Alright guys here is the deal. Just bought a new house a couple of weeks ago and my wife and I are going to have some people over for some beer drinking and bar-b-que. I was going to cook a brisket or two and wanted to get some recipes from the THF family. I haven't cooked many briskets mainly just cook deer meat and ducks and of course steaks. I have a pretty nice size smoker that uses charcoal.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Assuming you have a packer, trip the fat off the cap to about 3/4". I use a light mustard slather then a dry rub. Hungarian paprika, black pepper salt and cayenne. Let the rub set for about an hour.

Build your fire, I use 60/40 oak to hickory. Get the pit warm, 225-235 with a WHITE smoke. Depending on size let it go for about ten hours or until internal temp is 165-170. Take it off, wrap in foil and let it set for about an hour. Slice across the grain, no sauce needed for good Q.

Smokes white, fire is right, smokes gray, stay away.

Please whatever you do don't cook it in the oven, get a pot roast instead. I despise brisket in the oven.

1. First of all trim as much hard fat off as possible. A good store bought rub is Stubbs BBQ Rub. If you can't find that just use Garlic Pepper and salt.

2. I prefer to smoke with lump charcoal and Hickory. Royal Oak lump is pretty easy to find at Wal Mart and works very well, I usually use that with the chunks of hickory you can buy there as well.

3. Temperature is very important. Both cooking temp and meat temp. Get a good thermometer for both your smoker and to check your meat. I generally smoke around 250-275. You're trying to get the meat around 200 that is usually when it loosens up and becomes the most tender.

4. You don't need heavy smoke. Just a nice thin blue line of smoke is all you need. So don't go overboard putting on chunks of hickory.

5. If its an offset it doesn't matter whether it is fat side up or fat side down.

Once your brisket hits 165+ you can wrap it in foil to help keep it moist, generally when I'm at 165 I pull mine off, wrap in foil, and throw them in a preheated oven at around 265. (some people call this cheating but after you wrap the briskets it makes no sense to try and keep your temp on a smoker when all you are doing is applying heat.) Check on the meat periodically and once it hits 200 I pull it out wrap in a large towel and throw it in a cooler for at least 2 hours to let it rest.

I use a method very similar to Ox, BUT

1. I will blend up a can or two of Chipotle to make a paste. Rub the paste over the brisket thickly (I salt the brisket first) and then mix up a rub of brown sugar and (Sam's) Canadian Steak Seasoning (coarse salt, coarse black pepper, coarse garlic) and pack it into the paste until it will hold no more. This makes a great BBQ flavor marinade that works right on the smoker.

2. Keep the smoker cool, around 200. You want to smoke it, NOT cook it on the smoker. Mesquite smokes quickly and tastes great, Hickory is slower and very tasty, and Pecan is very mild but also quite nice. You choose, I love it all. Don't over smoke it.

3. Pull it off the smoker and double wrap it in HD wide foil and finish it in the oven, low and slow at about 250. You can put it in at bedtime if you want and let it stew all night. When it's done and cools a bit, slit the foil and drain the juice. Chill it in fridge before slicing, then warm it up to serve. Tender and tasty, a guaranteed success!

4. It also freezes very well, so you can do a couple and freeze one for later. Best to drain/rewrap and freeze it whole, but sliced and frozen is plenty good too.

Awesome guys! Thanks for the tips. I will let yall know how it goes after the weekend I am looking forward to trying it out!

Sounds like there's more than one way to cook a brisket!

here's one of my favorite forums you guys might like:

BBQ Forum: http://www.bbqsource-forums.com/invboard/index.php?s=d763576d9f489600b6ceafaa5b8d2f2a&act=idx

It physically hurts me to say ANYTHING good about this Guy.....BUT 7Mag makes a great Brisket. Maybe he'll post his process.

That sounds like an underdone brisket.

Brisket gets more tender the hotter the internal temp. My ideal is about 195-200. At that point, it literally falls apart. Doesn't make for good pictures or presentation, but it...well, falls apart and makes for great eating.

I've had trimmed, untrimmed, hickory, mesquite, oak, oven finished, pit finished, etc. It's all about the rub and the internal temp.

I guess if you like shredded beef that is your preference Gus. Did 7 this weekend without any complaints. It is never about the rub, the quality of meat and proper smoking time is what makes a brisket.

Not too mention 9 racks and 3 shoulders, we really don't know what we are doing.

Cooking a brisket and what it should taste like is like asking
someone what gun is the best. I've found some people hate the smoke taste, some like it falling apart, some like to cut it pretty firm. The methods above will all work. Like I say about guns--try um all, own um all, and pick your own favorite.

I'd disagree I take mine to 200 quite often, after pulling and resting for 2 hours they hold together and slice up just perfect. I do agree with Hawgg though, proper temp, meat quality, and good smoke have a lot more to do with a great brisket then rub.

Maybe we should have a BBQ cook off between the THF and TFF to raise a little money for Camp Craig Allen and see who really does have the best BBQ.

i do mine fat side up and keep my temp between 180-190 the whole process..........keeping it fat side up will keep your brisket from drying out..........cooking it while its wrapped in foil or putting it in the oven changes the texture of the meat so i dont agree with doing that.....you want a brisket not roast......season it how you want and let it go....good luck

Cmon out in February we'll see who has the best brisket.

http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/u...Off#Post1686356

I'll take that challenge

I do mine fat side up, no rubs or injections, 2-4 hours open depending on the fire, then 6-12 hours more, covered, again depending on the fire... I wrap in foil if I want pretty sliced brisket... I wrap and finish in a foil pan (collecting juices) if I am doing large numbers and will have some chopped sandwiches


NEVER buy the cheap briskets, they are lesser quality.... buy briskets from price mathcing competitors when the others are on sale...

I do the cook/wrap in the opposite order but either will work. Arguments for both. 225 is the magic number. Be careful with mesquite, a little goes a long way. I won't get into the rub thing to avoid a hijack. That could go on for weeks. As sig said, the MEAT MATTERS!

Brisket is the one thing I haven't perfected on the smoker yet, so I'm going to try a couple of these recipes and see which one I like best. If it turns out better than what I usually do brisket wise, I'm Happy.

When someone asks for a recipe for a brisket I scratch my head! You can make a brisket taste anyway you want. Getting it there is the trick. Here are some of my notes........



When I smoke a brisket and I don’t have to worry about a uniform smoke ring I leave them fat side up un-trimmed. If I’m cooking in a competition I trim the fat and my method is totally different. I never puncture the meat with a fork, trident, injection needle or thermometer during the cooking process for obvious reasons. If at all possible I keep my briskets away from the fire box. Depending on the pit I stoke them up with a mild wood, pecan or hickory or well seasoned oak. Fruit wood in a North Texas thing. A huge mistake folks make is opening the doors of the pit. As long as you have a handle on the fire and temperature there is no need to open the doors. If I am cooking a lot of briskets I line them up and smoke for a good 6 to 8 hours without ever opening the doors of the pit. After a good long smoke I look at the briskets to see how far along they are. I judge them by their color and appearance. After the smoking process you can do many different things. For instance, you can place them in a convection oven. You can stack them and baste. You can wrap them in aluminum foil with or without liquid. You can fire the pit up to get them cooked in a hurry. You can leave them alone. Texas is a big place and I have found folks like their brisket different in all locations of the state. Here in Southeast Texas barbecue sauce is an insult or at least it used to be. But, being a good host you have to make it available to your guests. To me, mesquite wood is a very harsh and bitter sweet flavor that suits fish and chicken far better than beef and pork. Keep in mind taste is subjective. Pork Butt was unheard of 10 years ago in the Texas BBQ circuit. The folks out east have been trying to infiltrate our ranks for many years and they have been successful. My line years ago was, pulled, jerked or chopped, pork butt belongs in a hotdog. Of course, I really don’t feel that way, they are delicious. It's a Yankee thing! Kind of like the BGE. A must have for a brisket chef is a heavy duty pair of rubber chemical gloves. When you pick up a brisket you can feel when it is done. The meat breaks down over the cooking process and it gets a tender feeling to it. If you started out with quality meat and you kept the moisture level up and you maintained the firebox and it never got out of control, you will have a very tender and tasty brisket. I don’t know how many times I have seen people slice a brisket wrong. I was at a local cook off and a team that has done very well over the years put out a pan of brisket and it was all sliced wrong. I did not say anything as I was a guest. The meat was smoked right, but sliced wrong. Take your time and slice it right with a sharp knife and never slice when you are drinking. If you are like me and have to slice while drinking a metal mesh filet glove is your friend. I am stubborn and the scars on my fingers are proof. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em!