I bought a beef brisket, sealed in plastic at the store and decided to slow cook it in the oven. I applied a store-bought dry rub to both sides of the meat put it on a pan that allowed the grease to drip through. This could have been my mistake, but when you see folks doing a brisket on a grill, the drippings fall straight through.
Anyway, I put the oven on 225 and let it cook for 90 minutes. When the timer went off, I hit it for another 90. After the initial 3 hours, I turned the meat over with the fat side down. I let it cook another 90 minutes and then upped the temperature to 250. After this time around I basted the meat on both sides with my homemade BBQ sauce, which amounted to what was left of 2 different kinds I had in the fridge, added a few drops of liquid smoke, some red wine vinegar, and a generous helping of Ring of Fire hot sauce.
I cooked the brisket another 90 minutes, for a total of 6 hours cooking time.
My wife cooked some canned green beans her sister gave us with a few pieces of thick bacon in them. She boiled and mashed some potatoes, cooked a pone of Southern cornbread, and we were ready for a great BBQ brisket meal!
Unfortunately, the four slices of brisket I cut off the hunk was tough. I was heart broken!
I guess this is what I get for watching BBQ Pitmasters on TLC! Those guys and gals make it look so simple and the meat just makes my mouth water! I was so ready for good tender BBQ meat. I was so ready to brag on it too!
So, yesterday I did a little research on "how to save a tough brisket", and came up with the idea to slice the rest of the meat, against the grain, put it in a baking dish, added some beef stock, and cooked it covered for another hour at 300 degrees. I then let it cool, put it back in the fridge to be reheated the next day.
Well, I popped it into the oven today at 300 degrees for 30 more minutes, while Judy reheated the beans, and potatoes.
When the timer went off, I lathered some Miracle Whip on one side of a whole wheat bun, and layered on 5 or 6 slices of the brisket. On the other side of the bun I put a slice of American Cheese. Before closing the bun over the meat, I squirted on a generous helping of the BBQ sauce I made originally.
Wow! The brisket was tender and delicious! I saved my brisket!
