Brisket smoking 101
By Bill Wight, cbbqa member
Welcome to Brisket 101. In this article we will try to help
you smoke a brisket, Texas style. Now I realize that I am just a
Californian, and what you ask does a Californian know about
Texas-style barbecued brisket. Well, quite a bit in fact.
But as you will see, I have some help from a true Texan and a New
Mexican, both of whom are true brisket experts.
Q: Just what is a brisket?
A: The brisket is a piece of meat from the breast of the
beast. This muscle gets a lot of work, hold up the animal and
helping it move it's front legs. Muscles that get a lot of work
are considered tough cuts of meat.
Here is an illustration of the primal cuts in a side of beef:
Note that the
illustration above is Canadian and has slightly different terminology,
although Canada uses the same sub-primal names and IMPS numbering as
the US. Here the "Hip" is known in the US as the "Round".
Q: OK, I see where the brisket comes from.
What does a brisket look like? A: Here is the
way a barbecue cook buys a brisket. It comes in a Cry-O-Vac
package, right from the packing house. Do not buy a brisket you
want to smoke in any other form or packaging.
The brisket is not just one muscle. It is in fact two. The
muscles are called by two common names. The longer and flatter
muscle is the 'flat' and the other muscle is the 'point' or the
'Deckle'. When we barbecue a brisket, we cook the
entire brisket--we never cut it into smaller pieces.
The muscles of the brisket have a grain, as do all muscles. You need
to learn the direction of the grain before you cook your first
brisket. Before cooking look at the meat. the grain of the
flat runs in a different direction from the flat. OK, I
told you I had two brisket experts on hand to tell you how it's done.
The Texan - Bill Maynard AKA Belly (RIP)
I think that beef brisket belongs to Texas like peanuts to Georgia and
pulled pork to North Carolina. Did you know that until about forty
years ago, brisket was considered a worthless cut of meat? Most folks
would just grind into hamburger meat. But down in the hill country of
Texas, ol' brother Wolf was buying all the brisket he could get to
make his chili with. Then about 1950, two German brothers, who had a
meat market, begin cooking barbecue in their market to use up leftover
meat. So one of them got the idea to smoke a brisket as he was smoking
sausage one weekend. So he left the brisket all weekend in his
smokehouse. Then on Monday, as they were serving their barbeque--pork,
sausage and chicken--he cut a slice off the brisket and put some on
each lunch plate. Everyone began telling him how good and tender it
was. So with that they began to cook beef brisket for barbecue. So
Texas owes the two German meat market brothers from the hills of Texas
for our Beef Brisket Barbecue.
Like lots of things, the briskets of today are so much improved over
the time of the German brothers. The briskets of old were over half
fat, but with the better cattle now, you get lots better beef brisket.
But still the only way to make them good and tender is good slow
cooking over good hardwood smoke. So here's the way this ol' Texan
tries to cook a beef brisket.
Smoking A Beef Brisket
1 Pick a well-marbled brisket--one where most of the fat is down in
the meat and not all fat on the outside--but you do need a layer of
fat on the outside too. Fat inside the meat will help keep it moist,
so you still need some fat both on inside and outside, but remember
selecting a good brisket is half the technique of good barbecue. Get
one in a Cry-O-Vac package.
2 Size of your brisket--a real good size is a brisket from 6 to 10
pounds. The size, big or small, will be more of a personal choice.
Just remember slow cooking for 1 1/2 to 2 hours per pound is a pretty
fair timetable for cooking a brisket at 225F. But first, ya got to
season it!
3 Seasoning your brisket--there are as many ideas on the best way to
season a brisket as there are brisket cooks. No two will do it the
same and very few will do it the same way two times in a row. You can
marinate, dry rub or both or sprinkle it with spices or do all three.
I myself do a little of it all.
3 A Marinate--maybe store bought marinate or maybe your own. I use a
mix of Beer, Dr. Pepper, and Willingham's commercial marinade. Just
cut a hole in the Cry-O-Vac package, pour in the marinade and seal the
hole with some duct tape. I let the brisket marinate overnight in the
refrigerator. Dry it off the next morning and let sit for about half
an hour.
3 B Dry Rub---I use a mix of Garlic powder, black pepper, salt, cumin,
red pepper and a little brown sugar. Almost forgot the paprika; put
some on as it gives the brisket a nice color. But there's lots of good
dry rubs out there on the market. Try them. So after the brisket sits
for 30 minutes, warming up, I give it a good rub with the dry rub
mixture. Rub it in good, don't just sprinkle it on.
4 Fire--it don't make a big difference on what or how you're cooking
as long as you have a good, low, long-time steady heat. It may be
wood, electric or gas. I have for the last twenty-five years used a
wood fire in everything from a barrel to wash pot to a high dollar
smoker. I still say you can cook good barbeque in anything, as long as
you watch your fire. What you want is a good steady low fire with a
temperature between 200/225F at the meat level.
5 Smoke-cooking the brisket--Put the brisket on the grill fat side up.
I have found that I do better with my brisket if I cook it about an
hour per pound on a good low fire of hardwood and then wrap it in foil
and put it in a picnic cooler or Styrofoam dry ice chest for up to
eight hours (wrap it in some towels for more insulation, so it keeps
warm longer). If I slow cook my brisket for 18/20 hours in the smoker
my briskets are always too dry for me. But remember, any ol' boy can
be like the blind dog and find a better way to do it. Good smoke will
have a sweet flavor and that is what you want, not a bitter flavor.
You will get a smoke ring of 1/32 to 1/2 inch most of the time. The
presence or absence of a smoke ring don't make a big difference in the
taste of your brisket but do make a better looking brisket. Different
seasonings will make a difference in the size of your smoke ring.
6 Slicing and Presentation. Last but not to be overlooked, is the
presentation of your brisket. I don't care if it just for your wife
and kids or your mother-in-law or your boss or if you're in a million
dollar cook-off, a brisket that is half bad, will come out extra good
if it is sliced and presented just right. Always slice your brisket
across the grain of the meat. This is very important, as it will make
a more palatable and tender slice of meat. Remember, a good barbecued
brisket don't need a sauce poured over it--serve it on the side.
7 Now, that's the way we do it up the Paluxy River in the hills of
Texas. Talking about all this makes me want to go cook some barbecue.
Beef that is.
The New Mexican - Danny Gaulden--
(Editor--Danny says he's smoked over a hundred and fifty thousand
briskets in the last 25 years. The man knows his brisket.)
The first thing one needs to know is how to pick out a good brisket.
For home smoking, one in the 8 to 10 pound range works well, and
doesn't take as long to barbecue as an 11 to 12 pounder. Look for a
brisket that has about 1/4 to 1/3 inch of fat across the top. This is
generally called the "fat cap" by most barbecue folks. Don't buy a
pre-trimmed piece, for it will not cook as tender, and will be dry.
With the brisket lying down and the fat side up, try to pick one that
is thick all the way across the flat. This can be hard to do
sometimes, for most are thick on one side, and taper down to become
fairly thin on the other side. Try to find one that has a more rounded
point, rather than a pointed point. Briskets with rounded points tend
to be more meaty in this area. Briskets come in two grades, "choice or
select". Choice grading costs just a few cents per pound more than
select, and generally has more marbling. Either will do well, but
choice is usually a little better.
After you have chosen your brisket, generously apply a good rub on it,
wrap it in clear wrap, and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.
This will allow the seasoning to work its way into the meat a bit.
The next day, as you are building your fire, bring meat out of the
refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
You do not HAVE to apply a second fancy rub at this point. If you
don't have one, just use a little salt, pepper, and powdered garlic.
You don't have to use any kind of a rub if that is your desire, but I
prefer to use one.
After your fire has settled down to around 240-250F, put the brisket
in the pit, fat side up and leave it like that the entire time if
you're using a pit like my Big Bertha with a Ferris wheel rack system
or a water smoker. Now if you're using an off-set firebox type pit,
like a NBBD or a Klose, put the brisket on the rack fat side up and
then turn it over and mop it every two hours so the bottom side
doesn't get too much heat and dry out. While it's with the fat side
up, the fat renders and penetrate in, over, and around the cooking
meat. When brisket becomes fork tender in the flat, take it off the
pit, let it cool for about 30 minutes, then slice and serve. Always
check brisket for doneness in the FLAT, not the point. The point will
generally become tender before the flat, and can deceive you. Continue
to cook until the flat is tender. OK, a lot of folks on the BBQ List
asked me what the internal temperature is when I take the brisket out
of the pit after I figure they're done. So I measured a bunch of them
with a meat thermometer and almost all of them were right at 188F.
If you're not ready to eat it as soon as it done, double wrap in foil,
and set it in a non-drafty place or a small ice chest (no ice) until
you are ready to serve it. Don't leave it for too many hours, or you
can risk food poisoning. As long as the internal temperature of the
meat stays between 140 to 160F, it is safe.
How many hours does one smoke a brisket? This argument will go on till
the end of time, and is hard to answer, for there are so many
variables. Two people that think they smoked their briskets exactly
the same will most likely come out with two totally different
finishing times. I like to smoke mine for about 1 to 1 1/4 hours per
pound. That would put me at about 10 to 12 1/2 hours for a 10 lb.
brisket. No longer. I peg 240-250F as constantly as possible. Sure,
one will have some temperature ups and downs, but I keep it at that
temperature fairly well. I don't go off and forget about the fire and
I don't open my pit every 10 minutes to "take a peek". I choose a good
piece of meat. All these things make a difference in how long the
process will actually take. Another thing to take into consideration
is the quality of the meat. All briskets are tough, but some are
tougher than others. This will have an effect on the overall smoking
time also. I have made a few boo-boos in my many years of smoking
briskets, but not many. Ninety nine times out of a hundred, they are
tender, juicy, smoky, and a piece of meat I am proud to serve to
friends and customers.
Q: How do I cut and prepare this brisket I just
smoked? A:
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