One of my former bosses gave me his method for cooking brisket. It is just absolutely the best and so very, very easy. Former Boss's Brisket - The Greatest Brisket Woody's Concentrated BBQ Cooking Sauce* Dried Onions Pepper Salt Garlic Salt Oregano Seasoning Salt Cumin START THIS 2-3 DAYS (BETTER IF IT MARINATES FOR 3 DAYS) BEFORE YOU PLAN TO COOK IT. THEN YOU HAVE TO ALLOW 7-8 (OR 12) HOURS TIME TO COOK IT. Before buying brisket, look at the bottom -- the more meat you see the better. Buy the one with the most meat visible from the bottom. Tear off piece of heavy duty aluminum foil large enough to completely enclose the brisket. Place brisket on the foil. Brush (I just pour about 1/2 jar of Woody's on brisket and spread evenly with hand) one side of brisket with Woody's -- be liberal. Then sprinkle on the garlic salt, oregano, seasoning salt, salt, pepper, dried onion, and cumin -- be liberal with the seasoning too. Turn brisket over and repeat this on the other side. (I like to start with the bottom side of the brisket then turn it over and finish the top side. That way it is ready to put in refrigerator when I am finished.) Wrap the heavy duty aluminum foil and place on a large platter, a roaster, whatever will fit the brisket. Marinate in refrigerator for 2 or 3 days. When ready to bake, leave in foil and do not open it up. Put in 300 degree oven and cook for 7-8 hours. (I put in 250-275 degree oven and cook for 12 hours.) You can bake this overnight; for cooking 7-8 hours just turn oven on before you go to bed, put the brisket in the oven and it is ready in the morning. (I put in oven at 6:00 p.m. and take out at 6:00 a.m.) Remove from oven and unwrap foil (be careful, there are lots of juices in the foil so open the foil carefully and leave cupped so the juice does not run out). After cooking, you may take the fat off or leave it on. (I also like to drain off the juices and put the meat on a large platter.) This has an incredible flavor and is extremely tender. IT IS WONDERFUL! You can slice and serve on plates. You can use for sandwiches. It is great served on hamburger buns with a slice of onion as a sandwich, served with peppers and either French fries, potato salad, or potato chips. *Can purchase at Kroger's; it is with BBQ sauces. I will always be greatful that my boss was willing to share his preparation method. People are always asking me to bring this to get togethers.

Your brisket was tough due to the cooking method. It is very important to realize that by cooking a beef brisket to 195 degrees F DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN A TENDER BRISKET. "How" you arrived at that final temperature is the whole secret. You must VERY slowly approach that final temperature by cooking it at about 225 degrees (never never any higher than 250 absolute max). This is what's called LOW AND SLOW smoking. "Magical" chemistry related things will happen to the fat and collagen when you cook it this way. Those very "flavorful" and "tenderizing" chemical reactions will not occur to any great extent by cooking it any other way. If you try to hurry the process along.....the magic will not happen. And believe me you don't want to miss the magic. IMO, brining a fresh brisket that is to be smoked is absolutely ridiculous. Brining will in no way shape or form produce a better tasting brisket than one that is cooked "Low and Slow". Low and slow means cooking at a low temperature around 225 degrees F for a long time. A good test to see if a brisket is done is to press your finger into the fattiest part of the meat. If it is soft and your finger doesn't have a problem penetrating, it's ready! In the future, take your brisket and season it literally JUST BEFORE you smoke it. Use Toni Chachere's Mo Spice seasoning mix if you can find it. It has less salt in it. DO NOT brine nor season your brisket the night before. There are very specific reasons for doing it this way. Smoke it with some chips (apple-wood is best) only for the first hour or so of the process. Keep the temperature in the cooking area around 225 until it is done. I cook mine to about 180 degrees then use the very reliable and accurate finger poking test. This very simple procedure will produce the most tender, the most juicy, and the most flavorful "beefy" tasting piece of meat that you have ever eaten. The external and internal fat whithin the brisket is "magically" broken down into a "sweet" tasting chemical sugar that only occurs at certain low temperatures. The fat that does not melt away will become "to die for" good tasting.....but, very unhealthy to eat too much of it. The converted fat residue that remains inside of the brisket muscle fibers will impart that wonderful beefy taste to the meat. And the collagen will have broken down to make the meat very tender. You simply CANNOT rush this process and try to hurry it up to arrive faster at the 190 desired end point. The brisket will be done when it passes the poke test. Again, the magic will not occur if you rush this process. FYI, an 8 pound brisket will take about 10 hours to get to that tender/juicy point. This is "extremely" easy to do in a temperature controlled "electric" smoker. However, it most certainly can be done on a BBQ pit. The real brisket experts over in Texas do it all the time. Sorry to hear that your brisket did not come out well. The cooks at Cook's Illustrated don't know much about cast iron pans either. Dan Semper Fi-cus

Saturday is our neighboring town's community days...and that means TONS of yardsales..my hubby and my SIL go every year...this year we are taking the truck! lol. Last year we filled the trunk, back seat and part of the front seat! Saturday afternoon....run over and see the new grandbaby...she will be 4 days old. She is such a snugglebunny. gotta get the arbor and back sidewalk in...been working on it 2 weeks now...the older I get the slower I get! Need to move about 50 hostas (I hate garden mistakes!!) and start cleaning up the picnic pavillion. Have started some rwb blocks for a talberunner (too late for memorial day, so guess it's for the 4th of july) want to work on them...so maybe sunday afternoon. I make plans and then life decides I'm going somewhere else!! lol. Guess I just need to go with the flow! Have a great week end everyone! Lynn in PA

I bought a Weber smokey mountain smoker, although the weather hasn't cooperated for me to try it. I had another smoker, electric about 15 years ago that we loved. I will tell you that a brisket takes a very , very long time to smoke. This web site is full of alot of recipes & information http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/