Tom Perini: Texas Oven-Roasted Beef Brisket

Okay, confession time.  I don't know how to grill, smoke, barbecue, or whatever else you want to call it.  Cooking meat over flame is not something I learned how to do.  (I swear, someone is going to come and take my honorary Texan card one of these days.)  That doesn't mean, however, that I don't love meat cooked over an open flame.  I just have to find alternate ways of making it until I figure out how this darn grill I inherited actually works.

I would say this recipe gets you about as close as possible to a good smoked brisket as you can get without the whole trailer smoker setup.  And that's saying something.  If it's pouring down rain, you don't know how to grill/smoke/barbecue, and you're too lazy to drive around town looking for some decent brisket, this is your savior.

Texas Oven-Roasted Beef Brisket
From Tom Perini

2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 bay leaf, crushed
4 pounds beef brisket, trimmed
1½ cups beef stock or a mixture of stock and Guinness beer
1 tablespoon liquid smoke

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Make a dry rub by combining chili powder, salt, garlic and onion powders, black pepper, sugar, dry mustard, and bay leaf. Season the raw brisket on both sides with the rub. Place in a roasting pan and roast, uncovered, for 1 hour.

Add the beef stock, liquid smoke, and enough water to yield about ½ inch of liquid in the roasting pan. Lower oven to 300°F, cover pan tightly, and continue cooking for 3 hours, or until fork tender.

Trim the fat and slice the meat thinly across the grain. Top with juice from the pan or barbecue sauce.

Makes 10 servings