I arrived at my friends’ (Karl and Allen’s) apartment, with the 41/2 pounds of brisket, a 4-pack of Dogfish Head’s new gluten-free beer, and some brown sugar. They supplied the ketchup — we were ready to go. I followed the recipe to a T. (OK, I actually did forget about the onions and added them after an hour in.)
After 3 hours, after cooking at 325 degrees, I let the meat cool for about 10 minutes. Sliced it in the sauce, everything smelled amazing. Then I plated the meat on mini-slider buns. The meat was a little overdone, a little bit tougher than I remembered my momma’s being. When I mentioned this, my friend said his oven isn’t really too accurate. It often is about 25 degrees hotter than it reads. Thanks guys — information I could have used 3 hours ago!
But it was still pretty good. And it smelled so great, I even got one of my vegetarian friends to try it! The next day she texted me, she was dreaming of my brisket … so it couldn’t have been that bad.
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I've been meaning to write to you since I read the article accompanying the brisket recipe. Timing the cooking of brisket can only be done on a brisket-by-brisket basis. Three hours is rarely enough time; usually 4 - 4 1/2 hours may be required. It's best to use a long-handled 2-prong meat fork to check tenderness after about 3 hours cooking time. As long as the brisket is immersed in a sauce or gravy and is covered, it won't dry out from longer cooking, only get more tender and juicier.
I'm enjoying your columns and look forward to reading them.
Bernice