Brisket is the meat from the chest of an animal, almost always a cow. It is a tough cut, full of the bits that hold meat together, so you cannot cook it fast like a steak. You cook it a long time, on a low heat — in a stew, in the oven, or, in American barbecue, smoked for many hours until it goes soft. In Texas, brisket is a famous pride food. Shops today nearly always mean beef when they say brisket, though the word can cover the same chest cut on other animals. Though actually, people stretch it: a “brisket” on a menu in Taipei is often the American smoked dish, not just any chest meat. Do not mix it with breast. Breast is the chest meat of a bird, or the front of a person’s body. Brisket is a butcher’s word for the cow’s lower chest.