[BBQ Advice] Smoking Brisket

heypartner

Although I admire your spirit and determination, I disagree with many of the things you're saying and the conclusions you're making.

I smoked my first brisket (and only... so far) in 2010. I did a LOT of research from countless sources, many of which are legendary Texas bbq greats. I did field research by traveling to Lockhart, TX, tasting brisket at different places there, asking about their cooking methods and learning as much as I could.

When I finally cooked the brisket, it was the best I've ever had. (link)

For your sake, and for the betterment of us all...

.... including Behad (no offense, sir. Your hospitality was kind and generous!)...

.... I will offer up ALL of my brisket-cooking advice in a forthcoming post.

 

you cooked brisket once and you're a mster.

 

Droxford's Brisket-Cooking Directions

If you follow all of these steps precisely, I guarantee your result will be quite possibly the best brisket you will ever eat.

Prior to cooking

• Bring brisket to room temperature before cooking
  
  
• Trim fat to approximately 1/4 inch thick.
  
  
• Rub down the entire brisket with plain yellow mustard.
  
  
• Cover the brisket moderately (not too heavy, though) with a dry rub of your choice. Most great brisket-makers use only salt with some black pepper and maybe trace amounts of paprika. I used rub that I bought at Smitty's market in Lockhart, TX. It's mostly salt. I recommend staying away from rubs that have a lot of different ingredients - the rub should not add flavor, it should enhance the existing flavor.
  
  
• Place brisket on in smoking chamber with fat side up (so that it renders down into the meat)
  
  
• place a foil pan (from dollar store) under the meat to catch fluid from the meat so it doesn't get all over the bottom of your smoker

Cooking

• Use an offset smoker - never cook brisket directly over fire or heat source.
  
  
• Use Post Oak wood.
  
  
• Do not put raw wood into your fire chamber. Turn the wood into coals first. This can be accomplished by cutting the wood into pieces, putting them into a chimney starter, and placing the chimney over a gas burner (my grill has a gas burner on the side). Use the burner to get the wood on fire and burn down a little to coals. Then place them into the fire box.
  
  
• Open and close firebox air vents as needed to control temperature of the smoking chamber
  
  
• Temperature in the smoking chamber (around the meat) should always be kept between 225 and 240 degrees F. Never allow your fire temperature to drop or climb outside of that zone (or, at least, not for long).
  
  
• Do not mop, baste, season or apply any other treatment to the brisket. Leave it alon.
  
  
• Cook the brisket until the internal temperature of the meat is between 185 and 190 degrees F. No more. No less. Use a probe thermometer to monitor the meat temperature.
  
• Remove brisket and server as-is. DO NOT APPLY ANY BBQ SAUCE OR FURTHER SEASONING TO THE BRISKET. The brisket alone should have spectacular flavor. If it doesn't, you have failed to cook is properly per the directions above.

If you ever choose to follow these directions, please post again to this thread (bump it, if you have to) describing your results and thanking me.

-- droxford

 

never said I was a master. I said I learned from the masters.

 

I pretty much do it the way you describe(and I have done at least a dozen briskets in the time I have had that pit) except I rub with olive oil and then rub with salt, lemon pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.

I also dont bother precharring my wood, I've done it both ways and noticed no appreciable difference.

rockbox,

Once you have used a offset pit long enough, you know how it reacts and keeping the temp constant isnt difficult. Im a night owl anyway so I dont mind staying up late with it. I just dont like to cook meat that I'm smoking on direct heat...offset all the way, you guys can have your hip little egg pits and stuff like that...there is a reason why all the professionals use offset firebox smokers.

 

The offsets have a bigger cooking area, that's their main advantage

 

The reason professionals use off-sets isn't because of temperature control. Weber smokey mountains are used quite often at competitions and they aren't direct heat since there is a huge water pan that shields the food from the fire.

Watch this video starting 1:20 to see how finicky temperature can be on a off-set.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/TD247K8KltY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

I want to add is about temperature control. The main thing is consistency. You can smoke your brisket at up to 350 degrees as long as you know what you are doing. Some of the pits in central Texas have temperatures of up to 450 degree. The biggest thing with making brisket is it's ready when it's ready. Sometimes it's 10 hours, sometimes it's 16 hours. I wait until it hits 185 degrees and then I start feeling it every 30 minutes to 1 hour.

 

Although it is possible to cook the brisket at such high temperatures, it will cook too fast, resulting in a more dry, tough brisket that doesn't have as much flavor. The higher the temp, the faster it will cook and the more this will be true. For best results, I recommend following the temperatures that I mentioned.

And, yes, the advantage of an offset smoker is a much better distribution of heat through the meat, as opposed to having the heat source directly under the meat.

 

Well the current master of brisket - Aaron Franklin - cooks at 350 and his brisket is the best I've ever had. It certainly isn't dry or tough. But since I'm no Aaron Franklin, I tend to cook at 225. However, I cooked the last one at 300 (by accident honestly) and it actually came out marginally worse, but in far less time. I think the key is just making sure the temperature is consistant. The benefit you point out isn't limited to offset smokers - the egg does the same thing when you use the plate setter - that is the whole point actually.

 

I did a prime cut brisket for the first time this weekend. I didn't even know there was such a thing but apparently there is. It turned out way too moist. The flat was as moist as a normal point, and the point melted in your mouth. The problem is there was no way to render enough fat without brisket just falling apart and I couldn't trim enough fat because it was so marbled into the meat. I'm have to figure out if I actually like this cut or not because it was so fatty.

 

This thread, all on its own, could make me move back to Texas. You sumsabizches.

 

HeyP has this same pit as my cousin, you can't tell though because Colorado is pretty much a rectangle:




In honor of Sept 1 and the upcoming season, a little bacon-wrapped jalapeno stuffed with half a dove breast, onion and queso blanco:

 

HP, what don't you like about the vertical? The big front door that let's heat out?