Open-Source, Texas-Style Brisket

I get tagged on twitter in bbq tweets from scientists all around the world. I really could not have asked for more in life lol!

I’ve been asked enough about brisket that it seems like I should just share my process here for all to see. So here’s what I do. Not gonna lie it competes with the best. Take it, adapt it, but most importantly send me a pic of the results!

Let me begin this recipe with a 30-year history of brisket in Texas. Lol jk. What you need to know:

1) Cook BBQ to your liking, not what others say it should be

2) I am a “BBQ with your heart, not with your brain” kind of person.

Ingredients

Here is an extensive list of ingredients.

• 10-15lb brisket

• Coarse salt (I prefer sea salt)

• Coarse peppercorn (I prefer whole peppercorn and grind it just before making the rub)

That’s it y’all. This is the classical “Texas-Style.” Try whatever fancy rub combinations you want, but my brisket competes with the best around and I’ve always only done salt and pepper

Step 1: Trim The Brisket

You can skip this step if you bought a trimmed brisket, but pre-trimmed cuts are more expensive

• Trim the fat-cap to ~1/4” thick

• Trim as much of the hard fat off as possible

• Try and make the brisket as even as possible. Often, there is one side much thicker than the other. For very uneven cuts (which is common here in the Midwest bleh), I have even cut off the entire thin portion of the brisket and cooked it separately. You don’t want the tip end drying out while the meaty end is still not even finished.

• Apply the rub. Do this 12-36 hr in advance

• I don’t really measure here, but I typically do a 1:1 mixture of the salt and pepper (maybe slightly more salt than pepper). This is somewhere in the range of ¼ cup of each for a 15lb brisket

• You want a thick layer of rub on all sides of the brisket, this gives the great bark you want

• Refrigerate until the cook

Step 2: The Cook

As you might expect, this is gonna be a long day. I personally use an Oklahoma Joe side-box smoker and love it. I use Kingsford charcoal and always keep on a fist-sized chunk of hardwood. Hickory is my personal favorite. A combination of wood (ex: adding in some cherry wood) can also add interesting flavors.

Note: if you use a pellet smoker you’ll always get good tasting food with less work, but you’re missing out on a lot of flavor. Pellets give a lil babysized smoke ring that barely penetrates the meat.

Round 1: The Smoke

• Fat cap up

• Temp range: 225-250F (lower this for brisket <10lb)

• Constant smoke (usually need to add a chunk of wood every ~30min)

• Spray with olive oil spray once or twice during this initial phase, it will help give the dark, bold bark we love to see

• 5-6 hr cook, get the internal temp to 150-160F

• The brisket at this point should already look amazing

Round 2: The Wrap

• The haterz will hate, but at this point I don’t use the smoker anymore. You’ve smothered the brisket in smoke and flavor, now you need to be sure to not dry it out.

  • Wrap in foil, place on a cookie sheet and move it to the oven at 250F

  • Fat cap up

  • 5-6 hr cook

  • Final internal temp should be 205F

  • Note 1: another option here is to wrap in peach paper and leave on the smoke. The paper here holds in moisture but also allows some smoke to penetrate. If you use foil plus the smoker, you might as well just use the oven

  • Note 2: every time I’ve tried to skip the wrap step, or wrap for only 3 hr and finish with more smoke, the meat is dryer than I want

  • Note 3: seriously, just use the oven you won’t regret it

  Round 3: The Rest

  I am usually starving and halfway drunk at this point so I do a shorter rest than recommended

  • Remove the pan from the oven, cover the brisket+foil with some towels for insulation, and sit for 1-1.5hr

  • The “best results” method: remove the brisket+foil, place in an empty cooler, cover with a towel, and rest for 3 hr

  • Again, this brisket is awesome with just the 1 hr-ish rest

  Round 4: The Slice

  • Remove from the foil – it’s a hot mess of drippings…save as much as you can

  • Slice it up

  • Place into a serving dish

  • Pour the drippings over the top

  • You won’t need bbq sauce

  • Snap a pic and post to twitter, tag me