No-Fail Brisket

I needed to do a bit of mass cooking for the week. You see, I planned our menu carefully for overlap of ingredients - particularly meat.

Cook once, eat twice (or three times, plus leftovers), you know?

A great item to make when you have time - or when you're having a crowd over and need something easy - is brisket. It's a relatively inexpensive cut of meat, feeds a bunch and pretty much cooks without a lot of effort.

My friend P gave me her recipe for oven-cooked brisket, promising that it was a no-fail recipe. This weekend I gave it a whirl.

No-Fail Brisket

• 5 lb. trimmed beef brisket
• 2 t. liquid smoke
• 2 T. Worcestershire sauce (I used Tabasco's brand for a little extra zip)
• 1 t. onion powder
• 1 t. garlic powder
• 2 t. celery salt

Mix liquid and dry ingredients together.

Trim any remaining large pieces of fat off the brisket. Using a large fork, poke holds in both sides of the brisket.

Place brisket on a large piece of heavy duty foil. Brush liquid mixture on both sides of the brisket. My mixture was rather thick, so I rubbed it on with my hands.

Bridge edges of foil together and fold over several times, so brisket is completely sealed and no liquids can leak out. This is very important for a moist brisket! It's helpful to double wrap the brisket. Make sure there are no tears or holes in the foil.

Place in a large roasting pan or cake pan, with foil seam on top. Bake at 300F for 1 hour per pound. Remove from oven and let cool. The brisket is easier to slice with cool to cold (you may want to refrigerate).

Slice across the grain. The brisket will fall apart somewhat. Put brisket in a casserole dish. Pour juices on top and reheat in 325F oven for 30 minutes when ready to serve.

Perfectly moist brisket!

It's perfect for enjoying with beans, rolls and barbeque sauce. As well as on Tex-Mex hodge-podge. And open faced beef sandwiches. And French dip sandwiches.

And....well, why don't you tell me how you would recipe hack leftover brisket?