(Serves 8-10)
Utensils:
- A large old-fashioned roasting pan – the blue one with the white speckles. Speckled roasters are usually available in most hardware stores. Be sure to buy the size that holds a 20-22 pound turkey – the label on the pan should spell out its capacity. Unfortunately, I have not convinced the roasting pan manufacturers to think of briskets; they think in terms of turkeys. But if it’s big enough for a 22-pound turkey, it’ll be big enough for a 6-10 pound brisket.
- A medium-size mixing bowl
- A large plastic container with a lid
Ingredients:
- One First Cut Mister Brisket Beef Brisket–typically weighing from 5-8 lbs
- 1 bottle Heinz Chili Sauce
- 1 envelope Lipton’s Onion Soup Mix
- 2 (12 ounce) can cola – don’t use diet cola
Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
- Place the brisket fat-side-up into the roaster. (The brisket can be taken right from the refrigerator and put into the roaster – it does not have to be at room temperature.)
- Pour the chili sauce, onion soup mix and the cola into the mixing bowl and stir several times. (Many people are tempted to taste this concoction. Trust me, it tastes “challucious.” You’ll taste it after the brisket is cooked.)
- Dump this mixture over the brisket. You can lift the brisket up and let some of the liquid spread under it. It won’t hurt.
- Cover the brisket and roast it at 325 degrees until the flat portion is fork tender — anywhere from 3 to 3-1/2 hours. By “fork tender” I mean that the meat is tender, but there is still a slight tug on the fork as you pull the fork out of the brisket. If it is not fork tender, cover the brisket and return it to the oven, checking at 15-minute intervals.
- When the flat section is done (fork tender), remove the brisket from the roaster and allow it to cool on a platter. When the gravy is cooled, pour it into the plastic container, cover and refrigerate it. Wrap the cooled brisket in cellophane and place it into the refrigerator overnight. Once it’s refrigerated, the roasted brisket and cold gravy can remain there for at least a week before it’s sliced, reheated and served.
Slicing, reheating and serving:
The easiest thing to do is to bring the cold, roasted brisket (please leave the gravy at home) to the store and we will defat, slice and aesthetically replace it in your roasting pan. If you’re too busy with work, car-pooling, tennis lessons, lunches, aerobics classes, power lifting or feel that Taylor Road is impossible for your schedule, you’re going to have to slice it yourself.
Here’s what to do:
- Get a real sharp knife and trim off all visible fat from the top of the brisket. Do this on a cutting board.
- Turn the brisket over on what was the fat side. You should be looking at the muscle grain of the brisket. Take your knife and slice the brisket against or across the muscle grain. If the slices appear stringy, stop! You’re slicing the wrong way.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and remove the cold gravy from the refrigerator. You’ll notice that all of the fat has congealed at the top. Remove the fat and throw it away.
- Heat the gravy in a saucepan until it boils.
- Pour this hot gravy over the brisket slices, cover the roaster and reheat your brisket for one hour at 350 degrees.