Let the rain fall down

Yes, it was a bit of a rainy weekend here.  I wasn't going to let that stop me from celebrating the fact that I'd officially resigned from my job though.  L asked what I wanted to do, and my response was to have a low-key weekend filled with a deep cleaning of the house and cooking.  That wasn't quite what he was expecting, but he obliged by helping out with the cleaning and over the course of two days, we knocked out every room in the house, including the sun porch and thoroughly cleaning the fridge.  This means L has now discovered our Swiffer mop and he seemed to enjoy pressing the button.  Our floors look good.

If you're wondering what cooking was involved, one of the things I made on Saturday was a brisket.  This was a first for me.  I've always wanted to try it, especially since I got a great recipe for one as part of a wedding gift.  I thought I'd share my effort so I took pics and the whole bit.  Without further adieu, here's my recipe for the easiest brisket EVER:

BRISKET

What you need:
Brisket
Liquid Smoke
Celery Salt
Onion Powder (can be substituted for Onion Salt)*
Garlic Powder (can be substituted for Garlic Salt)*
Salt
Black Pepper (Ground or Fresh-Cracked, which is what I prefer)

*If you opt for the salt versions instead of powders, omit the regular salt from the recipe.

Start by heating the oven to 400 degrees.  Next up, trim the fat from your brisket.

Line a jellyroll pan with heavy duty foil.  Make sure your pan has a lip around the edge to catch any juices that may seep out of your foil.  Place your brisket lean-side up and pour 1/4 C liquid smoke over it.  Sprinkle all seasonings on top.

Flip your brisket over, fat-side up, and repeat.  The reason my liquid suddenly looks black is because I realized we had some browning liquid that needed to get used up, so I added that to my second 1/4 C of liquid smoke.

Seal the foil up around the brisket and place in the oven.  Reduce the heat to 275 degrees.  The recipe I was using called for cooking it 45 minutes per pound, but if you have an oven like mine that runs hot, you might want to go with 30 minutes per pound and check on it.  Actually, depending on how rare you like your meat, you might want to do that, anyway.

Once it's done, open the foil and let it rest for a bit.  It'll look something like this:

Slice it thinly and serve with some of the juices.  If your husband is new to using electric knives, don't assume using one will be second nature to him.  You might just want to save yourselves the headache and just slice it yourself. 

If you don't eat it all in one sitting, take the leftovers and place them in a plastic bag with any remaining juices to help keep the meat... moist (sorry, hate that word).  All in all, pretty tasty.  And easy.  And relatively quick.



Also, we watched The Blind Side on Friday night and I love, love, LOVED it.  I look forward to the day when it is run on cable tv and I can catch it unexpectedly while flipping channels.