"Saucy, Sweet, Spicy Brisket in the Slow Cooker"

By RoketJSquerl

Ingredients

• 1 Beef Brisket (4-5 pounds)
• ketchup
• beer
• 1/2 Cup brown sugar
• Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp Salt and Pepper

Details

Adapted from themeaningofpie.com

Preparation

Step 1

First, obtain a brisket. Try to get a “flat cut” brisket if your butcher has one. The challenge with the crock-pot is that if you have a 20 inch long piece of meat you are not going to be able to fit it in. I bought a trimmed brisket and still had to cut off the end and put it on top to fit it all in. Also, don’t fuss about the fat “cap” on the brisket. It is a good thing. Go for something in the 4 to 5 pound range.

Get out your crock pot. Gather the following items: Worcestershire Sauce, ketchup, a bottle of beer (I used Heineken…better beer=more flavor, but Bud is just fine, too), brown sugar, salt, pepper, garlic powder. These and time are all you will need.
Lay your brisket in your crock pot. Sprinkle ½ cup of brown sugar on top on it and spread it around. Sprinkle the salt, pepper and garlic powder (to taste or about 1 tsp of each).

“Slather” it all with ketchup. This is my MIL’s term but it is very accurate. Just do it. Then sprinkle on some of the Worcestershire and finally, pour the beer on top. Put the lid on the crock pot and turn it on.I did high for 5 hours and low for 3 hours. This is not particularly scientific. I think 9 hours on low would be fine if you are leaving it while you are at work.

The deal with all of my brisket recipes is that if you poke it with a fork and your fork doesn’t “fall in” the meat, it isn’t ready and you should keep going and check it hourly. I honestly don’t think you can mess this up. If your brisket is bad, it just isn’t finished yet. If you don’t have all day, try the oven at 325 for four to six hours, basting now and again. But remember to be careful that the sauce doesn’t burn. And, it is really important that you give your meat enough time. Fifteen minutes more in the oven or crock pot can be the difference between shoe leather and succulent success. Ok, now that the meat is finished, put it into some other pan.

This part is a little gross. Get a flat spatula and remove the fat cap. It falls off so just scrape it up and throw it away. Then cut up your brisket into manageable pieces. I go across the grain; others pull it apart with the grain which produces long strips. It makes no difference. If you have a fat separator, use it.

Put the sauce into the separator in batches and pour the sauce into a saucepan set on medium. Once you have separated the fat from all of the sauce, add some ketchup to the sauce until you like the consistency. I like it kind of loose and soupy, myself. Once you have reduced the sauce a little and you have thickened it and reheated it, pour it over your meat and serve.

I love this brisket with my Blue Cheese Cole Slaw.

You can easily prepare this a day ahead because it truly is better the next day. I like to make sandwiches out of the leftovers. Try this. Make some toast. Reheat some leftover brisket and sauce and pull apart the meat with two forks. Load it onto a piece of toast. Then take some of your leftover slaw cabbage and mix in some blue cheese dressing. Pile the slaw on the sandwich and put on the top bread. Serve it with a big dill pickle. Heaven on Earth.