Spicy Brisket

Sometimes the best recipes are the laziest. This brisket has exactly two ingredients: a hunk of beef brisket and a bottle of barbecue sauce, preferably a good spicy one. That’s the whole shopping list.

The magic is all in the method. Brisket is a tough, hardworking cut full of connective tissue, and the only way to coax it tender is time and gentle heat. Baked low and slow in a covered dish, the collagen slowly breaks down into gelatin and the meat goes from chewy to meltingly soft. Turning it halfway through keeps both sides bathed in sauce so it stays moist edge to edge.

Pick a barbecue sauce with real heat, or doctor a mild one with hot sauce, since the long bake mellows the spice. Once it’s fork-tender, slice or shred it and pile it into warm flour tortillas for an easy Tex-Mex spin, or serve it over rice or with cornbread.

Pro Tips

• Keep the dish covered the entire time so the brisket braises in its sauce instead of drying out.
• Slice against the grain for tender, easy-to-chew pieces. Cutting with the grain leaves it stringy.
• Let it rest a few minutes before slicing so the juices settle back into the meat.