Grandma Marian's Brisket

I have the very strongest memories of Sunday lunches at my grandparents' house and the brisket my grandma would make. My mother makes the same brisket, sometimes putting it in the oven Saturday night which would allow us to wake up Sunday mornings to the glorious smell of BBQ brisket, and other times, she'd throw it in the oven before we left for church and we'd come home to the house permeated with the meaty, sweet smell of this tasty brisket. Today, I followed in her footsteps, tossing my brisket in the oven before we left for church this morning. It's so easy and so very delectable.

Grandma Marian's Brisket
Ingredients:
Brisket (4-5 lb.)
1 bottle of BBQ sauce (your favorite)
1/2 bottle water
1 pkg. Lipton Onion Soup Mix
9X13" baking dish
Aluminum Foil

1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Move the racks down so that the top rack is in the middle of the oven.

2. Make a tent of aluminum foil in your pan.

**(Tenting means you do one long layer of foil length-wise in the pan, another width-wise in the pan, another length-wise in the pan, another width-wise in the pan and so on...I usually do 4-5 layers total. Once you're ready to put it in the oven, you start with the layer of foil closest to the meat and fold it over in a tent, making sure not to touch the meat. There should be room between the meat and foil to allow steam to build up. Then fold over the next layer, again, not doing it too tightly, and the next layer and so on, until they are all folded over and looks like a large foil tent sticking up out of the pan.)

3. Once the foil is laid out, but not yet folded over, lay the brisket in the middle.
4. Pour the Lipton Onion Soup Mix over the top of the meat.
5. Add the BBQ sauce over the top.
6. Fill the BBQ sauce bottle half way with water, put the lid on and shake. Pour it over the brisket.
7. Close the aluminum foil layers in a tent, as described above.

8. Put in the oven for 6 hours. You can also cook it at 350 degrees for 3-4 hours. 9. When it is done, pull it out and let it rest for 15 minutes. Remove the meat and cut against the grain. The BBQ sauce and soup mix makes a nice sauce to serve with the meat.

This is a very easy recipe and very difficult to mess up. The only time I've screwed it up is when I made my tent too tight. For my friend Becca, who doesn't make a lot of meat, try this one out - it's easy and it slow cooks which makes it super tender and super yummy. Because you use a larger cut of brisket, it can last for the entire week and can be used in sandwiches, or eaten as the main course with potatoes, green beans and rolls.