Ingredient

Brisket

Brisket comes from the chest of the animal, a muscle that supports a great deal of standing weight and never rests. It is dense with connective tissue, and it is the classic example of a cut that gets tougher before it gets tender.

Tough, then tougher, then tender

Heat a brisket and two things happen at once. The muscle fibres contract and squeeze out water, which makes the meat firmer and drier. At the same time collagen in the connective tissue begins converting to gelatine, which makes it softer and juicier-feeling.

The first process is fast and the second is slow. So a brisket cooked for an hour is tighter and drier than raw, and a brisket cooked for six is falling apart. Somewhere around the two- to three-hour mark it is at its worst, which is exactly when an impatient cook checks it and concludes the meat was no good.

The lesson is that a brisket that feels tough is not overdone. It is underdone, and it needs more time, not less.

The two halves

A whole brisket is two different muscles and butchers usually separate them.

The flat

Also called the first cut. Lean, even, rectangular. Slices neatly and is what you want for salt beef, pastrami and anything sliced across the grain.

The point

Also called the deckle or second cut. Fattier, more marbled, irregular. Far more forgiving and much better for shredding, chilli or barbecue burnt ends.

Whole packer brisket

Both together, with the fat seam between them. What competition barbecue uses.

Fat cap

Leave at least a centimetre. It bastes the meat through a long cook and is trimmed after, not before.

The grain

It runs in different directions in the two muscles, which is why a whole brisket must be separated before slicing.

How to cook it

All of these are variations on long and slow.

• Braised, in the oven at a low temperature, half-submerged in stock or wine with aromatics, for four to six hours until a fork twists in it freely.
• Pot-roasted, similar but with less liquid and a lid, so the top surface browns.
• Salt beef. Brined for several days then simmered gently for hours. The classic Jewish deli preparation, and the flat is the right cut.
• Barbecue. Smoked at a low temperature for many hours. The single most demanding thing you can do with the cut.
• Slow cooker, which suits it perfectly — steady low heat with no attention.
• Shredded for tacos, sandwiches or a ragù, where the point end is much better than the flat.
• Never grilled, fried or roasted fast. There is no version of this that works.

A reliable oven braise

1. Season the meat generously and leave it uncovered in the fridge for a few hours if you have time. A dry surface browns far better.
2. Brown it hard on all sides in a heavy casserole. This is worth the twenty minutes and the mess.
3. Lift it out, soften onions, carrot and celery in the same pan, then add garlic, tomato purée and a splash of vinegar.
4. Return the meat, add stock or wine to come roughly halfway up, bring to a bare simmer, then lid on and into a low oven.
5. Leave it alone for four hours before you look. Then check every forty minutes until a fork slides in and twists with no resistance.
6. Rest it in the liquid, off the heat, for at least half an hour. Slicing it straight from the oven loses the juices.
7. Slice across the grain, and separate the two muscles first if you cooked a whole one.

Common questions