brisket
Also known as: Beef Brisket (Trimmed of all fat (cubed 1-2"))
A tough, well-exercised cut of beef from the cow's chest, dense with connective tissue; needs long, low, slow cooking -- braising or smoking -- to break that collagen down into gelatin and become tender. Cooked quickly like a steak it stays chewy no matter how good the cut, but the same toughness that makes it a poor quick-sear choice is what gives it rich body and flavor after hours of low heat.
Buying guidance
Ask for the cut with a substantial fat cap left on if smoking or roasting whole -- the fat bastes the meat as it cooks and can be trimmed off afterward. For braising in pieces, the flat trims into more uniform cubes than the point, which carries more fat marbled through it. Color should be a normal red to purplish-red; a grayish or overly dark surface signals age.
Substitutions
- Beef chuck roast -- similar collagen content and works well in braises; slightly more marbled and cooks a bit faster.
- Pork shoulder or pork butt -- different flavor but a close match in fat and connective tissue, taking well to the same low-and-slow treatment.
- Short ribs -- richer and fattier in the same braising liquids; expect more rendered fat to skim off.
Tips & common mistakes
Brisket's two muscles -- the flat and the point -- have grain running in different directions, so a single slicing angle across the whole cooked piece leaves part of it properly tender and another part stringy and hard to chew; look at the direction of the muscle fibers and adjust the angle as the knife crosses from one section into the other.
Storage
Cooked brisket often tastes better the next day than right off the heat -- chilling it lets the juices and connective tissue set up, so slices hold together better and reheat without falling apart, making it one of the more forgiving cuts to cook a day ahead rather than at the last minute.