Burnt ends were originally the part of the brisket nobody paid for. Pitmasters trimmed the fatty point off the flat, cubed it, and threw it back in the smoker because it was too tough to slice and too good to throw away. Then people started asking for the scraps by name, and the cheapest thing on the pit became the most expensive thing on the menu.

Mr. PoPo's Holy Spit is the third step up the heat ladder, built on ghost pepper, and it is the sauce that decides what these cubes become. Sugar in the sauce caramelizes against the hot pan and glues itself to every cut surface, which is why the cubes need to be a full inch and why they need room to breathe. Crowd the pan and you steam them instead.

Everything depends on already-cooked brisket. This is not the recipe that cooks the meat; it is the recipe that finishes it. Start with brisket that is fully tender, cube it, sauce it, and let a hot oven do in half an hour what a smoker does in three. Warn people before you set the tray down, because ghost pepper is not a suggestion.