This is a relatively simple dish that only requires time. Time is usually at a premium these days so I hope you have some as this is well worth it.
The recipe is quite sparse and that's a good thing.
1 cut of beef brisket (3-5 pounds)
1 large onion
1 can of ginger ale or beer
1 bottle of tomato-based chili sauce
¾ cup of brown sugar
salt and pepper
First off you'll need to preheat the oven to 325F or 160C
You'll need a large baking dish to hold your brisket. This of course will depend on the size of brisket you purchase. In this particular cook I used a five pound cut and that's pretty big as you'll need some guests or multiple reheatings of this. Protip here, each reheat tastes better than the last in my experiences.
We'll place the fat side towards the heat source. An oven has heat radiating from the top element downwards so we'll place this lovely cut with the fat side up. This helps the fat render and infuse with the meat below. If you're using a barbeque it would be fat side down as the heat is coming from the bottom. I've never done one on bbq personally, but I hear people do this.
We'll season the meat with a good amount of salt and pepper.
We'll slice up the onion into nice rings that we place on top of the brisket.
Now we're on to the liquid that the meat will sit in while it cooks. This choice of liquid is personal preference, I use a can of ginger ale for a sugary taste. Beer can also be used for a more tart taste from my experiences. I've seen people also use Coca-Cola for an even more decadent sweet taste.
The tomato-based chili sauce will give it a more complex flavor. We don't taste heat with this addition, it adds mucho flavor.
Mix up that chili sauce, brown sugar and your liquid preference in a bowl. Pour this over the meat and it will fill up your dish to maybe ¼ or ½ of the dish. Great job you're done on the prep.
Once that oven is up to the required temperature we'll place tin foil over the entire dish and throw it in the over for three hours.
Three hours later we come back, pull off the foil and let it cook an extra 30 minutes. This will further directly help that nice fat melt and fuse with the meat. It'll probably look like a burnt mess but that's what we're looking for. All the delicious flavor is seeping into that meat.
30 minutes has passed and we pull out our dish from the oven. Place the brisket on a cutting board and let it rest for 5 minutes. Grab a carving knife and fork to slice this meat into long strips. We're now going to put back all those slices in the dish. Spoon over all that great sauce so it's nice and moist. Back in the oven she goes.
This is the point for more personal preference, I usually baste once in awhile for about 30 minutes.
Pull this gorgeous dish from the oven and serve.
I like to have large steamed buns or kaiser rolls and fill them up with the meat, any leftover onion and a nice scoop of the sauce from the dish.
I've noticed that each subsequent reheat becomes better each time. This can become extremely sweet on the third reheat. The juices recombine and infuse over and over again. For the reheat I place the whole dish covered in tinfoil a 350F for an hour.
Given that this dish can be sweet, a nice sour or vinegar based component goes well with this. Sometimes I'll use coleslaw and even put that in the bun with the meat. A salad too with a nice vinagrette would pair nicely too. Be imaginative.
I hope you had some fun with me in the kitchen. This was an enjoyable cook and I hope yours was too.
This really looks and sounds delish !
Being that I was born and raised and lived most of my life in North Carolina, I was not familiar with brisket at all. In my 40s, I took a mid-life adventure and moved halfway across the country to San Antonio, Tx for 6 years. I was exposed to a lot of really yummy food there during that time, including brisket. OMGoodness ! It was SO good, no matter how they cooked it. You could even buy it by the pound or whole, already cooked at their grocery chain call HEB....even from there, it would have been good enough to serve to your most important company. I'm serious !
Since I've been back many years, I try any brand, even out of the grocery store when I see it, hoping to recapture some of that wonderful flavor.
I kind of like recipes that take a long time in the oven or braising on stove top. You can do all the major prep work, put it in, clean everything up and then do whatever you need or want to do while the magic happens.
That's a great story and an awesome introduction to brisket along with all the other great eats in Texas. Someone was commenting on a posting of corn I made who was a Texan and she mentioned to put salt, lime and hot sauce on it. I'm always up for trying new combinations and I happen to have some fresh corn in the fridge so I will test this out.
You're so right about long recipes and the cleaning. I'm always as clean as you go person otherwise the kitchen looks like a bomb went off haha
Thank you so much for leaving me a comment, this was a good one.
Good cooks are always messy.... right?
I always start out cleaning as I go, but depending on how much mess I'm making, I sometimes get tired of it before I am quite done. LOL !!
In Mexas.... ha ha .... they put lime on a LOT of things. Loved all the TexMex food down there. They really know what yummy is !
In Mexas haha
Is that a thing? I'll need to remember that one and push out some useless information from my brain to make room
Mexas.... it's a thing now ! It just flowed out of my head when I was responding to your post and thinking about all the things they put lime on down there. Some things I was ok with it on and others... well.... It was good enough without to me.
Remember, you heard it here first ! LOL !!!
Well, well now you're making my head swell. Inspiration strikes from the strangest of places haha
I never seem to notice who responds to me and almost missed your comment. I can't be the only one, I browse through my replies and everything blends together visually.
In your last posting I saw this happened to you too on some comments. There must be a trick that I'm missing on here or maybe I need some more time to get used to it.
I try to make sure I don't miss anyone's comment, but a time or two, way later I saw one I missed.
I almost missed that one on my post, because instead of responding directly to my post, they added on under yours. Now... there is nothing wrong with that, I just didn't notice it as easily.
I usually click on the notice bell and it tells you if someone replied. That works pretty good, then I click on them and it takes me to where they commented, whether on my post or theirs.
This looks good,
I have to admit though, I was kind of hoping for Buffalo wings.
Hehehe, good one.
I can't eat my own kind. I hear humans taste like chicken.
You are an angel !PIZZA
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Mmm yeah thats what Im talking about!!!
Lots of leftovers on this one. I'll send you over a plate