Oven Baked Brisket Tips

Avoiding Tough Brisket

Don’t be tempted to turn up the heat to a higher temperature. Brisket is a tough cut of meat with a lot of collagen (connective tissues) and only low and slow cooking will allow the meat to become fall-apart tender. You can cook the brisket for longer at a lower temperature, but don’t go above 300° F or it will likely become tough. Also make sure the pan is well sealed during the cooking process to hold in the moisture. This is necessary both in the initial cooking time with no sauce, and the second part of the baking, once the sauce is added.

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How Much Brisket Per Person?

A 5 lb brisket, once cooked, will shrink to about 3 1/2 lbs of meat, so don’t be surprised when it shrinks considerably. Plan for about 1/2 lb uncooked brisket per person; a 5 lb brisket should serve 10. However, if you have big eaters, round up! And if you want leftovers (and why wouldn’t you) round up! If you are cooking a 7 or 8 lb brisket, just add another 30 minutes to the initial cooking time, and another 30 minutes to the cooking time once you add the sauce (don’t forget to reseal that pan).

You absolutely need to let the brisket rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing it. This will allow the juices in the meat, which will have worked their way to the surface during the cooking process, to redistribute themselves throughout the meat. The result: tender, juice slices of flavorful brisket. It will still stay warm, tented with foil while it rests, but the most important thing is that the juices won’t run out onto the cutting board, leaving you with slices of grayish, dry meat.

Cutting Brisket Against the Grain?

When you read a recipe and it tells you to cut a piece of meat against or across the grain, it means you should slice the meat crosswise, across the fibers of the meat. Cut of beef or other meat like brisket which are from a much-used muscle of the cow develop strong fibers, which will soften with cooking, but remain intact. Cutting the slices of meat perpendicular to the fibers means that each slice will have only short bits of fiber going crosswise, and the meat will feel easier to chew and more tender. Otherwise long strands of fibers will cause the meat to feel chewy and even tough in your mouth.