Oven-Baked Beef Brisket

Summer! It means lots of lovely things, like camping and swimming, but it also means a tighter budget if you're a poor grad student, as we often only get funding during the school year. So, roasts are an ideal meat option: per pound, they're often the cheapest cuts you can find (I landed this grass-fed 6.5 lb brisket for about $30), and they're hella tasty. I threw this together early yesterday, and by dinnertime, it was ready to go and my apartment smelled awesome.

Oven-Baked Beef Brisket

-1 beef brisket (mine was 6.5 lbs), thawed

-2 tbsp salt

-2 tbsp black pepper

-2 tsp cayenne pepper

-2 tsp (4 cloves) crushed garlic

-1 onion, thinly sliced

-1/4 c soy sauce (gluten free--they can be found)

-1/8 c Worcestershire sauce

-1/4 c black coffee (I used a dark, bold roast and brewed it at double strength)

-1/4 c apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 250 F. Mix together salt, black pepper, cayenne and garlic, and rub into roast--use about 3/4 of it on the fatty side of the brisket, and 1/4 on the other side. Set aside. Mix together soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, black coffee, and vinegar, and pour into a roasting pan. Spread onion slices in the pan. Place the seasoned brisket into the pan fatty side up, and cover tightly with tin foil. Bake for 7 to 8 hrs (i.e., between 1 hr and 1 hr 15 min per pound). Slice it up, and enjoy for days to come. I recommend serving it with a healthy ladle of the juices that accumulate in the pan--and maybe some tasty Grok's BBQ sauce.

Yay summer!

~Losterman