This recipe deserves bonus points for being both simple and good. I was in the market for a dish that I could make on Friday and serve to six people at a dinner party on Saturday night. Something that would be even better the next day.

I found this recipe in Sarah Leah Chase’s New England Open House Cookbook. She calls it “The Best Brisket,” and she’s right. I roasted it on Friday; sliced it Saturday morning, and re-heated it just before dinner. Definitely worth making again and sharing.

I really recommend buying this book. I have more cookbooks than I can count, and this is the one that I reach for on a regular basis. Everything that I’ve tried has been wonderful.

Ingredients:

5-6 pound fresh beef brisket (trimmed of most fat)
2 packages Lipton onion soup mix
2 cans (Ocean Spray) jellied cranberry sauce
1 cup water

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Make sure the brisket fits rather snugly in the roasting pan. You don’t want lots of extra room around the sides.
3. With the fattier side on top, rub the two packages of Lipton onion soup all over the brisket.
4. Spread the cranberry sauce evenly over the top of the brisket, and pour the water into the bottom of the pan.
5.  Cover tightly with foil and roast for 3 1/2 hours. Check for tenderness at this point. I actually put it back in the oven for an additional half hour to achieve the tenderness I was looking for.
6. At this point, I degreased the sauce. I let the brisket cool down, covered and refrigerated it in the sauce in the roasting pan until the next morning.
7. Cutting a cold brisket against the grain is much easier that dealing with it when it’s hot.
8. I returned the slices to the sauce in the roasting pan and refrigerated it until late afternoon.
9. Reheating, covered, in a 350 oven took about a half hour.