Description

This step-by-step holiday brisket recipe is simpler than most and made with only a few ingredients, but it’s not at all short on flavor. It’s also how my family and I have been enjoying the dish for decades! Depending on how hungry your crowd is, you should be able to feed 8-10 people (or more!) with about 5 servings of leftovers. And those leftovers are necessary, because you’ll quickly realize you can’t get enough of this tender, flavorful brisket.

Ingredients

Units Scale

5–7 pounds brisket, first cut
Freshly-ground black pepper
4 cups beef stock
2 cups water
2 packets Lipton Onion Soup Mix (each box comes with the two packets you’ll need)
1 pound baby carrots (no need to slice them unless if you want to serve as pictured here)
Optional garnishes: Edible flowers, fresh thyme (I used stemmed bunches of thyme and a smattering of individual thyme leaves)

Helpful tools:

Sharp kitchen knife, for trimming the fat
Large Dutch Oven or roasting pan with lid
2 quart-sized glass measuring cups or large, quart-sized containers
Oven mitts to keep your hands safe
Large tongs, to turn the brisket over in the middle of the cooking process
A trivet on which to safely place the hot, heavy Dutch oven after you remove it from the heat
Sharp carving knife (we use an electric knife to get those nice even cuts, but it’s not necessary)

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 500° F. Pour the beef stock into a quart-sized measuring cup (or other quart-sized container) along with 1 packet of the soup mix; stir to combine and set aside. To a second quart-sized measuring cup or container, add the water and the second packet of Lipton Soup Mix; stir to combine and set aside.
Prepare the meat: Use a sharp knife to trim off at least some of the fat—it’s the very noticeable white layer on the outside of the brisket (some don’t trim this at all, or trim at the end of the cooking process). Next, rinse the brisket and pat it dry using a paper towel. Rub both sides of the meat with a thin layer of freshly-ground black pepper. (No need to add salt; the soup mix you’ll add later contains plenty.)
Put the meat in the bottom of a large Dutch oven, and place in the preheated oven, uncovered, for about 30 minutes to brown/sear. When 30 minutes is up, carefully turn the brisket over (remember to protect your hands from the heat) and continue browning for about 5-10 more minutes on the other side.
When time’s up and/or both sides have browned, lower the temperature to 325° F. Working quickly but with extreme caution—it’s going to be very hot—open the oven, remove the Dutch oven to a trivet, and pour in the contents of both quart containers (the stock-Lipton mixture and the water-Lipton mixture), making sure the entire brisket is well-covered.
Return the pot to the oven, covered. Let it continue cooking for another two hours at the new, reduced temperature of 325° F. At the two-hour mark, open the lid of the Dutch oven and add the baby carrots right in alongside the meat; cover again and continue cooking for one more hour.
Finally, it’s time to safely remove the brisket from the pan. Let it rest on a cutting board for about 15 minutes before cutting in thin, diagonal slices against the grain using a carving knife. (The direction you cut the meat here is important; if you go the wrong way, it may fall apart.)
Serve the brisket topped with its residual juices from the pan and the softened carrots. Reserve some of the extra liquid from the pan in a separate dish; you can serve this as a “gravy” alongside the meat for those who want to add a little more onto their plates. Garnish as shown, if desired (optional and just for fun!).