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Brisket, Kansas City Barbeque (M, TNT)
Source: Mrs. Helt, my boss' boss' wife
Serves: 6-8 hearty eaters

Heavy duty aluminum foil
5-6 lb. brisket
6 oz. liquid smoke
Garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to taste (I used about five tbsp. garlic powder, 2 tbsp. onion powder, 2 tbsp. salt and 1 tbsp. pepper, but we like lots of spice)
1 to 2 cups barbecue sauce (any variety)

The night before: Line the roasting pan with several layers of foil, allowing lots of it to hang over the edges (you will be wrapping the brisket in this.)

Place the brisket in the pan, pour the bottle of liquid smoke over it, then add the garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Close up the aluminum foil and seal very tightly. Place in refrigerator to marinate overnight. (This will make the refrigerator smell like liquid smoke but the smell fades quickly once the brisket is removed.)

The next day, preheat the oven to 250ºF. This is NOT a typo.

Place the still-sealed brisket into the oven and leave it there for at least five hours. You can leave it there longer if it's well-sealed (I left it for six, but this would not be appropriate for Shabbat because leaving it much more than seven or eight would be too long, plus I don't think there's a good a way of doing this on the stovetop. Besides, the recipe's not over yet...).

After about three hours your entire house is going to start smelling like a really good barbecue restaurant. (This is part of the original recipe I wrote down during the meeting...)

An hour before you're ready to serve, lower the oven temperature to 200°F, or whatever setting you use to keep foods warm. Open up the aluminum foil and pour the barbecue sauce over the meat. Allow to heat through but do not allow the sauce to cook (it might burn.)

Serve with cole slaw and baked beans if you are so inclined. Hot brown-in-pan rolls are also traditional but if not available, warm white bread works, too. (If you'll pardon the Iron Chef moment.... If Memory Serves...) What is needed here is the cheapest yellow margarine you can find. At a good barbecue restaurant, the star is the meat and anything that takes away from its glory by being too good on its own must be saved for a different meal.

Poster's Notes:
1. My boss' boss (I love hierarchies like this) is from Kansas City and he says his wife won a contest with this recipe, which he recited from memory during a staff meeting. Now, as he absolutely insisted that this particular brand of barbecue sauce is necessary, I suspect it was a contest sponsored by KC Masterpiece. However, I checked and KC Masterpiece is kosher. There is also at least one brand of liquid smoke that is kosher.

2. My ex-roommate Margaret is also from Kansas City. She suggests, prior to adding the sauce, removing the meat from the oven and allowing to stand for a half hour. Then slice it across the grain and refrigerate overnight. (By now it's getting too labor intensive for me, but she likes it this way.) The following day, remove the congealed fat before adding the barbecue sauce, then cover it back up and return it to a slow oven (225-250°F) for an hour.

Posted by Gypsy/Phyllis Wilson

Nutritional Info Per Serving: N/A