Cooking a beef brisket is super easy. You just basically fling it in the pan, stick it in the oven, and go about your daily chores, or nap, or whatever it is that you want to do or have to do. Check on it every couple of hours to see how it is coming along to make sure it isn't cooking to dry.
Here is the way I do it. First I heat my big iron skillet on top of the stove. I spray a little cooking spray in the skillet, or melt about a teaspoonn of coconut oil. I sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic powder in the skillet. When it is hot, I put the brisket in the skillet fat side down and brown the fat. Then I flip it over, add a little more salt and pepper to the top, and give it a few minutes to start cooking. I do this to speed up the cooking and because I like the fat on top to have an extra brown to it. If you don't have time to do that, just put it in the pan and stick it in the oven.
I cook mine at approximately 250 degrees for six to 8 hours. If you want it to cook faster, you can give it an hour at 350 degrees, and then turn it down to 250 to finish cooking. The meat is done when it reaches the temperature that you call 'done'. However, brisket needs to cook a long time to really be tender. If I don't have time to cook a brisket most of the day, I will find something that can be cooked in a shorter amount of time.
We had potato salad, corn, and bread with this brisket.
We are also going to have sliced brisket with the natural juice with part of it for another meal.
And we are going to warm the rest and have it with bar-b-que sauce on yet another day.
Remember, if you are planning to use the meat you cook for more than one meal, do not put it all on the table for one meal. Also, only reheat the protion you are using for the next meal. And, if you are not going to use the meat within three days, then you really need to freeze it.
I cooked the brisket this week. We had a meal, it was great.
I will freeze it in two packages. One is for roast beef sandwiches - hot or cold. The other is for barbeque sandwiches, or possible some sort of quick curry. That means I add a little sauce of some sort and serve it over rice or quinoa.
So, cook up a beef brisket; eat a meal; and freeze the rest for a variety of easy meals that can be prepared in a very short amount of time.
Ah! I love braised meat. I purchased an enameled cast iron 6.5 qt pot for just that purpose. Couldn't afford the Le Cruset $280 one so I got the highly rated Tramontina at Walmart online for about $50 with free shipping to my local WalMart. It is wonderful. Toss in beef, onion, canned tomatoes of some kind and some spices/seasonings/herbs and 3 hours later...POOF! A gorgeous meal with wide egg noodles and the sauce in the pot is to die for.
ReplyDeleteMy skillet is a huge cast iron skillet that Jerry picked up at an outlet store. It is just cast iron - no enamel lining. It is pretty amazing how many different meals you can make if you a pound or two of cooked brisket in the freezer. It sounds great with egg noodles.
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