Corned Beef Brisket is a pleasant and tasty main dish. This meat is most often combined with cabbage to make a quasi-traditional Irish dish more familiar to Americans than to Irish. It is also commonly slow cooked in barbecue sauce and shredded for sandwiches. Although I enjoy both of the previously mentioned dishes, I feel that every piece of the beef creature can be grilled and smoked to make a wonderful main dish.
- Score through the fat side of the beef in a diamond pattern, avoid cutting into the meat. Lightly pepper both sides. Believe me, you won't need any additional salt. The pickling process that makes it Corned Beef, leaves it well salted.
- Combine oil, honey, mustard, liquid smoke and ground cloves in a mixing bowl and whisk until well integrated. The mixture is very stable and should not require further mixing once combined. Mix to your own taste, the volumes indicated serve as a guideline only.
- On a hot low rack of the grill, sear both sides of the meat. Move the meat to a top rack and lower heat to about 230-240 F. Include a smoke box filled with hickory and thyme, but be careful not to overdo it as brisket can become bitter if smoked too long.
- After approximately 30 minutes begin basting meat with honey mustard mixture.
- Allow brisket to cook for at least 2 hours and as long as 4. It will be cooked to temperature relatively quickly due to the thin cut of the meat, but removing it from the heat too soon could result in a very tough eat.
- After removing from heat, allow to set for ten minutes and then cut in thin slices across the grain. Serve with remainder of sauce for dipping.
If you don't have a grill, the meat can be seared in a hot cast iron skillet and cooked on the top rack of the oven, but the results are sub par in my opinion.