If you’ve been looking for an article that walks you through how to cook a brisket in the oven, look no further…
If you are like me, every part of beef – soft or hard – is a huge turn-on. I’ll do whatever it takes to get the meat I desire ready for eating. Even if it takes a few hours. And if you like home-cooked meat just as much, you want to check out how to cook steak in the oven.
Brisket, What’s It About?
In the cow, there’s a muscle covering the area where you find the ribs, heart, and sternum. This muscle tends to carry the weight of the cow when it’s lying down on the stomach to eat or rest. The muscle is called beef brisket. Because it supports the weight of the cow throughout its lifetime, it becomes tough.
Beef briskets have two parts: the lean part called flat cut and the fatty part called point cut. It’s the part with the most weight among all the meat parts in the cow. It’s also the toughest, though this doesn’t make it any less tasty. Albeit, beef brisket takes a long time to cook because it requires slow cooking. It can take as much as 2 hours to cook a cut of brisket until it tenderizes.
Choosing the Right Brisket Cut
Often, the choice of brisket cut for most people is determined by what they want to prepare. For homemade stews or BBQ, the point cut is always a preference because of the rich marbling on it. The fat content makes it more tender and infuses a distinct richness of taste in the meat. The lean cut, alternatively, is better for corned beef and pastrami.
Incidentally, point cut brisket is usually more affordable than flat cut. They don’t also come as well and nicely cut as flat cuts. If, for any reason, you must get flat cut brisket for your home-cooking, be sure that it has some form of marbling on it. This will influence the taste and cooking time positively.
Cooking Beef Brisket for the Oven
It begins with the ingredients you choose to season your brisket cut with. If you’re including mustard with salt and pepper, begin with mustard. This will help your salt and pepper sit in better. Salt and pepper do not only serve as a seasoning, but they also help the meat to crust nicely.
The best way to season your brisket is to leave it coated overnight. The seasoning will soak properly into the meat, preparing it to deliver the best flavor and crustiness. When cooking the meat, first leave it covered in at medium temperature till it reaches an internal temperature of 180 degrees F. Then, uncover it for the last hour of heat to enable the back crust. The best-cooked beef brisket is at a temperature of 200 degrees F at the thickest parts, without breaking apart.
A quick test is to pick it with a tong from the and see how much it bends. It should have a slight bend without falling off or breaking. If you see that the meat is still stiff, it means you should cook it a little bit longer. Let well-cooked brisket cool for a while before you slice or serve.
We’ll look at two recipes and methods for cooking beef brisket in the oven. You’ll make amazing tender briskets with any choice you make.
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Video: How to Cook A Brisket in the Oven
This video shows you how to cook brisket in the oven
Texas-Style Oven-Baked Brisket Recipe
Unique to its style, the major ingredients in this recipe are pepper and smoke. While cooking in the oven, we use liquid smoke as part of the flavor to create the smoky flavor that is akin to barbequed brisket. Every bite deserves a rich peppery taste in it. It takes between 6 to 8 hours to completely cook this meat. It even tastes better when eaten the next day.
What You Need
6 lbs. point cut beef brisket
2 tbsp of liquid smoke
¼ cup of kosher salt
1 tbsp of garlic powder
½ cup Dijon mustard
3 tbsp of black pepper (ground coarsely)
Time Estimate
Preparation Time 20 mins
Cooking Time 6 – 8 hours
What to Do
Line your baking sheet with a foil and place a rack inside it. Use a rimmed sheet that will collect the grease and drips while the brisket cooks. Keep extra foil for covering your brisket in the sheet.
Next, prepare your brisket. If you have a cut with excess fat or a white film, trim it off. Be sure you have smooth and ready-to-cook meat. Then, mix the liquid smoke and Dijon mustard in a bowl. Stir them together and brush over the entire brisket. This coating will also serve as a hold for your pepper and salt so make sure every side is well-coated.
In another dish, combine the garlic powder, pepper, and salt. Now, sprinkle the mixture over your mustard-coated brisket and rub it into every corner. Put the brisket in your foil-lined baking sheet. Cover the sheet and brisket with foil and leave in the refrigerator overnight.
When you’re ready to cook, set your oven to heat at 300 degrees F with a rack set in the center. Let the brisket thaw to room temperature while preheating your oven. Put the covered baking sheet in the oven to cook for about 6 hours. The desired internal temperature here is 200 degrees F. The brisket may stall at 180 degrees for a few hours before cooking properly. You need your instant-read meat thermometer to check the temperature at the thickest ends.
When the meat reaches 200 degrees F, open the sheet and cook for an hour or two more. This will help the back crisp while keeping it steady at 200 degrees. Check to see if it’s ready with the tong test [does it bend when you pick it?].
When the brisket is ready, leave it for 30 mins to cool closed loosely in a foil. Slice and serve. If you have any leftovers, these can be put in an airtight container and saved in the refrigerator. If well-store, it can last about 4 days.
Jewish-Style Oven-Baked Brisket
With well-marbled beef brisket, make this sweet-sour brisket that is tender and suitable for celebrating the holidays. Combine it with a rich flavorful sauce from the Jewish kitchen that your family will be grateful for.
What You Need
6 lbs. point cut beef brisket
1 lb. of diced carrots
1 lb. of diced celery
¼ cup of olive oil (extra virgin)
¼ of cider vinegar
½ cup of brown sugar
2 minced brown onions (large ones)
10 bulbs of garlic (peeled)
28 oz. of pureed tomatoes
2 cups of beef broth (shared)
Pepper
Salt
Time Estimate
Preparation time 15 mins.
Cooking Time 7 hours.
What to Do
Begin with searing your brisket in a large frying pan. Make sure the meat is dry. Pat dry with a towel if there’s a need. Rub-through with salt and black pepper until every side is covered. Preheat the frying pan with 2 tbsp of olive oil on medium heat and sear the meat. Make sure both sides brown.
While browning your meat, blend your peeled garlic, beef broth (1-and-a-half cup), cider vinegar, brown sugar, and pureed tomatoes together. Put in 2 tsp salt and a quarter tsp black pepper. Make sure the garlic blends properly, along with other ingredients. Set the liquid mixture and browned brisket apart.
In your frying pan, sauté the brown onions while preheating your oven to 300 degrees F. Sprinkle 2 tbsp olive oil on the pan again on medium heat and put the onions. Sauté till they are soft and slightly shrunken then throw in your celery and carrots. Stop when you can smell the aroma of the vegetables. Set them aside in a wide dish.
Heat the remaining half cup of beef stock in the frying pan and heat it. Stir with a wooden spatula to loosen any juices or meat part sticking to the pan, then turn the heat off.
In a large oven-friendly saute pan or roast pan, turn in half of the blended tomato mixture and put your browned brisket. Throw the sautéed vegetables and heated broth over the seared meat and cover with the tomato mixture you have left over. Put a parchment paper over your roast pan and lay it over with foil. The parchment paper protects the acidic tomato sauce from the aluminum sauce.
Put your covered pan in the oven and let it cook for about 6 – 7 hours or until you can flake soft parts off the brisket. Remove the pan from the oven and put your brisket on the flat board to rest for 30 mins. Put the vegetable sauce in a saucepan and continue heating on the stovetop [you don’t need it to boil]. Remove the fat film from the sauce before heating it.
Slice your brisket and serve with the vegetable and tomato sauce. If you’re not eating the same day, then put it in a glass dish. Seal with plastic and store in the refrigerator for about 2 days.
Why Eat Beef Brisket?
To detox LDL (bad cholesterol) and reinforce HDL (good cholesterol), you should make oleic acid part of your meal. This can be gotten from eating brisket. Brisket also gives you good protein and vitamin b. Other essential nutrients can brisket contains are selenium, iron, zinc, and phosphorus. With these, it’s not a waste of time cooking briskets for a long time to make a dish.