So… I’m defrosting a 2 pound brisket. I’ve always cooked brisket the way my mother did, which is to braise it like stew. But my daughter doesn’t like that, and I thought I might try to branch out. So… Recipes? What do you recommend?
Note that it’s winter and there’s a foot of snow on the ground, so I will be cooking in an oven, or on the stove, or possibly in an instant pot, not on any sort of grill or anything smokey. Maybe that means I should just braise. 
It depends a little of exactly why your daughter doesn’t like braised brisket. If it’s an issue of the texture of the braised meat then I’ve got no good advice for you. Maybe, if you have an excellent slicing knife and are confident in your ability to slice it paper thin and across the grain of the meat then you do have some quick cooking options. It’s still going to be a little chewy but it might be a better choice.
If it’s the flavor of standard braised beef then mix up the flavors. The sky is the limit here and don’t be afraid to be a bit adventurous.
Binging with Babish has an excellent braised brisket recipe that I cook at least every other month. It’s darn tasty and different enough that it may appeal to your daughter.
Well, I’m not a fan of most highly seasoned food, and I don’t eat anything from the pepper family. (Bell pepper and hot pepper. The pepper that goes in the pepper mill on the table is unrelated, and I like it in moderation.) So there are some limits. But I’m not adverse to trying some new flavors.
I think the issue she has is the texture. Not that it’s tough, but that it falls apart and is mushy. Maybe I should ask her about that. But I thought a dry-cooked preparation might suit her better.
Put it in the oven at 300F for 2 hours with liquid, covered. Then remove any liquid and continue for another 2 hours, covered. This is actually increasing the temperature in the pan. Then uncover and turn up the heat to 325 for about 1/2 hour. It will be somewhat drier and tougher than typical braised brisket. It’s tricky to get it to the right point, you just have to keep an eye on it.
What internal temp am i aiming for?
165F I guess. I don’t cook brisket to temperature, I gauge by how tender it gets, and that generally relates to cooking time and oven temperature.
I used to cook to time and tenderness but I have found controlling for temperature to be more consistent for me.
On a brisket you want to get it to about 190F so the collagens get nicely broken down. It will be done after 165F, but 190F seems to be the best.
For just the flat, you can rub it with a seasoning mix to your liking (I make a rub of brown sugar, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic and chili powder) and using TriPolar’s method and it should be fine.
My mom’s method was to use a browning bag and season with French onion soup and cook at 325F or whatever the temp the box suggested.
I haven’t cooked just the flat but I would cook it similar to how I finish a whole one in the oven after 6-8 hours in the smoker. Kind of backward from TriPolar, it looks, as I start it high and finish low.
Rub the brisket down with your seasoning, wrap it tightly in foil, then start it in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes or so. Turn the temp down to 190F and let it finish. I usually figure on 1:15 to 1:30 per pound using those temperatures, say 4-5 hours on a 3lb flat at worse, possibly faster since it is a thinner piece of meat than a whole brisket.
Finishing at the lower temperature lets the fats have more time to breakdown and by using a temp close to what you want the meat done at, you have more room for error on time.
I smoke my briskets, but yeah, that’s the minimum temp for a nice, tender one. I usually go to 195 or so myself, but I kind of like them to come apart easy.
She confirmed. So maybe i shouldn’t cook it quite as long as i have, and should pull it at a lower temp.
You can cook at a lower temperature, but you have to cook the brisket for much longer to get it tender. See the chart embedded in this longish article. At 160 degrees, you have to cook for 36 hours to get tender brisket. I’ve done it, and the difference in texture is remarkable: the brisket ends up tender but very firm, and you can slice it like lunch meat.
Oh dear. It’s released a LOT of juice into the covered roasting pan, and now it’s sitting in a bath of onion broth.
Should i just let it continue cooking that way? Raise it somehow? Remove it from the casserole dish?
This is what I’ve done, except i included about a cup and a half of onion puree in the “rub” and i used a covered pyrex casserole instead of aluminum foil.
The temp is now 187. I put it in the oven around 3 hours ago, maybe a bit less. It’s only 2 pounds.
I would try to raise it if you can. A roasting rack would be ideal but a small plate or saucer would work.
I think my roasting racks are too large, but I’ll cobble something together. Thanks.
if your roasting rack is too large to fit in the baking dish then just rest it on top and make sure the beef doesn’t hang over the edge of the dish.
I put a couple of ramekins underneath.
Also, the broth is too salty. 
Maybe i shouldn’t have trusted that recipe. Or maybe the meat will be okay.
I don’t think I’d worry about the salt but at this point it’s pretty much damage done.
If you have some small potatoes or can cut up a few, place them beneath the roast down in the broth. They’ll partially shield the beef from the dry heat of the oven keeping the bottom from drying out too fast and you may as well put the salt to good use by seasoning the spuds. Even if you have no interest in eating the potatoes tonight, they’re great leftovers and make the best hash browns tomorrow morning.
You can use some thick slices of onion to raise the brisket off the pan if it isn’t too deep.
It was too deep for that.
The ramekins worked well. After the meat sat around 185 for perhaps half an hour or an hour in the covered casserole, I pulled it out of the casserole completely, put it on a rack in a roasting pan, and increased the heat to 400F fan to dry and crisp the exterior a bit.
I wasn’t happy with my seasoning. WAY too much salt for my taste, although the interior of the meat was fine. But I like to nibble on the crispy bits at the edges, and those were awfully salty. The grated onions worked nicely, though.
Now i have something resembling overly salty onion soup. I think I’ll cut it 50/50 with a low salt beef broth and serve it as onion soup. I wonder if we have any unsalted (or, realistically, low salt) broth or if i need to make my own.