First things first: You won’t be able to make this for dinner tonight. But if you’re looking for something meaty and delicious that is easy to put together and goes into the oven hours before it needs to be served, this is perfect. It would definitely work for Valentine’s Day dinner, or for any night where you can be in your house getting other things done while a giant hunk of meat cooks in your oven.

I chose this as one of my Super Bowl recipes for that reason: That I could put the marinade/rub on it Friday night, forget about it until Sunday morning, and then just throw it in my Dutch oven with a bottle of beer and get on with things. It was incredibly easy, and turned out so tender that it just shredded when we tried to slice it.

Some other things to keep in mind: Brisket is pretty expensive, at least for someone who doesn’t normally buy huge pieces of meat. This isn’t Texas-style smoked brisket, though we had a Texan at our house and he wasn’t complaining. You can serve it however you’d like, but I put it with some barbeque sauce, hamburger buns and cole slaw. And while I left out the onions because one of our guests has an allergy, you’re welcome to put them in your own version. I included them in the recipe below.

Beer-braised brisket (serves 6-8, adapted from Bon Appetit)
3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 tablespoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more
1 4–5-pound untrimmed flat-cut brisket
1 12-ounce can lager

Smash and then finely chop the garlic cloves. Put them in a measuring cup with the brown sugar, mustard, oil, pepper, cumin, paprika, cayenne and salt, and stir to combine the ingredients. Rinse and pat the brisket dry with paper towels, then rub the spice mixture all over the brisket. Put the brisket in a large plastic zip-top bag and allow to sit in the refrigerator for at least a day or up to two days.

Let the beef sit at room temperature about an hour before cooking.

Preheat the oven to 325F. Heat a deep baking dish that is safe for oven and stovetop (such as a French oven) to medium-high heat, and place the brisket fat-side down in for a minute or two to sear, then flip the meat and sear the other side for another minute or two.

Remove the dish from the heat and carefully pour in the beer. Make sure the meat is fat-side up, and cover the baking dish/roasting pan with a lid or foil. Cook the beef in the oven for about 5 hours, or until it is extremely tender.

If the top of the beef does not seem browned and crisp, take it out of the oven and heat the broiler, then broil the brisket (uncovered) for about 5 minutes.

Allow the beef to cool for a few minutes, then remove from the pan and shred to serve. Spoon cooking liquid over the shredded brisket for more moisture.

(For cole slaw, I used this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, minus the onion)