We love beef grass fed briskets. When cooked right, they are tender, incredibly flavorful, and amazing easy meals. The fat cap you see in the picture above cooks down during cooking, flavoring and tenderizing the meat. Not to mention all those great omega-3 fatty acids found in grass fed beef fat! Read on for ideas on cooking and buying grass fed beef briskets!
Where it’s from: the brisket is from the brisket part of the cow (surprise), which you can see in the graphic below:
Similar cuts: roasts like the briskets include chuck roasts and rump roasts, mainly because you cook them in a similar way. Many of the recipes on this site for chuck roasts and rump roasts are interchangeable with briskets!
Where to buy beef brisket: you can locate grass fed, certified organic beef briskets on our online store here.
How to slice it: Remember, #1 cardinal rule of cutting beef, ever: always cut against the grain! The grain is the little lines running through the meat. See the picture below, where the arrow is pointing? If you look closely, you can see lines running in the same direction. Just cut perpendicular to those!
Cooking beef brisket: Click through to the recipes linked to below, or just read this quick general guide to cooking a brisket.
Find brisket recipes right here!
Briskets are incredible-perhaps the most flavorful of all cuts-if cooked at low temperatures for a long time. A tightly covered cooking container is a must when cooking beef brisket, or frequent basting on the grill as moist heat methods are always used. We use a very large Dutch oven. You can also place the brisket in a glass baking dish and cover tightly with aluminum foil (be careful to not allow the foil to touch the meat). We have cooked briskets for as long as 9-12 hours to allow full breakdown of all of the structure of the meat. If protected from drying, the longer the better, as a wonderful blend of flavors occurs when cooking for a long time. We recommend searing the brisket first. This can be done on high heat on the grill, in a heavy fry pan or Dutch oven on the stovetop, or by placing in a 500 degree oven for 15 minutes. Sear until the outside is well-browned, but don’t cook the meat. The actual cooking of the brisket should be done at low temperatures.
If you don’t have 9 hours, you can cook briskets at higher temperatures for a shorter amount of time. We will cook short-term briskets at 300-350 degrees F for 3 hours, checking moisture in the Dutch, and adding water or wine if necessary to prevent drying. Most of the recipes here describe the fast way to cook the brisket. All can be adapted to longer slow cooking.
On the grill, cook a brisket very slowly, turning about every 15 minutes, and basting as it cooks. A good grilled brisket might take 3 hours (minimum) or more to cook. We recommend basting often to prevent the grilled meat from drying out. Some folks will grill it for as much as 8 or 9 hours, wrapped in foil to preserve moisture and adding moisturizers like dark beer.
For beef brisket recipes, click here.
Brisket should be cut across the grain on an angle. They are excellent served cold on sandwiches, too!
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I don’t see a recipe for corned beef. Would you share one please?