Barbecued beef brisket.....for sandwiches

This is my daddy's recipe for barbecued beef brisket for sandwiches. My daddy is 82 years old. He knows how to cook meat. And he taught me how to make this, good grief, 25 years ago.

Here's his recipe, the way he wrote it:

Barbecue Beef

3 1/2 pounds boneless beef brisket
1 bottle Liquid Smoke
1 large bottle barbecue sauce

Place brisket in a glass or aluminum baking dish. Pour entire bottle Liquid Smoke over meat and cover with foil. Set aside overnight. (No mention of refrigeration - 25 years ago, ladies.)

Next morning: Pour off Liquid Smoke, leaving just enough for flavor.

Pour entire bottle of barbecue sauce over meat. Cover tightly with foil.

Cook at 225 degrees all day long (or at least eight hours).

Flake apart with fork.

Serve over hamburger buns.


Well, really! That's just a little too easy, don't you think? So let me complicate it for you.



Here's what you need.

Now let's talk about the meat. The day I bought my brisket, I had two choices. I could buy a two-pound brisket, or I could buy a seventeen pound brisket. Honestly, Rob and I looked at each other and said, "Do cows come in itty bitty or ginormous?" And what's the brisket part of the cow and how can there be such a difference in size?"

You'll be delighted to know we didn't come up with the answer. But let me tell you, I wasn't getting ready to cook seventeen pounds of barbecued beef brisket. So we bought two of the small briskets.




I'm showing you this label for a reason and you might want to click on the photo to see it up close and personal.

If you're a young cook, meaning you're a lot younger than me, you could make a big mistake. Every single time I've bought beef brisket, forever, it's been sitting right next to the packages of corned beef brisket. The label says "beef brisket" and really, if you're someone who doesn't know, like say, one of my daughters, you could easily just grab that "beef brisket," never noticing the corned, and go home to make a complete disaster. I have enough Irish in my heritage to appreciate the "corned" beef, but there's no way I'd ever ruin a great corned beef brisket by barbecuing it.

I love corned beef, but let me tell you, it would not work for this recipe. So be careful. You need to buy the plain old simple beef brisket.



Here are my two small briskets. I'm just showing you this because mostly I want you to notice that I'm using the biggest pan I own in spite of the fact that they're not very big briskets. This meat is going to make a lot of juice and sauce and you'll need a deep pan.





I used a big fork and stabbed the meat all over to make holes, and now I'm pouring the whole bottle of Liquid Smoke over the meat.

What you're not seeing is that I splashed it all over my shirt. Liquid Smoke is maybe one of the most powerful things you'll ever cook with - be careful. My tee shirt will never be the same again.



Cover tightly with foil.




And put it in the fridge. Let it sit overnight. And yes, those potatoes in that drawer are sprouting. I'll be throwing those out today. Good grief.




The next morning, take it out of the fridge and pour off the Liquid Smoke. I leave just a little in the pan, for flavor. If you make this, you'll know right away, it doesn't take much for flavor. My word, Liquid Smoke is powerful.

You're going to see, the brisket has a lean side and a fat side. Make sure the fat side is UP. You want the fat to moisten the meat as it cooks.

Pour a lot of barbecue sauce over the meat.




And then, cover it tightly with foil again.

I know you're thinking that 225 degrees was a typo. Nope.

The secret of this recipe is that it cooks slowly, for hours and hours. All day long. My dad's recipe says at least eight hours but I'd say even longer. You really can't overcook this.



It will look like this. This isn't overcooked. At all.




These may look like little hocky pucks, but the good stuff is under all that blackness, which is the fat.



Very simply, scrape off that fat layer and then you see the meat.


My helper wasn't home last night and I can't shoot a photo of both my hands at the same time, but you use two big forks to shred the meat. Trust me, if you've cooked this meat all day long, it will simply fall apart under the two forks.




This is beautiful. This is a big pile of smoky flavored, shredded beef.




Put it in a big pot.




And add enough more barbecue sauce to moisten it to the way you like it. For sandwiches.

Heat it until it's hot. And by the way, I always put the buns under the broiler for a minute - I don't like mushy sandwiches and toasted buns hold up better to this barbecued beef.


Never, ever have I've seen Rob eat less than two of these sandwiches. This is a husband pleaser.

Rob and I have been married for almost thirty years. I've cooked him a lot meals. This is one of his favorites.




And this is the perfect way to finish this meal....a great American dessert to go along with a great American sandwich!

Edited: a lot of you asked me if you could make this in your crockpot. You know, that never occurred to me. But since the trick is to cook this brisket at a very low heat all day long, the crockpot sure makes sense to me. Can't hurt to try!