Here we will cover in full detail how to make the best brisket in the oven really easily with basic equipment. It will only take some patience for the brisket to finish cooking to finally reach its finished product. The end result is going to be very good; producing a really flavor brisket that is fall apart tender, moist, and restaurant quality.
For this, it is going to require a few basic pieces of equipment to make this brisket. The equipment needed is here:
Equipment needed to cook a brisket in the oven:
- A large pan to hold the brisket.
- Having the correct pan to cook the brisket in is a must. If the brisket is too big, then it will hang out of the pan and possibly make a mess. It is ok for a whole brisket to barely fit in a pan in the oven, because it will shrink during the cooking process. However, briskets produce a lot of juice from cooking, so it has to fit in the pan.
- Do not use a shallow pan. The pan has to be deep, preferably almost as deep as the brisket is as thick. The brisket will produce a lot of juice and cause a huge mess if it is cooked in a shallow pan in the oven. If you don’t want to use a pan that you will have to clean, then you can use a disposable aluminum pan instead.
- A good food thermometer to check the temperature.
- This is needed to check the internal temperature of the brisket. This ensures that the temperature is high enough internally for the brisket to be consumed once it is done. It also ensures that the oven is cooking the brisket like it is supposed to do.
- Seasoning.
- Briskets require a lot of seasoning (enough to thoroughly cover the whole brisket). The seasoning that we used was “Slap Ya Mama” Cajun seasoning. The flavor from this seasoning made our brisket better than most restaurants that cook brisket. We were able to make plain brisket sandwiches using this with no sauce and regular bread that tasted phenomenal.
- A sharp boning knife.
- This is for trimming excessive fat from the brisket before it is cooked.
- A cutting board with a cutting board mat.
- This is needed to lay the brisket on it and trim it as needed before it is cooked.
- An oven.
- The brisket.
- The brisket shouldn’t be frozen solid to the point that it cannot be trimmed with a good sharp knife.
No cover for the pan is needed, or a special rub, or butcher’s paper. However, you are welcomed to use what ever extras or techniques that you will like, but we can’t guarantee that you will get the same results in the end that we did for our brisket.
We have already cooked this brisket in the oven ourselves at the set times and temperatures that we will use in this article before making this article. This means that you are following exactly what we did to get the same (or similar) results to making the best easiest brisket that you may have ever made.
Now we will cover in full detail the step-by-step instructions on what to do. Just follow along.
1. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit.
Start by preheating the oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit. We chose 225 degrees Fahrenheit instead of the general 250 degrees Fahrenheit to give better end results from the long cooking process.
2. Take the brisket out of its package.
Remove the brisket from its package, being mindful of any juices (“blood”/myoglobin) that might leak out while opening the package. The best way to open the package without gouging the brisket is to cut the brisket on the side that is covered in fat. Usually this fat side of the brisket has to be trimmed down anyways before it os seasoned and cooks. This way it will cut the fat and not the meat.
3. Trim the brisket.
Lay the brisket on the cutting board to begin trimming it. Make sure that the cutting board mat is under the cutting board so that the board doesn’t slip and slide while you are trimming the brisket. Safety first.
The goal here when trimming the brisket is to trim off any thick layers and pieces of fat from the brisket. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but if you need help, then you can check this guide for preparing and trimming a brisket.
The main areas that have to be trimmed is on the flat end of the brisket (the thinner portion of the whole brisket) on the side of the brisket that is covered with the layer of fat. This entire surface area across this whole side of the brisket should be trimmed down to prevent big pieces of fat in certain slices when eating. The goal isn’t to completely trim off the fat, but to reduce it if it is too thick. The fat is going to add a lot of good flavor to the brisket.
There will also be a portion of fat on the whole brisket on the opposite side of the layer of fat on the brisket. It will be on the part of the brisket that has the hump. There will be a lot of fat here that should be trimmed off. Again, if you need help finding these key areas that need to be trimmed, then refer to the guide that has been linked above already for more detailed information.
4. Season the brisket.
After the brisket has been trimmed of excessive fats, then the next step is to season the brisket. When seasoning the brisket with what ever seasoning that we are using, we want to be generous with the seasoning, making sure that we cover the top, the bottom, and all sides of the brisket with seasoning.
Take the seasoning and season the brisket thoroughly, making sure every part of the brisket’s surface is seasoned. It is not necessary to pour the seasoning on the brisket when cooking the brisket in a pan in the oven. It doesn’t need to be caked with seasoning, just thoroughly seasoned on every part. If you think that you missed a part, then it is ok to risk seasoning the same part again that you think that you may have missed.
If you want to rub the seasoning into the brisket by hand then it is your choice to do so. However, we did not do this with ours as it made the seasoning that we placed on rub off of some of the surfaces of the meat.
5. Put the brisket in the pan.
Now it is time to put the brisket in the pan to get ready to cook it. Place the brisket in the pan with the side of the brisket that is covered with the layer of fat facing down into the bottom of the pan. Ensure that the brisket is atleast nearly in the pan on every side. The brisket should not be hanging outside of the pan. However, it is ok for the brisket to slightly touch the edges of the top edges of the pan, as it will shrink during the cooking process over time.
The pan should not contain grates or racks that prevent the brisket from touching the bottom of the pan.
6. Place the brisket in the oven to cook.
Now it is time to place the brisket that is in the pan in the oven. There is no need to place juices in the pan with the brisket if it came whole with its fats and fat layer (fat cap). The brisket will naturally cook in its own juices that it produces in the oven while it cooks, making the brisket juicy/moist, tender, and flavorful.
There is no need to cover the pan, as mentioned earlier. It can cook without a cover in the pan without drying out. This will also give the brisket a nice dark, firm, and delicious bark.
7. Let the brisket cook for about 16 to 18 hours.
This is the last and easiest step. Let the brisket cook in the oven just like it is for 16 to 18 hours. This is necessary if you want the brisket to be fall apart tender. Don’t repeatedly open the oven, just let the brisket sit in the oven and cook. As we said from the beginning, it only takes some patience to make the possibly easiest best brisket in the oven that you may ever made. It will be worth the waiting time, and the entire brisket will be moist and tender with no dry parts if you do it right. No need for wrapping in between, resting afterwards, or any other special techniques. Just a good old-fashioned cooking in the oven that requires a little patience.
Here is what the bark and the meat looked like from our brisket from following the easy instructions:
You can see from the picture that the bark formed very nicely on the oven from these easy steps. You can also see that the brisket is still very moist. And yes we did slice the brisket after it cooked as shown in the picture.
From this image, you can see what the brisket looks like on the inside of the bark. It is fall apart and easily separates, with no toughness or dryness. This is the quality of the meat from the toughest/leanest part of the brisket, the flat end. It made really good sandwich meat, besides just being eaten as tender slices of brisket.
Note: When the brisket is finished cooking in the oven, do not dump the juices that are in the pan completely. It is the flavor of the brisket that keeps the brisket moist and flavorful after it has finished cooking in the oven.
