Brisket -- it's official

B

Brisketexan

1,000+ Posts
There are few things in this world that I do well.

I am a lousy dancer.
I am a comedically bad fisherman.
I can't shoot a basketball to save my life.

But I make one of the world's finest briskets. I smoked 3 this weekend. I hit the mark on every last one of them.

Simple as hell on technique -- just requires time and patience.

Rub the night before with Bolner's brand brisket seasoning (add a little bit extra coarse cracked pepper).

By 8:30 a.m., my fire (started with some charcoal) of oak and pecan is ready. Put briskets on the smoker. Maintain heat at 170-225 for about 10 hours. At 6:30, remove beautifully black briskets from fire, wrap tightly in foil. Place in oven at 220 for 4-5 hours.

Result: perfectly smoked brisket, tender and moist as can be. Doesn't fall apart, but pulls apart with little expert. No knives were provided to my guests, and none were needed.

It was a thing of beauty. Every single person unhesitatingly said that they had never had a brisket that mine couldn't stand up to.

I am thinking of changing careers. A life lived in the pursuit of perfectly smoked meat -- I think I could do it.
 
Sweet...
I smoked a 12 pounder this weekend... Turned out very nice...

Pecan wood is the key.
Started it about 2:45 am, Saturday morning...till 2:45pm.

Wrapped it up, and stuck it in the oven... for 2 hours...

Ribs, were bad *** too....
 
Where you get the brisket really doesn't matter -- it's a low-quality cut of meat, even at its best.

The key for meat quality is that you don't get one that's too big. The 12 pounder described above is about the biggest I will do. I prefer a 9-11 pounder. Just like a turkey, a bit smaller means a good bit more tender and moist.

I got these at Randalls, where they were on sale for 88 cents a lb. Get 'em wherever they're on sale. Hell, sometimes Fiesta has them for 59 cents a pound -- hard to beat a $6 brisket.
 
Brisket is carrying about 1/3 of its weight in fat. It doesn't need basting, marinading, or any liquid treatment at all. The generally low cooking temp keeps a good bit of the moisture around, and the wrapping during the last several hours uses that moisture to your advantage.

I just use a plain old New Braunfels smoker, small offset box setup. I can get 2 briskets on at a time. It would be nicer if it could do more, but it's usually plenty of space for me. My biggest criticism is the thing-guage steel it's made with -- doesn't retain heat as well, and requires more fire-tending than I would like. However, I got mine almost 11 years ago, and by keeping it covered and clean, i have no real rust problems, and the metal has stood up very well.
 
brisketrub.jpg


"Ingredients:
Salt, Spices, Rice Flour, Sugar, Monosodium Glutamate, Onion, Garlic, Calcium Stearate (Free-Flow Agent), Tenderizer (Proteolytic Enzyme derived from Aspergillus Flavus Oryaze and from Papaya), Propylene Glycol (to Preserve Freshness), TBHQ and Citric Acid."

Mmmm, TBHQ.

It's pretty much a seasoned salt/cracked pepper blend.
 
I cook with on of those New Braunfels pit's with the firebox on the end. I do the following and it makes a perfect btisket everytime:

1) Build fire - only use center cut wood. No bark, the bark makes the smoke flavor bitter.
2) rub down w/ Tony Cachere's seasoning.
3) Cook brisket at 350 degrees from 7:00 pm till 11:00 pm.
4) Take brisket off of pit and wrap w/foil real good.
5) Fill firebox completely full of wood and allow to catch.
6) Put brisket at farthest end of pit and close off all dampers. Forget about it till next morning. The wood in box will cook it all night.
7) Brisket is moist, tender, smoked, and not falling apart.
 
Pevo, I haven't found that the bark makes any difference one way or the other.

Also, your 350 sounds pretty high -- but the rest of the process makes sense. Once you've wrapped it in foil, though, it's just a matter of heat and cooking -- with no exposed beef, it's not smoking anymore. Why not go ahead and take the shortcut of finishing it in the oven? Again, once you have all the smoking done and you wrap it, it doesn't matter what your heat source is.

I know that sounds like sacrilege, but the logic is pretty clear. Once you decide to wrap it, you're just cooking -- not smoking. Which is fine -- it's most important in that you are no longer obligated to tend a wood fire.

For my next project, I want to perfect the art of cooking a brisket cooper's style -- over mesquite coals. However, I'll have to build my pit, and I have no money, so that will have to wait a bit.
 
I wish I could find brisket cheap in CO. I bought a 9.4 lb brisket for $1.69 per lb. They were $3.48 at Sam's, and $6-$7/lb at most grocery stores.
 
I have built a near perfect pit for slow cooking over mesquite coals. During the Korean war, they shipped and stored helicopter rotors in these round metal tubs that look like a giant metal piece of tupperware. I put gate in the bottom and hinged the top and added a grate and a smokestack. It's a 3' wide circle and it sits about 3' tall. I've built 3 of them now and the supply of pristine tubs is one of my most closely guarded secrets. They cost anywhere from $25 to $50 apiece according to the mood of the person who owns them. I went ahead and bought two for safekeping last time I was out there. It takes about a decade to rust them out.
 
Somebody tell me where I screwed it up.

I had a 9.8 pounder. I started it at midnight with coal and oak (fat side up). Before this it had soaked in Dr. Pepper 4 hours and then sat overnight with a dry rub (thanks to Hornfans for the Dr. Pepper idea) in the fridge.

I keep it at around 170 (using a digital thermometer). It maybe hit 200 for about 15 minutes before 4 AM.

At that point it may have got up to 225-275 because I went to sleep after adding another load of coal. My wife was up at 7am, and noted the temp at 120. Despite clear instructions, she kept it steady at 130 until I woke up at 11am. Well - she really didn't pay attention to the heat at all, so I'm really not sure what happened while I was sleeping.

Well - I figured I was screwed at that low because I might be rotting instead of cooking (there were a couple flies around), but heated it up to 225 for about 30 minutes to kill anything, and then lowered it down to 170 until 3pm.

At 3, I rapped in paper bag and foil (again thanks to hornfans) and flipped and cooked at 220 for another 2 hours. Pulled and let it rest for a half hour.

The flavor was perfect, but not tender. It was real juicy, but I couldn't pull it apart and a knife was definitely needed. I think I may have over cooked it. 17 hours was probably too long.
 
I can dance, and I have a beautiful jump shot. When I'm really on, I can almost hit it from half-court consistently.

Can't cook to save my life though.
 
Gadfly -- bottom line is that you probably didn't have enough heat.

While low and slow is the rule, I think some folks put it TOO low. My ideal is 175-225, with a little over 200 being perfect. At times, let the heat approach 250 -- that's fine, and it gives you the heat you need.

At the end, when it is wrapped, you need to have it above the boiling point (212 degrees), because turning the moisture in the meat to steam is one of the things that tenderizes it, I believe. Again, when I wrap mine and put it in the oven, I do it at 220 or 225.
 
I agree with brisketexan-- 225 is fine and is not too high. If my temperature meanders from 180 to 225 and back, I'm never concerned.

Some people like to wrap their briskets, and some don't. I've tried it both ways and had excellent results either way. But I can tell you that the best way to know your brisket is ready, regardless of temperture and how much time it has spent on the smoker, is to stick your finger into the fat part of the meat (which is most definitely ON TOP) and, if your finger slides in easily, the meat is done. This trick has never once failed me.

And I also agree with brisketexan that it is not sacrilege to finish the brisket off in the oven, regardless of who tells you that it is. There's a point beyond which the brisket has absorbed all of the smoke that it is going to, and at that point the heat provided by the oven is in many ways superior to the grill.
 
Cooking my first brisket ever- tonight. Have the WSM fired up- meat on- and my meanass dog outside on patrol- guarding the smoker.

If you see firetrucks along Greenville Ave.- then something went horribly wrong- Police cars-- then it's just another regular night.
 
I read a magazine article the other day on soaking pork the night before in brine -- really made it juicy--also works for Thanksgiving Turkey

Wonder what it would do for Brisket?
 
for those who do not have a smoker here is a very very easy brisket in the oven...not the same i do admit but so simple it is scary and the outcome is pretty good......

7-10 pound brisket tightly wrapped in foil dome with one-two bottles of shiner and rubbed with brisket seasoning.....baked for 10 hours on 200.....last hour up to 225 or so.....no need for a knife....then add special bbz sauce....mine is very midwesten based.....and eat your *** off
 
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