What's your method for Brisket?

[primeone]

What's your method for an awesome Brisket? Wrapped, Unwrapped, foil, butcher paper, rubs, etc.

 

[depends]

• Pat dry and cut excess fat to 1/4"
• Cover with thin layer of yellow mustard and apply choice of rub (the mustard taste cooks out but helps rub adhere and create bark). I presently use Brisket Mafia Brisket Rub, but change up fairly frequently.
• Throw it in the freezer for up to an hour before beginning to smoke (the colder it starts, the more smoke it will absorb) - typically use Hickory or Pecan on my stick burner, will have to play with pellets
• Smoke unwrapped at `225 until between 198 and 205 internal temp.
• Foil and let rest in cooler at least 30 mins before slicing/chopping.

 

[GriLLMaRksRseXy]

I was born in Texas so learning to grill Brisket is almost as required as going to school at an early age! I prefer a simple rub of Kosher salt, pepper and granulated garlic or store bought one you prefer but definitely a rub. I've done dozens wrapped in foil after a few hours and dozens unwrapped. Really depends on the grill, the particular cut of Brisket and how much time you have on hand.

Heres what I like to do:
1. Rinse it off in cold water and pat dry (I rinse all meat that is in a cryovac pack) Trim the fat cap of the Brisket to about a quarter of an inch. Sorry folks, that extra fat is not rendering anywhere, lubricating anything or moisturizing anything other than maybe the bottom of your grill or pan!
2. Rub a dub dub.....and do it some more. Use a heavy hand. Do not worry.....unless your using table salt I do not think you can over salt it.
-Some people use mustard or vegetable/olive oil as a base before rubbing but I rarely do it anymore.
- You can get fancy and cut some diagonal slits in the fat cap if you want and rub some flavor in their too.
-want to get even fancier? grab some beef broth, mix in some of your rub and inject it. Purely optional but I do like to do this.
3. At this point you can take it to the smoker but better yet, if you got 6 to 12 hours wrap it in plastic wrap and put it back in the refrigerator. This is optional but I do like to do this when I actually plan on cooking brisket. When you are ready to cook it take it straight out of the refrigerator and to your preheated smoker.
4. Insert your probe(s) properly!! This is important. Make sure your in the thickest part of the meat and the tip of the probes are in the middle of the meat.
4. Fire up the smoker! 225 degrees baby! Once your preheated throw your beautiful hunk of meat on the grill fat side down.
5. Cook until your internal temp is about 160 to 165 degrees.
6. Now here is where it gets a little fuzzy. You got a lot of options at this point. Do not fret about it. As long as you followed the above steps and the steps after this your gonna have some meat the whole neighborhood will love.
-Option 1 Do not wrap it: Why? You get more bark. It prolongs your cook (comes in handy sometimes for timing purposes.) You get a better smoke ring...Just kidding on that one. After about 4 hours on smoke the meat is not going to absorb anymore period.
-Option 2. Foil it. Also called a "crutch" "Texas crutch". Why? It speeds up the cooking process by forcing the meat to get through a stall and it will also give you softer bark if your into that. So whats a stall? Its where large cuts of meat reach a point during slow cooking at a set temperature they literally quit raising in temperature for a very long time. This can last HOURS. What is happening is the fat and juices are starting to render and work their way out of the meat some through evaporation and until all of this reaches an equilibrium the temperature will not rise. The foil "crutch" helps with the evaporative cooling and also raises the internal temperature a little faster.
-Option 3 Peach Paper it. Same as option two but the paper will help keep the bark intact.
7. Regardless of which option you choose....Continue to cook at 225 until the internal temperature is 200 to 205. I like 203. Why? Because someone told me that when I was a kid...plus I like odd numbers for some reason.
8. Take it off the grill and let it rest!!!! If you did not foil or wrap it then do so now....tightly. Then wrap in a few towels (ask the wife which ones first) and throw it in an empty cooler and wait at least 30 minutes. I like to rest mine for about 3 hours. Now slice it and invite the neighbors. Everyone is going to love it!

 

[depends]

Agree with pretty much everything Grillmarks wrote except I don't rest the meat first (because I want it to be as cold as possible going on the grill to absorb more smoke). I'll also vary fat up vs. fat down, but honestly haven't noticed much difference (you will, however, find intense internet debate on this point though).

One thing I forgot in my post is that I will sometimes add a pan with water or juice under the grates for more moisture, to shield against direct heat, and to stabilize temps. Not sure how well this would work on a pellet grill, although there are a number of reports on various forums of people who do so on pellet grills religiously.

 

[GriLLMaRksRseXy]

Agree with pretty much everything Grillmarks wrote except I don't rest the meat first (because I want it to be as cold as possible going on the grill to absorb more smoke). I'll also vary fat up vs. fat down, but honestly haven't noticed much difference (you will, however, find intense internet debate on this point though).

One thing I forgot in my post is that I will sometimes add a pan with water or juice under the grates for more moisture, to shield against direct heat, and to stabilize temps. Not sure how well this would work on a pellet grill, although there are a number of reports on various forums of people who do so on pellet grills religiously.

And I totally agree with Depends too! Honestly I have never tried freezing it first but I read that and i was like "That guy is a GENIUS" thats some seriously sound science. So guess what?? Im doing Brisket this weekend and trying that!

 

[primeone]

One thing I forgot in my post is that I will sometimes add a pan with water or juice under the grates for more moisture, to shield against direct heat, and to stabilize temps. Not sure how well this would work on a pellet grill, although there are a number of reports on various forums of people who do so on pellet grills religiously.

I'm now a firm believer in having a small water bowl inside the grill. It does seem to make the meat come out more moist. I'm still learning though!

 

[Craig]

Its gota be low and slow like 220 to start with on the pit then wrap it at 160` internal or when it hits the stalls then take it to what ever it takes for the temp probe to feel like its going through butter just that simple no temp just feel

 

[GriLLMaRksRseXy]

I'm now a firm believer in having a small water bowl inside the grill. It does seem to make the meat come out more moist. I'm still learning though!

View attachment 91

Soooo...I do not have my smoke fire yet but I can tell you when I cook large cuts like brisket on my Summit I put a pan of water on top of the flavorizer bars and then put the grates down. I will have to look at the smokefire when I get it and see if the same pan works. However, for gas grilling a big cut of meat it definitely makes a difference on the moistness of the meat. IMHO I think that its not the water evaporating that makes the biggest difference but the fact the pan and water act as a heat diffuser and the water also helps regulate the temperature too through evaporation. When I cook on my Weber Smokey Mountain I use a pan from time to time. On my current pellet grill I generally have not done it but I am sure it could make a difference. I just haven't had a lot of time on it and I have been disappointed in the build quality. Its a Pit Boss Austin XL.

 

[Grey]

Born and raised in Texas so smoking meat has been a way of life for our family. We had a custom smoker growing up and I have been using an original New Braunfels smoker (before charbroil killed the brand) for probably the last 15 years or so. Excited to try out the smokefire! On a side note my wife who is a born and breed Wisconsinite wasn't originally keen on buying a pellet smoker and believed it was cheating because that is not how we do it (22 years of marriage). I asked her if she still rode a horse to work?

With that said I trim up my brisket very nicely and we marinade with a blend of orange juice, lime juice, cilantro, garlic, cumin, chilies in adobo sauce, little salt, and olive oil over night. In the morning we use our family rub and let the brisket set for about an hour while my smoker gets up to temp. Smoke at 250, using charcoal and pecan wood, wrap around 160ish with aluminum foil and add in beef broth. Finish cooking until around 210 and probe tender (save fuel and finish in the oven). Rest for an hour.

There is a million ways to cook brisket but the one thing I wish I had done much much earlier was utilize all the great resources on YouTube. Recently started tapping more into that and even improved the control of my fires! So many cool new methods to try by watching and learning from others. And even though I have been doing this for a lot of years I am always learning and trying new things.

 

[Brian Vallotton]

All of these wonderful recipes... So here is a confession: I have NEVER cooked a brisket! But I am going to do so soon! Thanks for all the info in the thread here. Oh, and yes, I will need that SmokeFire to get here! Maybe by middle of next week.

 

[Craig]

Your choice of rub then Trust me with the low and slow pit temp at 225 max until 160 internal temp it may stall before you get there if it does wrap it and crank up the temp to abot 270 then when you feel no resistance with temp prob let it rest for close to an hour and then slice it!! It will be good trust me

 

[SupportKing]

I was born in Texas so learning to grill Brisket is almost as required as going to school at an early age! I prefer a simple rub of Kosher salt, pepper and granulated garlic or store bought one you prefer but definitely a rub. I've done dozens wrapped in foil after a few hours and dozens unwrapped. Really depends on the grill, the particular cut of Brisket and how much time you have on hand.

Heres what I like to do:
1. Rinse it off in cold water and pat dry (I rinse all meat that is in a cryovac pack) Trim the fat cap of the Brisket to about a quarter of an inch. Sorry folks, that extra fat is not rendering anywhere, lubricating anything or moisturizing anything other than maybe the bottom of your grill or pan!
2. Rub a dub dub.....and do it some more. Use a heavy hand. Do not worry.....unless your using table salt I do not think you can over salt it.
-Some people use mustard or vegetable/olive oil as a base before rubbing but I rarely do it anymore.
- You can get fancy and cut some diagonal slits in the fat cap if you want and rub some flavor in their too.
-want to get even fancier? grab some beef broth, mix in some of your rub and inject it. Purely optional but I do like to do this.
3. At this point you can take it to the smoker but better yet, if you got 6 to 12 hours wrap it in plastic wrap and put it back in the refrigerator. This is optional but I do like to do this when I actually plan on cooking brisket. When you are ready to cook it take it straight out of the refrigerator and to your preheated smoker.
4. Insert your probe(s) properly!! This is important. Make sure your in the thickest part of the meat and the tip of the probes are in the middle of the meat.
4. Fire up the smoker! 225 degrees baby! Once your preheated throw your beautiful hunk of meat on the grill fat side down.
5. Cook until your internal temp is about 160 to 165 degrees.
6. Now here is where it gets a little fuzzy. You got a lot of options at this point. Do not fret about it. As long as you followed the above steps and the steps after this your gonna have some meat the whole neighborhood will love.
-Option 1 Do not wrap it: Why? You get more bark. It prolongs your cook (comes in handy sometimes for timing purposes.) You get a better smoke ring...Just kidding on that one. After about 4 hours on smoke the meat is not going to absorb anymore period.
-Option 2. Foil it. Also called a "crutch" "Texas crutch". Why? It speeds up the cooking process by forcing the meat to get through a stall and it will also give you softer bark if your into that. So whats a stall? Its where large cuts of meat reach a point during slow cooking at a set temperature they literally quit raising in temperature for a very long time. This can last HOURS. What is happening is the fat and juices are starting to render and work their way out of the meat some through evaporation and until all of this reaches an equilibrium the temperature will not rise. The foil "crutch" helps with the evaporative cooling and also raises the internal temperature a little faster.
-Option 3 Peach Paper it. Same as option two but the paper will help keep the bark intact.
7. Regardless of which option you choose....Continue to cook at 225 until the internal temperature is 200 to 205. I like 203. Why? Because someone told me that when I was a kid...plus I like odd numbers for some reason.
8. Take it off the grill and let it rest!!!! If you did not foil or wrap it then do so now....tightly. Then wrap in a few towels (ask the wife which ones first) and throw it in an empty cooler and wait at least 30 minutes. I like to rest mine for about 3 hours. Now slice it and invite the neighbors. Everyone is going to love it!

Roughly how long will this take? I am doing my first brisket this Sat and I am trying to time everything

 

[AHoneyman]

First rule of BBQ - It is done when it's done.

Oh, 12-18 hours. It is fine to let it rest until you are ready as long as it stays warm.

 

[JpsBBQ]

The grade of brisket is the biggest key. The higher the grade the less time. A prime packer will be done at 225 in about 10 hours. That is when wrapped in pink butchers paper at 160-170 and then removed about 200-205. I always plan on being done hours early. If you use foil it will be quicker. If no wrap it will be longer. If it’s choice grade it will be hours longer. Just remember you can bump the temp up to 275 easily without Ill effects. Good luck and enjoy.

 

[JYD-BBQ]

The grade of brisket is the biggest key. The higher the grade the less time. A prime packer will be done at 225 in about 10 hours. That is when wrapped in pink butchers paper at 160-170 and then removed about 200-205. I always plan on being done hours early. If you use foil it will be quicker. If no wrap it will be longer. If it’s choice grade it will be hours longer. Just remember you can bump the temp up to 275 easily without Ill effects. Good luck and enjoy.

Jps,

Just curious, why does the grade of the meat affect the cooking time ?