Gabby’s Sweet Holiday Brisket

Day 1

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees (F)
2. Peel and chop onions, ¼ inch cubes, and reserve
3. Combine all the cola and both packages of onion soup mix in a "pour style" container - it’s going to foam, so make sure you have some extra room. When the foam settles, stir in both jars of chili sauce and all 6 tablespoons of garlic. Add in ½ of the chopped onions. Stir thoroughly (DO NOT SHAKE), and pour the sauce into the 11” X 15” baking dish until the dish is about half full.
4. Line your sink with foil or paper towel, open the brisket and drain any liquid. Make sure to take note of the weight before unwrapping the meat. Lay the brisket, fat side up, in the baking dish filled with sauce. Add remaining sauce, leaving the very top of the brisket exposed.
5. Refrigerate any extra sauce.
6. Spread the remaining chopped onions over the exposed top of the brisket. Cover the entire baking dish with heavy duty aluminum foil, and seal it as tightly as possible around the edges of the dish. Do not tent the foil.
7. Bake at 300° (F), one hour per pound of brisket.
8. Remove from the oven, and carefully lift off the foil. Let the brisket sit and cool, at least 3 hours.
9. When the meat is completely cool, re-cover it, and refrigerate overnight.

Day 2

1. Remove the brisket from the refrigerator, uncover it and place it on a cutting board, reserving the cooked sauce. Make sure the meat is fat side up. This fat is also called the "dickle." Using a very large, very sharp knife, cut across the top of the meat horizontally, to remove all of the fat. Since the dickle isn’t a consistent thickness across the top of the meat, it will be necessary to make a series of cuts.
2. Once all the fat has been removed from the top, find the grain of the meat. The grain will look like a series of fine lines in the meat. You have to slice the brisket against the grain, in other words in the opposite direction of the grain, or you will ruin the flavor and texture.
3. Take your reserved, already cooked sauce, and pour half of it into the second baking dish. Do not rinse out the original dish. Slice your brisket in approximately 1/8th inch thick slices. The cold meat should be very firm and it should slice easily.
4. Stack your slices, tightly, until the dish is completely full, end to end. Cover with some of the remaining sauce, till the top of your meat is just slightly exposed. Cover the dish with plastic wrap or parchment paper first, then foil, and seal. Put it back in the refrigerator overnight.
5. Next you need to fully caramelize any remaining sauce. Using your original cooking pan, take any extra sauce that has already been cooked, and combine it with the uncooked sauce you refrigerated the previous day. Bake at 300 degrees (F) for 1 hour. Cool sauce completely and refrigerate overnight.

Day 3

1. Take the meat out of the refrigerator at least 2 hours before you plan to serve it, and leave it on a counter, fully covered, so it comes to room temperature.
2. About 45 minutes before serving time, uncover the brisket, and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees (F) .
3. Heat the meat for 30 minutes or until the sauce in the baking dish is visibly simmering. Remove the brisket from the oven, plate and serve immediately.
4. While the brisket is baking, place the extra sauce in a pan. Bring the extra sauce to a simmer on the stove top. Serve on the side in a gravy boat.