Oven Barbecue Brisket

Serves 6 to 8. Cut off excess fat from brisket. Season (rub meat) with salt, pepper, garlic, paprika if desired. Rub the brisket with oil and season and sear both sides in some oil in a hot pan (optional). Place sauce mixed with water (or beer or cider etc.) in bottom of roasting pan. Place brisket on sauce and coat to turn. Add onion and garlic on top of brisket. Cover pan tightly with heavy duty aluminum foil. Bake about 5 to 6 hours in a 275F oven. Remove pan from oven, carefully remove brisket to platter and let cool completely before slicing (meat at this point is so tender it could be pulled apart with a fork). Skim any fat off sauce, gently reheat sauce. Slice meat with sharp knife against the grain and spoon sauce over meat. Note: brisket will shrink quite a bit with cooking I like to make this dish a day ahead of time and chill the meat and the sauce separately. The cold meat is much easier to slice and then can be placed in the sauce and gently reheated in the oven- plus this dish tastes best with age!