Last weekend was not only Valentine’s day and a long weekend for me (I had president’s day off) it was ridiculously cold here in NH we got to 20+ below 0 degrees Fahrenheit; that is freaking cold! It was breaking all kinds of records here as coldest day of the year in the last I don’t know

I figured having my favorite go to comfort food; a roasted chicken cooking in the oven was a must have. My grocery shopping list also had some new things that I have been wanting to try making, what a better time than a long weekend. I had picked up the ingredients for a cheese souffle and a chocolate souffle; that’s a lot of eggs.

A couple of years ago we were out with some friends and they ordered nachos for the table that had BBQ brisket on them and ever since I have wanted to make a beef brisket. So that was also on my list; which at the time when I was forking over the money for a 13lb beef brisket at $5.99 a pound. You can do the math; I was more than a little hesitant but bit the bullet and brought it home.

It ended up being a brilliant purchase. Remember when I mentioned “coldest day of the year” above. Our heater died on Sunday, well we actually think it went out Saturday night but we didn’t realize it until very early on Sunday morning. My husband did a great job figuring out what the fault codes meant and what we needed to fix it but it was Sunday AND a Holiday on Monday. Long story short; we found the part Monday and he installed it Monday night. SO to help the few space heaters sporadically throughout the house on Sunday I cooked my roaster chicken without the exhaust fan on so it would help keep us warm and Monday that 13lb brisket needed 8 hours in a 300’ oven. Perfect!!!! I felt a lot better about spending that big chunk of change on one piece of meat and it was delicious. I would do it all over again, but I hope it isn’t needed to keep us warm.

So what do you do with that much meat? First meal was basically a french dip sandwich with the au jus. Sliced brisket on a grinder roll smothered with melted cheese and a side of the cooking liquid. The guys had it for lunch a couple of days during the week and I made the BBQ Brisket nachos as well as slices served alongside some mashed potatoes. The last few pieces I sliced and made it into a soup.

Beef Brisket

prep time 10 minutes
24-48 hours marinade
6-8 hours cooking

13 pound beef brisket
3 cans beef consomme
2 cups low sodium soy sauce
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons liquid smoke
5 cloves chopped garlic

Combine 2-5 of the ingredients in a large roasting pan, a disposable one works out well. Place the brisket in the marinade, fat side up. Cover tightly with foil and place in the refrigerator for 24 to 38 hours.

Pre-heat oven to 300′

Cook the brisket; covered until fork tender, about 40 minutes per pound. Mine took 8 hours. Transfer to a cutting board, best if you place your cutting board in a rimmed sheet pan. slice against the grain. You can store the sliced meat in the cooking liquid. Serve immediately.

Make sure to remove as much fat as you can. You can use a fat separator as I did or if you place it in the fridge it will solidify and is very easy to discard.

 

recipe adapted by Cooking at Clark Towers from Ree Drummond