mesquite, since I get tons of it locally for free.
Never tried mesquite charcol, but hey, let us know how it turns out. Search the Texas hometown forum for more hints.

Eat.

real simple beer to cover onions and garlic cook in a large roasting pan at about 250 for 24 hrs and enjoy

low and slow.  If you put your hand on top of the grill and it burns, you are cooking to hot....low and slow

What is your cooking medium?

Oven?

Smoker?  

Gas grill?

Charcoal?

Wood?

Tagging for COMPLETE recipes....

Need more info. Way you'd like to cook it most importantly.

try googling smokingmeatforums.  they have reaaly good insructions for every kind of meat.  highly recommend trying the recipe for brining chicken.  the site is mostly smoker oriented.

I've never done it in the oven, but I'd go with something like this if I were going to.

I don't know about the time though. 24 hours seems like a lot. It'll fall apart, that's for sure.

italian dressing makes a decent marinade for chicken and beef. google beef brisket italian dressing

given that you'll be cooking in the oven, try something like this.

Braised Beef Brisket with Spicy Jalapeno Sauce
clicky

Here's my recipe, merged from lessons and other recipes, the family always comes back for more. I hope it helps!

• Start with a 5 ½ to 6 ½ pound brisket (flat) – with a little marbling
• Tenderize brisket with a deni-press (check amazon)
• Marinate in Wickers hickory marinade for 4 hours in a large Ziploc
• Remove from marinade
• Coat top/bottom/sides with onion powder, salt and pepper
• Fire up the smoker to a temperature of 225 – 250 degrees
• Any wood can be used for smoke (I use hickory and mesquite)
• Put brisket on smoker and note what time it went on
• Cook brisket until an internal temperature of 165 degrees is achieved  
• Lay a large piece of aluminum foil on a table and place the brisket on top
• Wrap up the sides and ends of the foil to contain any liquid
• Pour more wickers marinade on top of the brisket
• Wrap brisket up in the foil tight and place back on the smoker until an internal temperature of 192 – 195 degrees is achieved
• Take brisket off of smoker (while still wrapped in foil) and place in a cooler for approximately 1 ½ hours (to tenderize the meat)
• Take brisket out of cooler and trim top layer of fat off (approximately ¼ inch thick)
• Cut and serve as preferred, and enjoy
• Note: I tend to hold off on the BBQ sauce and let people add as they like afterwards

I use the Wicker’s Hickory marinade for everything (winks, chops, steak, chicken, chili, etc) it’s available through their site at http://web.inetba.com/wickers/index2.ivnu

The deni-press really helps tenderize thicker cut pieces of meat (beef, pork), I got mine through Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Deni-MT-149-Handheld-Stainless-Steel-Tenderizer/dp/B001AQG994/ref=sr_1_29?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1245179942&sr=8-29

Oh, I have a kickass recipe for brisket.



This stuff will make you want to put your face in it, it's so good.



(1) 3-4 lb beef brisket

1 Large bottle dark ale––Guiness is best, but I've used Mackeson's and some others.

(1) 12 oz bottle Heinz chili sauce (other brands are NOT as good, unfortunately).

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 to 1/2 C dark brown sugar, loosely packed

1 onion sliced into rings



Season the brisket with salt and pepper, pierce meat with a fork to allow juices to soak in. (I take a fork and just pound the hell out of both sides of the brisket (especially the fat side), just filling it absolutely full of little fork holes)



Put beef in a baking dish fat side up.



Place onion rings over beef.



Whisk all remaining ingredients together and pour over the beef. They won't entirely cover the brisket.



Cover with foil and place in preheated oven for 3 hours at 325 degrees.

At the end of 3 hours, take off foil, spoon sauce over meat, and cook at 350 for 30 more minutes.



Remove from oven, cut into chunks, stir around in the juice. Serve over rice or egg noodles (or with mashed potatoes).



See if you don't want to put your face in it. I swear.



Kitties



ETA:  If the fat on the brisket is very thick, I trim part of it off, so it's not an extremely thick layer, because I don't enjoy eating a piece of meat that is half fat.   Just a thin layer of fat is nice, but too much makes it turn out not as pleasing.

So didja try the brisket?  Huh?  didja?