RuthAnn’s Brisket Recipe

We are happy to share with you that after 10 years of raising our own cattle, brisket no longer intimidates us and we are sharing with you what we have learned.

Don’t be intimidated about preparing this great cut of meat. Simply allow plenty of time!

Printing the recipe below in the recipe card is an option, or I have included my favorite way to write out recipes in a PDF, feel free to download using the button below!

RuthAnn's Brisket Recipe

Because there is only 2 Briskets per cow, it has taken Elvin and I a long time to gain confidence in preparing Brisket because the opportunity for Preparing brisket has only been as numerous as how many cattle we have raised and harvested. We are happy to share with you that after 10 years of raising our own cattle, brisket no longer intimidates us and we are sharing with you what we have learned. Don’t be intimidated about preparing this great cut of meat. Simply allow plenty of time! The Brisket is a that big muscle that hangs down between a cows front legs, it does no work so is very tender and has a lot of connective tissue, (yea collagen!!) For this reason, a long, slow cooking method is the best fit for Brisket. The average size of a Whole brisket is between 8-12 pounds. Grocery stores will often sell the brisket in two different parts. If you want a whole Brisket and you don’t have one in your freezer, check with your local butcher shop. Plan on 60 -75 minutes in a 250F oven per pound of brisket. For example, If you have a 10-pound brisket you want to plan 10 -12 hours of oven or smoker time.

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Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

1 10–12-pound whole brisket
Black pepper
Quality salt Or your favorite dry rub
Lots of patience

Method

Preparing Your Brisket For Cooking

Trim some of the fat cap from your brisket. This cut has plenty of fat marbled within the
muscle and you don’t need a large fat cap.
Sprinkle your brisket generously with black pepper on all sides.
Then sprinkle generously with salt. Or use your favorite dry rub recipe.
Place your brisket in a large roast pan, fat cap side up.
Place the lid on (or wrap in foil) and refrigerate overnight or for 12 hours.

Cooking your Brisket:

After 12 hours of refrigeration, put your brisket, covered, into a 250F oven.
Check the temperature of your brisket after the first 8-10 hours.
When your Brisket has reached 200-202 degrees it is finished. But don’t panic if you are still a few hours from mealtime! One of the secrets to making a great Brisket is to let it “rest”.

How and why to ‘Rest’ your Brisket:

Why:

Resting the brisket allows it to reabsorb its juices, results in greater flavor and juiciness. It also allows the collagen (connective tissues) to continue to break down resulting in amore tender brisket. Resting the Brisket helps with slicing.

How

Remove the Brisket from the oven, let it set on the counter at room temp for 15-20 minutes to stop the cooking process. Then leave it covered and wrap it up tightly in a towel or wool blanket. put the towel wrapped roast pan back into the cooled oven and let it rest there until ready to serve. Rest for a minimum of 1 hour or up to 3 hours.

Notes

Serving your Brisket:
Cut ¼ inch slices, against the grain.
Slice the fattier end in thicker slices, or cube this end for burnt ends.
Slice only what is needed to prevent drying out.
Serve with BBQ sauce or juices from the brisket, or with BBQ sauce
https://ruthannzimm.com/canned-bbq-sauce/
on Hamburger buns. https://ruthannzimm.com/hamburger-buns/
Serve with sides like coleslaw and baked potatoes.
Leftovers make great tacos, or as a topping for baked potatoes.

Watch our YouTube Video on Brisket Here!

One Response

Kristy Dennis says:

March 7, 2026 at 10:34 pm

That was a lot of pepper you put on it in the video. 🙂 We like to sprinkle ours with season salt, garlic salt, onion salt and celery salt (all the salts!) along with salt and pepper. Then we put some Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke (since we don’t have a smoker), and a little water on it and wrap it in foil and bake it low and slow. When it is done, I take it out, slice it, return it to the pan with some of the juice, put some BBQ sauce on it and let it cook for like an hour longer and then sit before serving. One of our favorite dishes!

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