Oven-Baked Brisket

1. Stage

Place the brisket, fat side down, in a 13x9-inch baking dish. In a small bowl, whisk together the Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, onion salt, liquid smoke, salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce. Pour the seasoning over the brisket. Turn the brisket fat side up. Refrigerate, covered, overnight.

2. Stage

Remove the brisket from the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 300°. Bake, covered, for four hours. Editor’s Tip: The brisket is finished cooking when you can insert a paring knife into the meat with ease. If you're using a thermometer, brisket starts to get tender at 190° (or you can take it as far as 200° for shreddable brisket).

3. Stage

In a small bowl, combine the ketchup, brown sugar, lemon juice, soy sauce, ground mustard, hot pepper sauce and ground nutmeg.

4. Stage

Spread the barbecue sauce over the brisket. Bake, uncovered, for 15 to 30 minutes longer, until tender. Editor’s Tip: Let the brisket rest for at least 30 minutes—or as long as overnight in the refrigerator—before slicing.

5. Stage

Cut the rested brisket diagonally across the grain into thin slices. Editor’s Tip: The way to cut steak is the same way to cut brisket: against the grain, the little lines that run parallel to each other on all meats. Position your knife perpendicular to the lines of the grain, then slice. These perpendicular slices will shorten each muscle fiber to the length of the slice, making the meat easier to chew and thus more tender. If you were to cut with the grain, on the other hand, each slice would contain long strands of muscle fibers, and the meat would be tough to chew, even if you had cooked the brisket perfectly.