Smoked Beef Brisket BBQ

Beef brisket is not cheap, typically around $9/lbs, but with the huge inflation ever since 2021, it could still be going up. Costco, Sam's Club, BJ's and your local grocery store all have briskets year round.

Total time: about 10-12 hours

Cooks for about: 8 to 16 hours, depending upon the size of the briskets. Smaller (4 - 5 lb) briskets typically smoke for 4 hours, then wrapped for 2 more.  Larger briskets go up from there!
Yield: 10 servings for a 5 lb roast

Easy to make!

Ingredients

• 1 or more whole brisket 4 to 15 lb  each - while small briskets do cook faster, the down side is they lose a lot of moisture, shrink more, and can get tough.
• Yellow mustard to make the other seasonings stick to the brisket
• 1/4 cup ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 4 teaspoon granulated garlic
• Aluminum foil or Pink butcher paper
• 1 cup beef broth or tallow warmed up to liquefy
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup water

Equipment

• Smoker
• Smoking wood: pellets or chunks of wood, whatever you like: hickory, apple, peach, cherry, pecan, etc. I save the wood from pruning my fruit trees and let it dry our for a few months, so I always have a supply of free premium smoking wood!
• Cutting board, knife
• Cooler

Directions

 Preheat your smoker to 250° - 275° degrees.

Fill the water pan and the wood tray with your favorite smoking wood.

Step 1 - Prepare the Brisket

 Trim the excess fat from the brisket so it is roughly 1/4 inch think, and evenly deep throughout. Smear the mustard all over both sides.

Mix the other spices (salt, pepper, dry garlic) and douse them over the brisket.

Step 2 - Start smoking

Lay the briskets on the racks in the smoker, fat cap side up. 

Insert your wireless remote meat thermometer.

Keep the smoke going and an even temperature of 225 F to 275 F, with ample water in the water pan.

Explanation:

the water pan is like a buffer or heat sink; it helps to stabilize the air temperature in the smoker in the best range AND it also keeps the smoke moist which helps to avoid the meat drying out.

Step 3 - Smoke until the temperature rise of the meat stalls

Smoke until the temperature of the brisket stalls (usually around 145 to 175 F) and that is usually about 3 to 4 hours into the smoking, depending upon the size of the brisket(s).

At this point, you remove the brisket, and double wrap it in either the butchers paper of aluminum foil.  This is a point of controversy with the BBQ'ists. Each side argues in favor of either paper or foil.,  Whatever. Do what you like.

Explanation:

The "stall" has to do with thermodynamics. the rise in temperature in the meat stalls (stops rising), because, as water leaves the meat, it cools it, like sweating. So, we use the wrapping to hold the moisture in and get the meat to cook (rise to 203 F).

Step 4 - Smoke until done (203 F) usually another 4 to 8 hours.

 Continue smoking until the meats heats 203 F.  Yes, ALL of the experts agree on that specific temperature.

Explanation:

If you leave it in longer and the temperature of the meat rises above 205°F (96°C), it will not become more tender, it will only continue to dry out

Step 5 - Holding (often called resting )

Remove the brisket from the smoker, still wrapped. Place the wrapped briskets into an insulated cooler (NO ice, you want the briskets to stay hot and SLOWLY cool).
Leave it in there for 2 hours or until temperature of the meat reaches 140° F. Time to relax as this may take several hours.

Explanation:

The holding is important to tenderize because it allows further low temp cooking. That further tenderizes tough connective tissue. and by keeping it wrapped, the meat can re-absorb some of the juices held in the paper or foil.

Step 6 - Carving

Open the foil or butcher paper and  run a knife through the fat layer between the point and flat, separating them, and then slice each against its grain separately . Carve 1/8 to 1/4 inch slices (3 to 6 mm) with your knife perpendicular to the grain of the brisket starting at the wide flat end to the narrower point.

Explanation:

The grains in the brisket actually run in 2 different directions, because there are 2 muscles: the flat and the point. The grains run in different directions on them. Most folks slice from the thicker, point end in about 1/8″ to 1/4″ (hick slices.

Pro tips

I use a tilt and pan wireless camera (cheap, like around $25) to monitor the smoker, the amount of smoke and the temperature of both the meat and the smoker. It saves running in and out of the house on a hot day!

 

Nutritional Information

Calories: 631kcal
Carbohydrates: 16g
Protein: 40g
Fat: 47g
Saturated Fat: 32g
Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g
Monounsaturated Fat: 10g
Cholesterol: 112mg
Sodium: 2980mg
Potassium: 945mg
Fiber: 6g
Sugar: 0.3g
Vitamin A: 129IU
Vitamin C: 0.01mg
Calcium: 119mg
Iron: 6mg