How To Barbecue A Brisket

If your brisket is tender, juicy and flavorful, you already know how to barbecue a brisket! If it's not, read on and you'll learn how it's done.

Beef Brisket Barbecue Basics

Follow the steps and you'll make great barbecued brisket.

• Buying a brisket - It's preferable to buy a whole, untrimmed brisket. The fat layer (fat cap) melts as the brisket cooks, keeping the brisket moist and adding flavor. You don't have to cook it all at once. Divide it in half or in quarters, freezing the extra to barbecue later. If buying a ten-to-twelve pound piece of meat just scares the dickens out of you, buy a flat cut brisket, or better yet, a point cut. The point cut has more fat, which means more flavor.



• Prepping the brisket - If you chickened out and bought a flat cut or point cut brisket section, the preparation has been mostly done. Just check over the meat and thin down any fat deposits thicker than one-quarter of an inch. (Hey, I was just kidding about the chicken thing. It's OK to buy itty bitty pieces of meat...Really!)

  If you were a man about it, (or a REAL woman) and bought a whole, packer cut brisket weighing twelve pounds, get ready to do a little trimmin'. Actually, all that needs to be done is to trim the fat down to about one-quarter inch thick - no thinner - and then score the fat diagonally. Cut just throught the fat so you can see the meat in a criss-cross pattern, the cuts about one inch apart. The scoring lets the seasonings reach the meat on the fat side of the brisket.




• Marinating the brisket - This step is optional. Many barbecuers swear that marinating the brisket overnight (or longer) gets flavors down deep into the meat. Beer, wine, fruit juices and water, a little oil, garlic, chopped onions, spices, herbs, salt, sugar...all of these ingredients have their place in beef brisket marinade. They do add flavor. And many cooks believe that adding acidic liquids like vinegar or lemon juice to the marinade helps tenderize the meat.



• Seasoning/dry rubbing the brisket - Brisket dry rubs are in my opinion 100% required when barbecuing brisket. The spice mix can be as simple as a little salt, onion powder and black pepper. Or as complex and combinations of twenty or more spices and herbs. There are many, many brisket dry rub recipes to choose from...or you can make up your own. Have a little fun and experiment!

How to Barbecue a Brisket

• Baking/grilling/smoking/crockpotting the brisket - I'll make this short and sweet. Each of these brisket barbecuing methods will soon have their own pages you can visit. But for now...
  
  
  • Baking Brisket
    Cook brisket at 250F for about one hour per pound. Cook on a rack so juices can drain away, uncovered for half of the time, then wrap in foil for the remainder. Done at 190F internal temperature.
  
  
  • Grilling Brisket
    Grill using indirect method at 250-300F for one hour per pound. Wrap in foil after halfway done. Remove when the internal temperature reaches 190F.
  
  
  • Smoking Brisket
    Smoke at 220-240F for one and one-half hours per pound. Wrap in foil after 4 hours. Done at 190F.
  
  
  • Crock Pot Brisket
    Cut the brisket into chunks, filling the crockpot about three-quarters full. Pour in a mixture of 1/2 cup bbq sauce and 1/2 cup water or apple juice. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or until fork tender.



• Cooking Temperature for Brisket - Beef brisket contains a lot of connective tissue and fat. The best way to make it tender is to cook at a relatively low temperature for an extended time. If it's cooked at 350F, a lot of the moisture will be forced out of the meat. A cooking temperature of 220-240F is perfect when smoking brisket. In the oven, you can cook it a little hotter, at say 250-300F. Same on the grill. If you have time, try cooking it in the oven at 225F. It could take 12 to 18 hours (at 1 1-2 hours per pound), but the flavor and the texture will be out of this world!



• Mopping the brisket - When grilling, baking or smoking brush on mop sauce to add flavor and moistness to the meat. This ain't no barbecue sauce. A little beer, wine, vinegar oil and spices is about it. It helps.



• Wrapping in foil - Wrapping the barbecuing brisket in foil halfway through the cooking process ensures that the brisket will be moist when it's done. It also cooks a little quicker wrapped in foil. Oh yeah, double wrap with heavy duty foil to prevent leaks. You don't want to lose any of the juices.



• Final Brisket Temperature
  For slicing - 170-180F
  Falling apart tender - 190-200F



• Resting the Brisket - For the most tender, juicy brisket let it rest after cooking. Leave it wrapped in foil, drop it (gently) into a cooler, cover it with two or three bath towels, close the lid and wait. Four hours if you can. If not, at the very least a half hour. During the rest period, the meat relaxes and reabsorbs some of the liquid it lost as it cooked.



• Saucing the brisket - Let everyone do this to their own liking when the brisket is served. Some may not want sauce. Don't coat the brisket with sauce when it's cooking, or before slicing. Just don't.



• Slicing the Brisket - Across the grain when cooked to slicing temperature, with the grain when cooked to fallin' apart temperature



• Serving the Brisket - Oh Yeah! Let's eat! I'm so hungry I could eat a horse. But really, you just slice it, pile it on a serving platter and let the eatin' begin. You can't beat barbecued brisket sandwiches, cold beer and potato salad.

You now know how to barbecue a brisket with the best of them.



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