Smoking a brisket? for Questionland Seattle

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Smoking a brisket?

I've done a lot of pork shoulders in my Big Green Egg, but now I want to try a brisket. I did one before, several years ago, but it came out lousy -- dry. The plan is to cook it between 200-230 for as long as it takes, hopefully about 12 hours, with good lump charcoal and a mix of mesquite and pecan wood, maybe soaked in something other than water. Wine? Brown ale?

Any other tips? What should I look for when I buy my meat?

Fnarf asked in Meat 9 months ago | Report

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Andrew Beck

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Make sure you get a whole brisket and not just the flat. Most grocery stores separate the flat and the point. Ask for a whole packer brisket. You want one in the 10-12 pound range. When you get it home you are going to want to trim off a lot of the fat. I like to leave about 1/4" of fat all over the cap, some people like a little more, some people like a little less. It's also a good idea to mark you brisket at this time. What you do is square of a bit of the skinny flat, cutting perpendicular to the grain. This will let you know which way the grain runs and how to cut once it is done. It can sometimes be hard to tell when the black barky meat comes out.

Next you're going to rub it with your favorite rub. Brisket tends to do better with rubs that are higher in salt than sugar (pork tends to work better with sweeter rubs). Here is one close to what I use:

60g Salt
50g Sugar
30g Black Pepper
15g Paprika
10g Lemon Powder
10g Worcestershire Powder
7g Garlic Powder
5g Mustard Powder
5g Cayenne

I don't inject or marinate my briskets.

At the point you smoke it until it's done. You're looking for an internal temperature of 185-190. I'm a big proponent of smoking the meat fat side down and not turning or touching it all during the cook. I also believe brisket should be cooked over oak. Pecan, cherry, apple, and peach are good to mix with the oak, but oak is best.

Once it hits the temp you want to remove it from the smoker and let it rest. You basically have two options. The first is wrap it in foil and let it sit for at least 30 minutes. The second is to wrap it in foil and put it in a beer cooler for a couple of hours (if you preheat the cooler you can actually hold the brisket for about 4 hours). Then you want to remove the point from the flat. Slice the flat against the grain (remember the mark we made?) about the width of a pencil. With the point you can either slice (this can be hard), chop or pull it, or cut it into chunks. If you chunk it, put it back on the smoker for a few hours to make burnt ends. You should also have a lot of juice left in your foil after the rest. Don't lose this. Pour it back over the meat after you slice it.

Andrew Beck answered in Meat 9 months ago | Report

3 comments by Black Beetles in Amber, Fnarf, and Andrew Beck…

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Where can you purchase "Lemon powder"?

Black Beetles in Amber commented 9 months ago | Report

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I imagine some grated lemon peel would work instead.

I also like a rub and not a marinade. Good advice on salty vs. sweet -- I like a very sweet, tart and hot marinade on my pork.

Oak? Oak is too strong for me. So is mesquite; that's why I cut it with pecan. I had a box of lemonwood that was terrific but it's all gone. I'm a fan of fruitwood. Oak, really? Hmm, I'll give it a try.

Fnarf commented 9 months ago | Report

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I buy dried lemon peel at world spice and then grind it up. You could use fresh lemon zest as well. They also have crystallized lemon. I like the brightness that the lemon gives.

I always cut my oak with cherry. I find that oak is slightly more neutral than hickory (which is the predominant wood used in most of the south). Mesquite is too strong and burns too hot for me. When doing a long smoke I usually put 2 fist sized pieces of oak and 2 of cherry in with the charcoal. That is the only wood I use for the entire cooking process. You really only need smoke for the first 4-6 hours or so. A lot of people actually foil their briskets at about that time (probably 160F of so). They call it the Texas Crutch. I don't do it unless I need it to cook faster.

Andrew Beck commented 9 months ago | Report

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Choice of woods is quite regional. We prefer hickory or mesquite in these parts but not a mix. I'm not much for marinade as I like the meat flavor to stand on it's own so I'll let someone else chime in on that.

Few basic of rules of thumb for a tender brisket:

-You'll want to purchase a brisket that has a nice at cap on it.

-I find that cooking the brisket to an internal temp of 195 to 200F is just right. Less is tough, more is charred.

-It will take about one hour per lb of meat at 220F. As smokers & brisket weights vary, a meat thermometer will be your best friend. Insert the thermometer into the thickest part of the brisket which will likely be in the wedge point end if purchasing a whole brisket. It also helps to have an internal thermometer on the smoker to gauge the heat (and adjust accordingly).

-Let the brisket rest about 30 mins or so before slicing into it.

AmyS answered in Meat 9 months ago | Report

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Fnarf, I once saw a TV review of the Big Green Egg which criticized it for not having some kind of water chamber for adding steam to the smoke, thus drying out is a potential hazard. Not having any experience with real smoking/BBQ (as opposed to what I can manage in my Weber charcoal grill), I can't speak to whether this was a legitimate part of smoking or not. (I got interrupted before I could see more of the review, which included other smokers.) If it is, maybe you could put a small pan of water on the grill with the brisket, refilling it as necessary.

Anyway, I again have no personal experience and can't vouch for whether this is good advice. Hopefully the experts and the experienced can clarify...

Matt from Denver answered in Meat 9 months ago | Report

4 comments by Andrew Beck, Matt from Denver, and Kip Waddle…

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The water pan does very little to provide moisture to the meat. It's a very common misconception. You can dry out meat steaming it. You can dry out meat boiling it. You can dry out meat in a braise. The amount of juice (really just water) lost from the meat is almost entirely a function of the internal temperature of the meat. The key to BBQ is rendering the collagen in the connective tissue into gelatin. Even though the enough moisture has been driven off so that the meat should be dry, the individual fibers are coated in gelatin making them seem moist. The key to rendering the collagen is to keep the meat between 140F and 200F for as long as possible.

What the water pan provides is kind of a heat sync for the cooker. Water has a very high specific heat, letting it absorb a lot of energy from the fire, allowing the meat to absorb less and come up to temp slowly. Also the process of evaporation takes so much energy that it cools the environment (that's why sweating cools you down). In smokers like the Weber smokey mountain, you would have a hard time controlling the temperature without one. In bigger heavier smokers, they are not as necessary.

Andrew Beck commented 9 months ago | Report

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Thanks for that. Looking forward to trying this out sometime when I have my own smoker.

Matt from Denver commented 9 months ago | Report

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The big green egg has a ceramic heat diffuser that the grill sits on for indirect cooking. It acts as a shelf for a drip pan and/or a pan for water. They even make an expensive pan for that purpose. Everything for the egg is sold separately. The reviewer may not have had all the accessories necessary for indirect cooking.

I second the notion that the water is for temp control and not about generating moisture.

Kip Waddle commented 9 months ago | Report

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The Egg is actually pretty fantastic for temp control due to its massiveness. I use two thermometers, one measuring the temp in the dome near but not too near the meat, and the other in the meat itself, and with the top and bottom vents I can get just about whatever temp I want. The only time I start to screw up is when I get bored and wander off.

I will sometimes start a little better smoke generation by misting the wood that's on top of the fire, if it's dried out. Some people don't soak their wood at all; some don't even use charcoal and smoke over pure wood. That also gets too much smoke for me; I like a gentle smoke. It's going to get plenty of flavor over a 12-hour period.

I heartily recommend the Egg if you're thinking about one. Expensive, but so fun to play with, and the food's good, too. You can crank the sucker up to 800+ degrees if you want to, or go as low and slow as you want, and it runs forever on a full load of charcoal.

I'm not a huge fan of the three-legged ceramic diffuser I bought, as it seems to interfere with the airflow too much. Maybe I just haven't figured out how to adjust my technique for it. I find myself putting out the fire.

Most of the expensive accessories can be duplicated for almost no money. Instead of the $80 lower-vent fan, I bought a plastic clip-on battery one for $2. Instead of the brand-name pans I have a beautiful set of vintage hammered-tin pans I got on Ebay for less than $10 for three. I got an add-on ring that lowers the grill way down into the firebox for big items that might touch the dome or for getting right down on the coals if desired. The only thing I splurged on was the super-thick pizza stone, though pizza right on the grill is better, I think.

Fnarf commented 9 months ago | Report

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I am not a fan of super smoked meats. When I buy a brisket I look for alot of fat and leave it there. I add onions, garlic, carrots herbs to a roasting pan. I put the fat side down on the veggies. Cover the brisket with liquid, and slow cook it about 4 hrs in a slow 275 degree oven for about 4-5 hrs, until for tender. I take the whole pan and put it in the fridge. The next day all the fat has congeled and i easily remove it. Then I take the juice and reduce it on the stove skimming the extra fat. I add my little cigar packet of soaked chips, vines tec to my bbq and when everything is going... lay the brisket on the grill. Bring it to temp turn the grill off and let it smoke until everything dies down. Slice it thin and pour on the sauce.

Tamara Murphy from Terra Plata answered in Meat 9 months ago | Report

2 comments by Fnarf and Tamara Murphy from Terra Plata…

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Wow, a very interesting answer out of left field -- I like it! (Honestly I like braised meat better than smoked, actually better than anything on God's green earth). This sounds really good, though not what I was after, but maybe better.

What's a "cigar packet"?

Fnarf commented 9 months ago | Report

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oh....its a technique I offered in another question. Use grapevines, chips, herbs, fruit skins, etc... soak them in wine or water in your fridge. When you grill... wrap the goodies in a foil cigar packet poked with holes and lay 2-3 of the cigar packets on the grates right above your fire and smoke away. Its not intense..just flavor.

Tamara Murphy from Terra Plata commented 9 months ago | Report

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