Okay, I wrote this up for a friend who is a complete newbie to serious BBQ, but wanted to know how I cook brisket. I told him I had learned from Meathead, Aaron Franklin, and The Pit (ie here) and it was now all in my head. He asked me to please try to write it up, so I spent about 4 hours putting this down on paper. Here’s what I wrote up for my friend, plus pictures .... maybe it will help someone. And maybe it is a good place to start arguing ;-)
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A few notes about brisket
I suggest that you follow my method exactly the first time you cook a brisket. Once you have it dialed in to the point where you are happy, then start adjusting until you get to your perfect taste.
Rub for the meat .....
1/2 tsp Morton’s Kosher salt per pound
For a 14 lb brisket, trimmed, you will also want
5 tsp coarse ground black pepper
5 tsp granulated garlic
Use the salt as a brine 24 hours ahead of cooking .... liberally coat all sides of the trimmed brisket ... work some into the folds, flaps ... put on a cookie sheet, put in the fridge, allow to brine for 24 hours prior to cooking
Right before you cook, you will add the rub ... mix the pepper and garlic evenly, then apply liberally to the meat on all sides.
Important notes about cooking a brisket
Method
Trim the brisket per above video
Salt and dry brine for 24 hours
Prep grill for 2 zone cooking, bring to 225-250 on indirect side
Get smoke going using a smokenator or foil pouch of wood chips or wood chunks depending on whether using propane or charcoal
Get your grill thermometer set up and monitoring the indirect zone on your grill
Rub the meat per above instructions
Straight to the grill, place a meat temp probe in the thickest part of the meat
Cook per guidelines above about temps .... get over 190F and then start checking for "done" using the probe to feel like butter approach
When done, remove, wrap, hold in oven or beer cooler
When ready for dinner, slice into 1/4†slices .... check out this video on slicing brisket: https://youtu.be/sMIlyzRFUjU ..... slicing starts at the 8:00 mark
Serve :-)
Buying brisket
Preferably go to Costco and buy a Prime Packer Brisket ... this will have both the point and flat and come in cryovac. Bigger is better. Go 14-16 pounds. If your costco doesn’t carry whole packers, go to a local butcher and ask him for a whole packer brisket. If your butcher doesn’t know what that is, find a new butcher. :-)
Prime is way better than Choice. If you go higher grade than Prime, it will cook very different and very fast. Be aware.
A Prime packer, pre trim weight of 14-16 lbs, will need 12-14 hours to cook, plus 1 hour to prep the grill, plus minimum of 1 hour holding after the cook. Plan on 16 hours start to finish. If it is done early, hold in oven/cooler longer, which is fine.
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Whole packer brisket in cryovac
Starting to trim .... use a sharp knife, keep the meat cold
Trimmed and starting to dry brine
With the rub on, just out of the fridge, ready to go on the smoker
Just put it on the WSM at 2 AM
Just hit the stall ... notice the bark and the moisture on the meat .... it’s at 150F and doing good
What it looks like done!
And starting to slice it
On the plate with sides
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A few notes about brisket
- Brisket is the pectoral muscles of the cow. They are very heavily used and very tough, lots of connective tissue and hard/tough muscle. Long, slow cooking is required
- A brisket, cooked right, is the finest bbq you can cook.
- Spend a bit of money and buy quality meat
- buy a whole packer the first time you cook it
- Learn how to trim it .... there’s great YouTube videos showing this
- Aaron Franklin - great BBQ cook - trims and preps a brisket - https://youtu.be/VmTzdMHu5KU
- I actually dry brine my meat .... brisket, steak, chicken, etc ..... for 24 hours, or more .... dry brining is using salt with no liquid to tenderize and flavor the meat. 1/2 tsp of Morton’s kosher salt per pound of meat. Spread it on liberally. Put it in the fridge, uncovered, for at least 1 hour, preferably 24 hours, before cooking.
I suggest that you follow my method exactly the first time you cook a brisket. Once you have it dialed in to the point where you are happy, then start adjusting until you get to your perfect taste.
Rub for the meat .....
1/2 tsp Morton’s Kosher salt per pound
For a 14 lb brisket, trimmed, you will also want
5 tsp coarse ground black pepper
5 tsp granulated garlic
Use the salt as a brine 24 hours ahead of cooking .... liberally coat all sides of the trimmed brisket ... work some into the folds, flaps ... put on a cookie sheet, put in the fridge, allow to brine for 24 hours prior to cooking
Right before you cook, you will add the rub ... mix the pepper and garlic evenly, then apply liberally to the meat on all sides.
Important notes about cooking a brisket
- learn how to set your grill up for 2 zone, indirect cooking. You want the "cool side" of the grill to be 225 to 250 degrees. You achieve this by putting all your heat on one side .... on a charcoal grill you pile the charcoal at one side ... one a propane grill you turn on only part of your burners. You will have to experiment with your grill to find the right technique to achieve this. Use a quality digital thermometer to know the actual temperature in your cool or hot zone, depending. I recommend the Maverick ET-732, available on amazon for about $50
- Make darn sure you have enough fuel for a long cook. Brisket is 12-14 hours. You want a full propane tank, or about 20 lbs of charcoal, depending on your grill.
- Meat takes on smoke flavor best when it is cold. Get your grill set up, get your smoke rolling, then take your brisket out of the fridge, apply your rub and go straight to the grill.
- Meat doesn’t absorb smoke well as it gets warmer, as a practical matter after an internal temp of about 150F, so don’t worry too much about smoke after that. However, when the meat is cold and moist, it absorbs a lot of smoke. That's why we go straight from the fridge to the smoker and why we have a water pan in the cooker.
- A brisket will stall during the cook. This is normal. Don’t freak out. Do plan for it. Your meat temp will naturally rise to about 155F and then suddenly stop going up. IT IS NORMAL. The moisture in the meat is evaporating and cooling the meat off faster than the temp is increasing from the grill heat. This will continue for several hours, then the meat comes out of the stall and goes up slowly after that
- Meat temp is a guide. The real way to know if the brisket is done is to probe it with a thin, pointy "probe" .... a thermometer or cake probe ... when your probe enters the meat and feels like a knife going into warm butter ... it is done.
- Meat temp helps, though. Quality brisket is getting into the done range when it’s internal temp is 190F. Start checking it then. Somewhere between 190 and 205, it should be done.
- After it is done, you should wrap it tightly in aluminum foil (very tight) and put it in a 170F oven for at least one hour. Or wrap in old towels around the foil and then into a beer cooler (will hold the meat at 170) for at least one hour. COuld go as long as 4 hours, depending.
- When ready to slice, take it out of the oven or cooler, unwrap, let it sit on cutting board for 10-15 minutes. You want the internal temp to come down a bit, to about 150 .... makes it slice easier
Method
Trim the brisket per above video
Salt and dry brine for 24 hours
Prep grill for 2 zone cooking, bring to 225-250 on indirect side
Get smoke going using a smokenator or foil pouch of wood chips or wood chunks depending on whether using propane or charcoal
Get your grill thermometer set up and monitoring the indirect zone on your grill
Rub the meat per above instructions
Straight to the grill, place a meat temp probe in the thickest part of the meat
Cook per guidelines above about temps .... get over 190F and then start checking for "done" using the probe to feel like butter approach
When done, remove, wrap, hold in oven or beer cooler
When ready for dinner, slice into 1/4†slices .... check out this video on slicing brisket: https://youtu.be/sMIlyzRFUjU ..... slicing starts at the 8:00 mark
Serve :-)
Buying brisket
Preferably go to Costco and buy a Prime Packer Brisket ... this will have both the point and flat and come in cryovac. Bigger is better. Go 14-16 pounds. If your costco doesn’t carry whole packers, go to a local butcher and ask him for a whole packer brisket. If your butcher doesn’t know what that is, find a new butcher. :-)
Prime is way better than Choice. If you go higher grade than Prime, it will cook very different and very fast. Be aware.
A Prime packer, pre trim weight of 14-16 lbs, will need 12-14 hours to cook, plus 1 hour to prep the grill, plus minimum of 1 hour holding after the cook. Plan on 16 hours start to finish. If it is done early, hold in oven/cooler longer, which is fine.
——————————
Whole packer brisket in cryovac
Starting to trim .... use a sharp knife, keep the meat cold
Trimmed and starting to dry brine
With the rub on, just out of the fridge, ready to go on the smoker
Just put it on the WSM at 2 AM
Just hit the stall ... notice the bark and the moisture on the meat .... it’s at 150F and doing good
What it looks like done!
And starting to slice it
On the plate with sides
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