Smoked Brisket
The smoked brisket is the pinnacle of smoked meats. If you get it right, it makes one of the most rewarding meals. But, it's also quite confusing in terminology and cuts… and it is challenging to get it to turn out perfect. Combine that with a higher price tag at the market and you get a pretty elusive Holy Grail. For this reason, check out the “Notes” section first.
Ingredients
- Full Packer Brisket
- Four Score Beef Rub
- 3/4 cup beef broth (optional)
Instructions
- Start by unwrapping your brisket, rinsing it, and patting it dry with paper towels.
- Trim the fat. If you have the full packer, you’ll cut a good bit off of it. Trim off the large, hard pieces of fat, leaving a thin layer. If the fat travels all of the way through the meat, leave some of it in place to keep the cut whole. You don’t want to end up with multiple cuts of beef.
- Season the meat with Four Score Beef Rub. You’ll want to use a generous portion. Work it down into any holes and crevices as well.
- Wrap the meat in plastic wrap, place in a container and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator to absorb some of the seasoning.
- Take the meat out of the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temp.
- Prepare your smoker and run it between 225 and 250 degrees.
- If you are adding wood chunks to provide smoke flavor, I like to use Oak for brisket. Add it to your smoker now. You’ll likely have to add more wood chunks and charcoal as it cooks in order to maintain the smoke and the temperature.
- Place your brisket on the grate and close up the smoker. Monitor the temperature, but avoid opening it up. You’ll need it to stay closed as much as possible to maintain overall temperature.
- When the brisket reaches about 160 degrees, you can consider wrapping it. If you plan to wrap it, add 3/4 of a cup of beef broth to the brisket as you wrap it up. Wrap it tightly.
- We’re aiming for a final temp of about 195 to 205. Once you reach the final temp, I like to unwrap the meat (if you wrapped it) and let it cook for another 30 mins to firm up the bark again.
- Let the meat rest for at least 3 hours. See note below about resting.
- Slice and enjoy! Try some of my Alabama White Sauce with it!!
Notes
- It's important to note that Briskets aren't as simple as, “Follow these steps and you'll get the perfect outcome. You can prep and cook a brisket the same way and get very different results each time. You have to start to learn the “feel” of the meat
- What is a “Full Packer” brisket? A brisket can be sold in various ways, but not always clearly marked. There are two primary cuts to a brisket…the Point and the Flat. The “Full Packer” includes both and is untrimmed.
- You HAVE to cook a brisket at a low temp for a long period of time. Typically 12 hours MINIMUM. My last cook was 14 hours and it turned out fantastic. For example, I have a barrel cooker that will normally cut cook times down dramatically while still producing great results….BUT NOT ON BRISKET. Don't take shortcuts with Brisket.
- As always, I prefer to use charcoal as my fuel source. I usually will use Kingsford briquettes charcoal, but for brisket I like to use a hardwood lump charcoal
- Temperature Probe – Ideally, you'll want to use some type of temperature probe to allow you to monitor the temp of the brisket without opening up the smoker and releasing heat and smoke flavor.
- Wrapping your brisket. When the brisket reaches about 160, you can consider wrapping it. I typically make this choice based on how long it has taken to reach 160 degrees. Wrapping it will speed up the remaining cook time, BUT REMEMBER, you don't want it to cook any less than 12 hours. So if you got to 160 degrees in 3 hours, you probably shouldn't wrap the meat. On a particularly cold day, you may HAVE to wrap it to get it to reach temp. I wrap my brisket with butcher wrapping paper. You can also wrap with aluminum foil if you don't have the paper. The paper offers some advantages, but I've had success with foil too. Wrapping the brisket has some pros and cons associated to it: Pros: it speeds up the cooking process by trapping the moisture and essentially steaming the meat. Cons: it softens the outside bark that is formed from the seasoning, making it soggy and less appealing. Once wrapped, it also won't pick up any additional flavoring from the smoke.
- The final cooking temperature range is about 195 to 205 degrees. This is really just a guide, as the true determination of a finished brisket is on the feel when inserting a thermometer probe. It should glide into the meat like a hot probe going into butter. If you reach 195 and it slides right in, time to stop. If it still has resistance, let it ride. Undercooked brisket will still be tough when you eat it. Overcooked and it will fall apart when you slice it.
- Resting – I know it is exciting to pull the brisket off and give it a try. Especially on your first attempt, but it is NOT DONE YET. You need to let the meat rest. YOU PAID A LOT OF MONEY FOR THIS MEAT. DON'T SKIP THIS STEP. Place the brisket in some type of sealed container, or wrap it up in foil. Place it in a cooler, cover it with a towel, and close the cooler up. Let it sit for AT LEAST 3 hours. I'm always amazed at how hot it still is when it comes out. Last time I did this, I cooked the brisket from 7am until 9pm, then I wrapped it and let it sit overnight. It was still hot enough to serve in the morning.
- Preparation Time – Since it is particularly difficult to plan the exact cooking time of brisket, I like to cook it at least a day ahead of when I need it. When doing this, I let the meat rest, then I slice it and then let it cool and place in the refrigerator. To heat it up, put the sliced meat in a crock pot with a half a cup of beef broth and let it warm up throughout the day.
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