Eastbay BBQ Brisket

Select a whole (Cry-o-Vac) bag brisket (8 to 16 pounds). The meat may "feel" hard in some areas, this is fat that you should plan on trimming down before rubbing. Wash your hands. Remove meat from bag - rinse in cold water. Pat dry with paper towels. This cut of meat has 2 sides - a fatty side and a lean side. Feel the fatty side with your fingers, if there is a hard area - slice horizontally to remove about ½ inch of the fat, feel it again, if its still hard, slice again. The goal of this step is to remove some - but not all of the fat. Turn the meat over and using a soup spoon sprinkle the rub over the entire side of meat. Then use the smooth side of the spoon to rub the spice into the meat, the spice will turn a slightly darker color when it’s wet. Keep sprinkling spice on the meat and rubbing until you can't see the meat. On a 16 pound piece, I used about 8 spoonfuls. Turn it over, repeat on the fat side - use a couple more scoops (10 to on this side than you did on the lean side. The "rubbing" with the smooth side of the spoon presses the spice into the meat, use moderate pressure. Open the bag - put 1 tbl. of flour in it close it with lots of air inside and shake it up. Put the meat into the bag, seal the bag, and put it on a platter in your refrigerator for 24 hours. (At least 12, I've never tried longer than 24 hours.) Preheat oven to 325, put in pan (no rack or grate is necessary) for the lowest amount of time that the bag recipe calls for. (12 to 16 lb for 3- 3 ½ hours.) This "in the bag" cooking keeps all the moisture inside. I only cut 1 small hole in the bag for the steam to escape. I use a regular roasting pan to cook the brisket. Remove from oven and let it cool for about ½ hour or so. Remove from bag. Cut the fat off the brisket. Put it in a glass 9 by 12 baking dish. If your glass baking dish is big enough, put the whole thing in. If it's not, you can cut it into pieces that will fit. Pour the juice into a grease-draining cup. Pour the broth over the meat. It's ok if a little of the grease escapes this process. Cover/seal the baking dish and put in refrigerator (12 hours is the shortest time I've done.). Remove from refrigerator. This part is messy. I use a spoon to scrap off most of the "jelly," so that I can see what I'm about to slice up. Start on the fat side and remove any remaining fat. Take your time. It's better to slice away too little the first time than throw away any meat. Throw away all this excess fat. There are several "layers" of meat in this cut. They are separated by fat that looks like swiss cheese. If you can see the layers, separate them and remove the fat. If you don’t see it right away, it will show up when you start to slice. Slice the meat AGAINST the grain about ⅜ to ½ inch thick. As Emril says, "It’s about the love," and "It's not rocket science." These cuts of meat have various "parts," and the grain will not all be going the same way. Separate the pieces so that you’re working a piece that has the grain going one way, and slice away. Put the slices into the glass baking dish with all the jelly. When you have sliced it all up, put it into the oven at 300 degrees for about ½ hour. Remove every 10 minutes, and flip it over so that it all gets a good bath in the juice. Serve on bread of your choice as sandwiches, or not. It’s very yummy and probably won't require the addition of any BBQ Sauce.