How to make smoked brisket made easy for beginners?
What Wood Chips to Use to Smoke Brisket
- Mesquite
- Pecan
- Hickory
- Cherry
How to cook a brisket to tender perfection every time?
How to Smoke a Brisket on a Grill
- Prep Wood Chips Place 1 to 2 cups wood chips and enough water to cover them in a container; let soak at least 1 hour before grilling. ...
- Prep the Brisket and the Grill and Cook Sprinkle a dry rub evenly over the brisket; rub in with your fingers. ...
- Let Brisket Stand and Serve
How long to smoke a 4 lb brisket?
You can smoke one at 225 for roughly 4 hours until ready. At 250, the 4lb brisket is ready in roughly the same amount of time – 4 hours or so.
What is the right temperature to smoke brisket?
The Continued Cook
- Smoker Temperature: 225°F
- Smoking Time: 5-7 hrs
- Finished Temperature: 200°F
The Pros and Cons of Each Side and Turning It Both Ways
Derrick Riches is a grilling and barbecue expert. He has written two cookbooks.
Fat Side Up
Pro: It makes perfect sense. Put a 14-pound brisket in the smoker and pull out 11 pounds of meat (or thereabouts) 15 to 20 hours later. There is also a drip pan full of melted beef fat. If the brisket is placed fat side up, all this melting fat will pour over and through the brisket, keeping it moist.
Fat Side Down
Pro: Heat rising over the brisket is the primary source of drying. By using the fat cap of the brisket as a shield between the intense heat of the fire and the delicate meat, you'll end up with a more tender brisket with a lot less surface drying.
Brisket Flipping
Pro: By flipping the brisket over every few hours (typically two) and basting, you get the best of both worlds. The added bonus is that the side turned away from the heat will have a chance to rest and reabsorb some moisture. One side won't dry out, and the brisket will get basted by the melting fat cap for half the total cooking time.
Conclusion
So what's the truth? If you have cooked a few briskets, you will notice that the part of the brisket closest to the heat gets dryer. Of course, not all smokers work the same way. If your heat is directly beneath the brisket, then turning the fat down will help protect the meat from the heat.
What is a brisket?
The brisket is the breast or lower chest of the beef. Originally, the brisket was used to make ground burger at butcher shops. Later, the popularity of smoked brisket took off and now it has become an expensive cut of meat. My father in law is a retired butcher and he can’t believe what people are paying for brisket today.
Brisket Selection and Preparation
When going out to buy your brisket, do not cheap out. The butcher shops will have prime and select grades available. I recommend buying a prime (AAA) grade packer brisket. You are investing a lot of time and effort to make a great meal, do yourself a favor and spend more on a premium cut. Be picky with your brisket.
Start the Smoking Process
Now is a good time to get the smoker started and brought to temp. I like to run my smoker at 250 degrees F. Depending on your smoker, this may take some time. We are going to be changing our smoker temps as we go but I start the smoking process at 250F.
The Brisket Stall
After around 7 hours you will notice that your brisket internal temp has been sitting at the same temp for quite a while. Probably around 160/165F. This is normal. It is called “The Stall”. Here is what’s happening.
Finishing the Brisket Cook
Once the brisket has gone through the stall and the temps start to climb more rapidly and the brisket has a nice black bark finish, the next step is to wrap in the wax free butcher paper. This is the Aaron Franklin method and it seems to give the best results.
How To Smoke a Brisket – Texas Style
Learning how to smoke a brisket can be a very daunting task. Practice makes perfect. An informative guide like this can fast track you to a family favorite meal. Give yourself a lot of time to complete a brisket. A brisket takes 1 to 1.5hrs per pound. So give yourself 10-14hrs of cooking time.
The Best Cut of Brisket to Smoke
Steers do not have collar bones! Sixty per cent of the animal’s weight is supported by muscles around the breast superficial and deep pectoral muscles. These muscles have a huge amount of connective tissue. This connective tissue includes a lot of collagen. Collagen makes meat tough to eat. It can be broken down with heat and moisture.
How to trim a brisket
There is always an argument between pit bosses about whether to trim a brisket or not before smoking. We think there are definite advantages to trimming. You want to smoke a piece of meat that is uniform in thickness. You want the smoke and seasoning to penetrate and flavor the meat.
Best wood for smoking brisket
There are several different kinds of wood to use when smoking a brisket. Each type imparts a different flavor. You can’t beat oak for the straightforward basic smoke flavor. Most pit bosses like to mix it up a bit. They often combine two or more types of wood to blend the flavors.
How to smoke a tender brisket
There are five steps to smoking a beef brisket. Once you have trimmed it to shape you need to:
FAQs
This is almost impossible to answer. There are so many variables associated with smoking a brisket. The main thing to think about is how you are going to deal with the stall. If you just smoke through the stall, you could be smoking for over 18 hours. If you use the Texas Crutch, you might save 4 or more hours of this time.
1. Meat Selection Is Everything
If you want an outstanding brisket you have to start with quality meat. Understanding the different grades of meat, what to look for, and how to select the perfect cut is a crucial part of producing great-tasting brisket. Check out our article on how to buy great beef for more detailed information.
2. It's Best If You Give It A Little Trim
You want to trim off all the large thick pieces of fat. This “bad fat” will not render down during the cooking process. Sometimes, briskets will have a fat cap on the bottom that will be over 1-inch thick. Trim this down to approximately 3/8" thick and make sure the fat layer is even.
3. Give It A Good Rub
The three main ingredients in cooking a good brisket are salt, pepper, garlic (SPG). This is a great base rub to use and there are many available on the market today that have this popular combination. Some Central Texas barbecue purists may argue that you should only use salt and pepper in your brisket rub.
4. Meat Side Up Or Down?
This is the age-old question when it comes to how to smoke brisket properly. Some swear by meat up, some by meat down. If you have a lot of heat coming in from the bottom then the best way to smoke a brisket would be meat side up. Other than that, it is up to the individual as to how they want to smoke a brisket.
5. To Wrap Or Not To Wrap
When smoking a brisket the question often comes up, should I wrap the brisket? When you wrap a brisket three-quarter of the way through the cooking process it locks in the moisture and helps get it through a critical part of the cooking process known as “ the stall ”.
6. Fire Management Is Critical When Smoking A Brisket
Keeping your meat a consistent temperature for many hours while it cooks is crucial to cooking a great brisket. The key to this is managing your flame. Top pitmasters always suggest easing into your fire. You can easily stoke the fire to increase the temperature slightly. But it is much more difficult to bring down the temperature of a raging fire.
7. It's Done When It's Done!
So many people cook a brisket to a target temperature. You can never do that and have a great brisket. Have a good-quality meat thermometer ready but use temperature as a guideline. It’s more important to rely on how it feels.
How to Get a Juicy Brisket
There’s nothing worse than smoking a brisket for 12 hours, only to have it turn out dry. There’ are a few things you can do to make sure you get a tender, juicy brisket every time.
Keep It Low and Slow
Brisket is a tough cut of meat with a lot of connective tissue, so it needs to be cooked low and slow. If the temperature of your smoker is too high, the heat will draw out the moisture in the brisket and it will become dry.
Wrap Your Brisket
Wrapping brisket in foil or butcher paper is an important step in the smoking process if you want tender, juicy meat. Wrapping the brisket in the second half of the cook will prevent moisture from escaping and will create steam inside the meat parcel.
Best Wood For Smoking Brisket
The best wood for smoking brisket is any of the woods that blend well with beef. Unlike other cuts of meat such as chicken or fish, brisket is a tough cut so it can handle any type of wood. The best wood for brisket are:
Brine Brisket or Not?
Brining your brisket prior to smoking is a good way to help retain the moisture during the long smoking process. Dry brining is the best way to brine a brisket and is the preferred method used by pitmasters. Soaking brisket in a wet brine isn’t suitable because the meat will end up like tasting like corned beef.
How to Get Brisket Bark
The crispy outer layer of the brisket is formed by the rub and the Maillard Reaction that occurs during the uncovered phase of the cook. The key to a good brisket bark is to know when to wrap the meat. If you wrap the brisket too early, the bark won’t be firm enough to survive all the added moisture when wrapped up.
How to Get a Smoke Ring on a Brisket
The pink ring around the outer layer of the brisket is a sign that it was smoked low and slow. Smoke ring development results from chemical reactions on the surface of the meat caused by smoke. The smoke ring adds no flavor to the meat, it’s purely an emblem.
Smoking A Small Brisket
Smoking a small brisket is really easy. All you have to do is pay attention to the internal temperature of the meat, make sure that it probes tender all throughout before you pull it off the smoker or oven, and let it rest properly. The steps to follow are no different than if you were smoking a larger cut of brisket.
How long does it take to smoke a small brisket?
On average, you can expect about one hour of cook time per pound of meat. This applies for temperature ranges of around 225°F and 250°F. As you start to smoke brisket, whether they are small or large in nature, you can expect a cook time of about 1 to 2 pounds of brisket to be cooked every hour.
Can you smoke a 2 lb brisket?
People smoke 2 pound briskets all the time. There’s really no issue with smoking a brisket at any temperature or size of weight. The main issue I would say in this case is actually finding a brisket that is truly only 2 pounds. Most briskets that are Packer style are 10 or more pounds.
Can you smoke a small piece of brisket?
Smoking smaller pieces of brisket can be a great way to reap the rewards of a cooked piece of BBQ in a very short period of time. A lot of the times when I have gone to the grocery store here in Central Texas, I’ll actually start to see smaller cuts of brisket.
How long do you smoke a 3 pound brisket?
If you’re keen on smoking a 3 pound brisket, look no further. This is how it’s done. Make sure the temperature rates are anywhere from 225°F all the way up to 350°F. These are really the entire minimum and maximum temperature ranges that you could ever expect to cook any type of brisket regardless of weight.
Small Brisket In Oven
Small briskets can even be cooked in the oven, provided that you are cooking them at a reasonable temperature. One of the main benefits of cooking these types of briskets in an oven is that you can really start to control the ambient temperature within the cooking chamber itself.
Final Thoughts
Small briskets can allow very consistent results provided that you smoke them or cook them at the correct temperatures, and allow them to rest properly. Whenever you happen to cook a small brisket, just make sure to take extra care in when you pull it off the smoker or the oven.
Fat Content of Brisket
A good brisket cut has visible marbling. That’s where most of the juice and flavor will come from. But it also helps to leave roughly one-quarter inch of fat on the outside before you cook your brisket to ensure a good level of juiciness and flavor. Trim excess fat with a sharp slicing knife or boning knife.
Step 1: Let It Rest
When you pull your brisket off the grill (fully cooked at about 195-205 degrees Fahrenheit internal temperature), the first step is to let it rest for at least 1 hour - you can let it rest up to 3 hours. According to Traeger’s BBQ expert Chad Ward, “Allowing brisket to rest lets juice redistribute throughout the meat.
Step 2: Choose the Right Knife
While we wait for the meat to rest, let’s talk about potential brisket knives.
Step 3: Find the Grain
Above all else, the important thing is the direction of your cut. You want to slice against the grain. As mentioned above, the brisket has two parts which can make this a little tricky, but nothing you can't tackle.
Plan B: Chopped Brisket
Slicing brisket shouldn’t be much harder than slicing a loaf of bread, but sometimes things don’t go as planned.
