When I was 18 years old, I moved from small town, Fallon, Nevada to Tulsa, Oklahoma to attend college there. During my first semester, I met my dear friend, Johnisha. She is this beautiful, fun, Texas girl. She actually works part time for us now, and I don’t know what I would do without her. She was from the Fort Worth area, and since it is only 4 hours from Tulsa, I was able to go home with her a couple times. The first time I had dinner at her house, Johinisha’s mama, Sally, made us Brisket. I can remember devouring it. It was amazing!!

That was the first time I had ever heard of brisket, which is strange being a cattle rancher’s daughter. But being from Nevada, we didn’t eat brisket. I asked my parents about it, and they said we always had our butcher grind it into hamburger. I know… what a shame!!! Now that I head up the butchering details myself, I always have our butcher include fresh brisket for our customers. It is my all time favorite cut of beef. Honestly, I dream of whole beef shares made entirely of brisket.
Now for the sad part, there is only one large brisket per whole beef, and our butcher usually cuts it into 4 pieces for us. Each piece usually weighs around 4-5 pounds. So in a whole 400/lb beef share, there are only 4 pieces of brisket. I know, this is sad for me too, but I guess we should just be thankful for what we get and not be greedy. 😉
Texas was my first experience with Brisket, but I was living in the dorms, and at 18 years old, I wasn’t thinking much about cooking brisket. Now, fast forward 7 years… I married a boy I met at college, Dusty, and he and I moved out to Virginia so he could complete more schooling at a University in Virginia Beach. He went to school, and I taught at an Elementary school. While living in Virginia, I met another beautiful and fun Texan named, Kaely. At the time, I was just learning how to cook, and she made an incredible brisket dinner one night. She gave me her recipe, and I still make it to this day. Seriously, Texans make the best brisket, and this recipe is a family favorite of ours now. Enjoy!

Melody, Kaely, Myself
This was around 8 years ago in Virginia. I have written about Melody before. She is my dear friend from Mississpi. Actually her brother married Dusty’s sister, so we are all family now! Another story for another day.
Kaely’s Brisket:

Set your oven at 225 degrees. Leave the brisket wrapped tightly in the foil, and put it on a baking sheet. Cook for about 7 hours. When you pull the cooked brisket out and open the foil, it should look sort of stringy. You can use 2 forks and start shredding it. It should break apart easily. If it doesn’t, it needs to be cooked longer.