The day before cooking, rinse the brisket and then dry it off with paper towels.

Mix all rub ingredients together in a small bowl and rub all over brisket.

I didn't have a large enough cast iron or terracotta pan, so I used a 9 x 12 pyrex pan. This will work, but you will need to watch your oven temperature if you are using this option. Cover the roast and let it rest overnight.

Optional: If you have some extra time, you can also start the fantastic No-Knead Bread Recipe in Forno Bravo's Hearth Bread downloads, or in this case, I started a sourdough bread. (See the links for these bread recipes in the Recipe Notes below.)

Fire up the oven the next morning (love this part!) to about 700°F, or pretty darn hot. The dome should be white with all of the black burned off. Move your fire to the side and let the temperature drop a bit. Stop adding firewood at this point. (Note: How long you will need to keep adding wood depends on how good your oven retains heat.)

Cover the brisket with the bacon and cover the dish with foil. The bacon adds lots of flavor and helps keeps the meat moist. (I had to place the brisket on a baking sheet as far away from the hot oven floor as possible because of the pyrex dish. If you are using a cast iron or terracotta pan, this is not an issue.)

You can also bake the unrelated bread at the same time when the oven's floor temperature drops to about 550° F. It will be an awesome 2nd breakfast :-)

Let the brisket cook under the foil for the first 4 hours or so. Remove the foil for the last 2-3 hours, which will then brown the top nicely. The cooking surface was still around 220°F by the time I removed the brisket. The meat turned out super tender and flavorful!

Serve in white corn tortillas with homemade pico de gallo and guacamole, Mexican rice, plus whatever other side dishes you enjoy to make this a feast.