Texas Oven-Roasted Brisket (from Paula Deen)

Beef. It was for dinner tonight. This is the second time I've made this juicy, brisket. The spicy rub gives this brisket great flavor without being overpowering. Sliced thinly, this delicious meat was easily cut with a fork. Oven time is about 4 hours. The oven heat felt really good today with this massive snow storm blowing through. I hope you all in the storms path can stay warm! My daughter's car was pretty well buried by the middle of this afternoon, and it just kept on snowing. We have about 20 inches of snow, the most we've had in very many years. Thankfully we did not get much ice. Needless to say, my husband and daughter did not make it to work, nor will they tomorrow. Everything was pretty much shut down today around these parts (southwest Missouri). I know many of you are getting this storm now, so stay warm!

But, back to this delicious brisket. I cooked a 4 pound brisket. If you haven't cooked one before, please note that brisket needs a layer of fat on one side to keep it moist. The fat can be trimmed to about 1/4 inch thick, and it will retain it's juices. If all the fat is trimmed off, you will have a dry piece of beef. So the combination of fat and liquid keeps this roast juicy and tender. I hope you'll give it a try.

TEXAS OVEN-ROASTED BRISKET

adapted slightly from Paula Deen

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

2 teaspoons dry mustard

1 bay leaf

4 pounds beef brisket, trimmed but at least 1/2 inch of fat left

1 1/2 cups low sodium beef broth

1 onion, sliced thinly

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Make the dry rub with the chili powder, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, sugar, and mustard. Season the brisket on both sides with the rub. I only used about half of the rub, maybe a tad more. Place brisket, fat side up, in a roasting pan and roast, uncovered, for one hour.

Remove brisket from oven. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees. Add beef stock to pan and enough water to yield enough liquid to come up the sides of the beef at least 1/2 inch. Add the bay leaf and sliced onion to the broth. Cover pan tightly and continue baking about 3 hours, or until the brisket is fork-tender. Larger briskets will take longer to reach the tender stage.

Remove the brisket to a cutting board, tent with foil and let rest for at least 10 minutes or longer.

Trim the fat from the brisket, and slice the meat thinly across the grain. Top with the juices from the pan. Enjoy!

NOTE: Leftover brisket will freeze just fine. Be sure to add some of the cooking juices to the containers before freezing. This brisket also makes fantastic sandwiches and the pan juices are perfect for dipping that sandwich roll into.