Wanted to make a hat tip to one of my acquaintances Nathan Zachary Sabulsky who shared these pictures of his oven brisket with me today. It reminded me I've been needing to talk about BBQ season and summer right around the corner.
One thing I like to share with people is you don't have a smoker and you can still get some good results with your oven and some liquid smoke. Sure it's not hard smoked meat, but we all don't have the time, patience, environment, or have a smoker. Not to mention what you practice in the oven translates to the smoker and you can always add the smoke to your portfolio later.
That's exactly what Nathan is doing, he recently was asking me how I do brisket, we kept talking, I'm not sure if he was going to be making any but I said "hey, you don't need a smoker to start out with, practice in your kitchen and then get a smoker later."
These are his pictures of his second batch of brisket done purely in the oven and while I didn't taste it, the way the meat folds over his finger shows he got the texture right.
If you're interested in trying to do some oven brisket to sorta mock Texas style brisket here's what you can do.
1) I recommend walmart for their swift (Texas brand) meats, you can get choice grade brisket for $2/lb
2) You'll have to trim it up, Aaron Franklin has a good video on how to do this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaMgt1Altys
3) Get ready to cook, you can use this brisket rub method in your oven and you'll be plenty pleased
Ingredients:
Yellow mustard
Liquid smoke of the wood flavoring you like, I prefer Pecan, but you can do mesquite, hickory or oak
50/50 salt and pepper (have a lot)
Apply yellow mustard to brisket where it's not dripping off, but has most of it covered
Use 1 tablespoon of liquid smoke per 1 pound of meat, sprinkle it evenly all over the yellow mustard
Sprinkle salt and pepper rub very liberally all over the brisket
Put your meat out on the counter and let it sit out for at least 1 hour before oven baking
Set your oven between 250-275f but no more than 275f
Bake your brisket in a turkey roasting pan or some type of pan that allows you to elevate the meat above its drippings for about 1h15minutes per 1 pound of weight
Use a thermometer and regularly check temperature towards the end of the cook, you want to pull your brisket at 203f
Once brisket has reached 203f take it out of the oven, wrap it in foil or parchment paper and put it in a cooler and let it rest for 1 hour
If you don't have a cooler another alternative is to turn your oven down to lowest setting (generally 150-175f) and let the brisket rest wrapped here for 1 hour
Cut against grain and serve when ready to eat