Here's my all-purpose braise for gnarly cuts of meat like chuck, short ribs, etc. It should also work with brisket, but I've never tried it:
Dry meat well, season with S&P and brown well on all sides in cast iron dutch oven or equivalent. Remove and set aside. In same pan saute onions, carrots, and celery (How much? I dunno - maybe two cups of each for a 4-lb chuck roast) until onions are nicely colored.
Pour about 6 oz. of gutsy red wine into a glass and set aside - pour remainder of the bottle on top of the beef/vegetables. Add some beef stock to bring the liquid level about halfway up the meat, more or less, if necessary. Add some peppercorns, a couple whole allspice, bay, and thyme. Bring to a boil on top of the stove, scraping up all the wonderful stuff on the bottom of the pan. Cover and place in a 300 degree oven.
Take the glass of wine you saved and curl up with a good book for the next two hours or so, adding more wine as necessary. Turn the meat whenever you need to get up to refill your wine glass, if you happen think of it.
When the meat is done enough (when a fork slides through it easily - somewhere between about an hour and a half for smaller pieces like short ribs to maybe two and a half for a larger roast) remove it from the pot, cover and set back into the (turned off) oven to keep warm. Sieve the vegetables out of the braising liquid. Reduce the liquid to a cup or less, adjust seasoning, and swirl in some butter to bind and thicken.
Serve with the sauce. Enjoy.
All purpose recipe for good tenderloin:
Slice into thick (2") steaks. Grill briefly over the hottest fire you can find. Serve very, very rare with the best wine you can afford. Anything else is heresy, IMHO.  | 
