I got to go to an event at The Outdoor Chef in Lubbock this last week.
They did this little presentation on how to cook a brisket and gave us this handout.
Cool, cool.
I mean, I’m no chef. But I’ve eaten a brisket or two.
The handout said:
The Outdoor Chef Recipes
Beef Brisket
- Choose a reasonable size brisket for your needs. Remember, the larger the brisket the longer the cook.
- Make your choice of Select, Choice, Prime, Waygu, etc. These are listed in order and the quality of the meat increases with each step up.
- Trim the excess fat away from the brisket, particularly the large chunk of fat between the point and flat.
- Start with what you would consider the “bottom” of your brisket. Coat this side with a binder such as Olive oil. Spray with Duck fat or Pam.
- Coat this side liberally with your favorite seasoning such as Chupacabra Brisket Magic, Craigs Brisket Rub, Sucklebusters 1836, Kosmos Cow Cover, Texas Oil Dust, Big Poppa Smoker Cash Cow, or Meat Church’s the Holy Gospel. These are a few of the most popular ones.
- Let seasoning absorb for about 15 minutes until it begins to sweat (start getting wet and dissolving). Once this happens, flip the meat over and repeat steps 4&5.
- Move the meat to the cooking area, some claim fat side up for indirect smoker, and fat side down for direct heat. The only thing this accomplishes is protecting the meat with the layer of fat if you are using direct heat. If doing fat side up, the meat will not “melt” down into the meat. This is a myth; it will just run off the meat into the drip pan taking seasoning with it.
- Cook at a temperature 225°-250° at meat level, one particularly important step: spray something on the meat each time you open the grill or at least every hour or two until you wrap. You can use, water, broth, a mixture of apple juice and a little oil, or any fruit juice and oil. This helps with moisture. If you choose not to wrap your meat, then continue to spray every few hours.
- Spoke directly on the grate for at least four hours if you are going to foil the meat. We like to wrap at 165. If the meat is over the heat source, (Traeger, GMG, Weber, etc) you need to make sure you are cooking fat side down to protect the meat. Using an elevated rack is also helpful. (Think cooking on the bottom rack of your oven.)
- Now the Foiling…We like to use foil, others use butcher paper. If using foil, place the brisket or pork butt on a slightly elevated rack in a disposable pan. Add 1 can of beef broth or whatever liquid you prefer to the bottom of the pan. Try others if you want to experiment and get the flavor you like. This helps keep the brisket moist and provides a great au jus for after you slice. Then cover the entire top of the pan with foil. If you wrap the entire brisket in foil without using a pan, then add a little something to the foil.
- Continue cooking until internal temperature of the meat reaches AT LEAST 200°. Your meat will be pull-apart tender at closer to an internal temperature of 200°-205°. Use an instant-read thermometer such as Thermopen or Thermopop. Or use a leave-in temp probe if your grill comes with one. Thermoworks Dot or Smoke are good meat probe thermometers.
- Remove from heat and let meat rest for at least 1 hour before unwrapping and slicing or pulling. Slicing the meat at an internal temperature of 150° is ideal.
