Smoking Brisket

Lets start with what is a brisket? A brisket is a tough cut off beef seen here:

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It is used for pastrami, BBQ Brisket, and is popular as part of a Passover Sader.


The process I'm going to take you through started on a Monday with a call to the butcher at my Local Lunardi's market to let him know to cut me a whole brisket from the Humboldt Grass Fed cow that they get each week. Then we jump to brisket pick up on Thursday, Dry rub on Friday, and smoking all day Saturday. I think smoking is the best way to prepare brisket.

To start is the cut, you'll likely need to talk to your butcher. You can either get a whole "packer" with or without the fat cap or a "Flat". A Packer with fat cap will be 13-14 lbs, without fat cap 10-11 lbs, flat 6-8 lbs. I prefer a full packer without the fat cap and trimmed nice and lean as seen here:



Once I peeled the fat that I didn't want I made some slits (that you can't really see in the picture) along the grain of the meat to let the marinade and rub in.

The "marinade" I did is an unconventional step when smoking a brisket and is kind of a cross between a marinade and a brine. It consisted of 32 0z water, 2 oz red wine vinegar, a healthy amount of salt and pepper, 1/2 cup of bakers sugar, and some holy trinity chunks



I threw it in all in a bag I got from the butcher and let it sit overnight in the fridge. In the morning I flipped it over so it'd be nice and uniform



Friday after work I pulled the brisket out, let it drip dry for a minute, and lightly patted dry. Then I applied the dry rub listed in my previous blog entry.



You want a nice layer all over and you want to be able to let it sit at least overnight so the rub can soak into the meat and really flavor it. Also, you don't "rub" it in, you sprinkle it on and lightly pat it in.

Now onto Saturday smoking. The coals were fired at 9:00, smoker loaded at 9:30 and at temperature



at 9:50 when the brisket was thrown on. The plan was 9 hours at 225 F smoking with hickory. Here is a shot at about 6 hours in. The fin that you see is the point flaring up when I flipped it. Once I flipped it back over to finish it stayed nice and flat.



Now we get to when to pull the brisket off the heat. You cook brisket to 180-200 F to allow the meat to break down and tenderize. I pulled this one at 185 then foiled it and let it rest (and continue cooking) for 20 more minutes. Then we got to slicing:



Beautiful bark, thick pink smoke ring, TONS of flavor. Uses for brisket are unlimited. This 10 pounder went to slices for dinner that night, thin slices for sandwiches, diced for chili, pizza, and tacos.

Give it a try and have fun.