How to Smoke a Beef Brisket Like a Pro
Smoking a beef brisket can seem intimidating, but with some tips and techniques, you can make restaurant-quality smoked brisket at home Brisket is a tough, fatty cut that needs to be cooked low and slow to become tender and flavorful. With the right preparation, patience and monitoring, your brisket will come out juicy, smoky and delicious
Choose the Right Brisket
When selecting a brisket at the grocery store or butcher shop, you want a well-marbled “packer-cut” brisket that has both the flat and the point intact. This cut has ample fat to keep the meat moist during the long smoking process. Look for good marbling throughout the brisket, and a decent fat cap on top. Avoid super lean briskets, as they often turn out dry. Prime grade is ideal if you can find it, but Choice grade briskets will also give you great results. Plan on around 1.5 hours of smoking time per pound of meat. A 12-15 lb brisket is a good size for most home smokers.
Trim the Brisket
Before smoking trim off any hard excess fat from the brisket, leaving about 1⁄4 inch of the fat cap intact. This will help the meat retain moisture as it smokes low and slow. Be careful not to over-trim near the point where the flat and point join together, as you want the fat there to render for tenderness. A thin layer of fat will also allow smoke to better penetrate the meat.
Apply a Dry Brine
Dry brining the brisket will help retain moisture and enhances the flavor. Generously apply kosher salt on all sides of the brisket. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 2 hours before smoking. The salt will draw moisture out, then reabsorb into the meat.
Make a Simple Brisket Rub
A basic brisket rub only requires kosher salt and black pepper, but you can add garlic powder, chili powder, cumin or other spice mixes. Apply the rub liberally over the entire brisket before smoking. The rub flavors the outside “bark” and adds another layer of seasoning.
Set Up Your Smoker
Prepare your smoker or grill for low and slow cooking at 225-250°F, using indirect heat if needed. Add your choice of smoking wood like hickory, oak or pecan. Use chunks in a charcoal smoker, or pellets in a pellet grill. Maintaining a steady, low temperature is crucial for brisket.
Monitor the Internal Temperature
Insert a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the flat, and keep an eye on the temperature throughout the smoke. The brisket will need to reach 165°F internal before it hits the “stall” where the temp stops rising. This is normal. Continue smoking until it reaches 203°F for slicing tender brisket.
Wrap at the Stall
Right around 160°F, the brisket will likely hit the stall and the temperature will plateau. At this point, wrap the brisket tightly in butcher paper or foil and return to the smoker. This helps push through the stall faster by braising the meat.
Rest and Slice Against the Grain
When the brisket hits 203°F, remove from the smoker and let it rest wrapped for 1-4 hours. This allows the juices to redistribute. Finally, slice the brisket across the grain for tenderness before serving.
With the right preparation, monitoring and patience through the lengthy smoke time, your brisket will come out incredibly moist, smoky and delicious. It’s worth the effort for this barbecue favorite! Let the meat rest sufficiently before slicing, and cut against the grain. Serve sliced brisket on its own, in tacos and sandwiches, with classic sides like baked beans and coleslaw, or however you prefer to enjoy the fruits of your smoking labor.
Brisket Stall and Brisket Stall Temp
If you are watching your internal thermometer during the smoking process, you will probably notice a period of time when the temperature seems to stop rising altogether. It may even drop a degree or 3. This period is called the brisket stall and it is almost painful to watch, but totally normal and necessary. The stall happens when the moisture in your meat starts to evaporate, essentially sweating. This moisture causes the meat to cool itself down while your fire is trying to heat the meat up.
The brisket stall usually begins when the temperature of your meat reads 145 degrees F and lasts until the brisket pushes past 175 degrees F. It can take anywhere from 2-5 hours to push through this phase (yes, that long, and yes, that much variation). Every brisket I’ve ever smoked has pushed through the stall in a different amount of time. Some go quick and some drag on forever.
If you are spritzing, this stall can take a while longer to break through than just pushing through without opening the lid on your smoker. All you really need to do is keep watching your fire to maintain consistent temperatures and just let your brisket do its thing. It will eventually come up in temperature, I promise! Once your brisket gets to 165 and your bark is looking dark and beautiful, it’s time for the next step!
Best Wood for Smoking Brisket
Next up in our smoking brisket adventure, it’s time to choose the best wood for smoking brisket. Again, this is one where there is a lot of argument in the BBQ community about what is “right” Personally, I like to cook brisket over oak as the main wood. It gives amazing flavor and generally provides a pretty consistent heat source. I also like to add in some cherry wood chunks from the tree we cut down in our yard. These flavors are very complementary to beef without being overwhelming and the cherry adds an amazing mahogany color to the brisket.
I try to shoot for an overall smoker temperature of 225 degrees F. I much prefer the low and slow method for cooking briskets. It takes a while a requires patience, but I think it is worth it. There are many others who will cook at 250 or 275 to speed up the cooking process. In the competition BBQ space, many pitmasters cook at 325 degrees F and have great results. Again, it’s all about preference, but for your first brisket I recommend low and slow. It gives you a lot of time to manage your fires, learn your smoker, and find the right temperature windows for moving on to the next step.
If your smoker has a water pan built in (or room for one), I recommend filling it with about an inch of water and a few tablespoons of olive oil. I place mine underneath the grill grate to help maintain moisture inside the grill (and to catch the brisket drippings!). If you need to place it off to the side, I suggest the side closest to the firebox. Smoke clings to moisture particles, and a little humidity circling your brisket will assist with smoke penetration (and juicy meat).
Now that you’ve built your fire and seasoned your trimmed brisket, it’s go time. Place the brisket in the smoker with the thicker point facing the direction of your firebox or the hottest part of your grill. The fatty, thick point will be better able to handle the brunt of the heat from the fire without drying out.
If you’ve got a remote thermometer, insert the meat probe into the center of the brisket directly into the meat (not the fat). If you’ve got a thermometer with two probes, you can insert one into the point and one into the flat to monitor temperatures on both sides of your brisket. Close the lid, grab a drink, and tend to your fire for the next 3 hours. Don’t even crack the lid once. Don’t do it. You’ll be tempted, but seriously don’t. This first exposure to the smoke is so essential to the final result of the brisket. A majority of the smoke penetration happens during this time.
You’re through your first through hours, and now you have a decision to make during the next 5-7 hours of your cook. To spritz or not to spritz? Again, this is a divided house in the brisket world. Some never open the lid until that brisket has been in for at least 12 hours. Others like to crack the lid every hour or so to check on the meat and add more moisture to the brisket. I’ve done both. If it’s your first time smoking a brisket, I want you to keep it simple. Skip the spritzing step and use that time to maintain the temperature in your smoker instead. Your brisket will take about 8-10 hours during this first phase.
You ready to take things to the next level and try spritzing? Let’s do it! After the initial smoke period, it is time to really build that beautiful coveted bark on the exterior of the brisket. Over the next 5-7 hours (give or take) your brisket will slllooooooowwwwwlllyyy rise in temperature. Using a spray bottle filled with liquid, lightly spritz your brisket every 45 minutes to an hour. What’s the liquid? Pitmaster’s choice! It can simply be water to keep things moist, or beef stock to add some richness, or beer for flavor, or a combo of all 3.
EASY smoked brisket recipe to nail it your first time
FAQ
How long does it take to smoke a brisket?
- Prepare the Brisket: Trim the brisket, remove any hard, yellow fat, and season it.
- Smoke Unwrapped: Place the brisket on the smoker at 225°F to 250°F.
- Check for “The Stall”: Expect the temperature to plateau (the “stall”) around 165°F to 180°F. Wrap the brisket in butcher paper or foil.
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Over The Fire Cookinghttps://overthefirecooking.comTexas Smoked Brisket Recipe – Over The Fire CookingMay 23, 2022 — I recommend checking it at 7 hours, then adding time as needed. You can check that it’s done with a meat thermometer. The internal temperature of th…
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- Continue Smoking: Continue smoking the wrapped brisket until it reaches 203°F.
- Rest: After removing the brisket from the smoker, let it rest for at least an hour before carving and serving.
What is the 3 2 1 rule for brisket?
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1. 3 Hours Unwrapped:Start by smoking the brisket at 225°F (107°C) for 3 hours, leaving it unwrapped to develop a flavorful bark.
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2. 2 Hours Wrapped:After 3 hours, wrap the brisket in foil and continue smoking for another 2 hours at 225°F (107°C). This stage allows the brisket to become more tender and moist.
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3. 1 Hour Unwrapped:Finally, unwrap the brisket and cook it for 1 more hour at 225°F (107°C) to crisp up the bark.
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4. Rest:Allow the brisket to rest for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving. This allows the juices to redistribute, resulting in a more tender and juicy final product.
How to smoke a brisket for beginners?
Place the brisket, fat-side down, directly on the grill grates. Close the lid and smoke for 3-4 hours, spraying with the mop sauce every hour. Increase the grill temperature to 225℉ and continue to cook, spraying occasionally with the mop sauce, until the internal temperature reaches 204℉, 6-8 hours more.
What is the secret to smoking brisket?
The secret to making a delicious brisket is smoking at a consistent temperature, cooking with indirect heat, and, most importantly, monitoring the brisket’s internal temperature to determine when to wrap it and when it is done. It is critical to know when to wrap the brisket.
How do you smoke a brisket?
Let rub soak in for about 10 minutes, or up to several hours. Place the brisket flat on the main cooking grate, fat side down. Place the point on the second shelf, directly about the flat. Smoke until you reach your desired color. You’re looking for a dark mahogany color.
Should you smoke brisket?
Smoking meat is a great way to add some delicious flavor to any tough cut of meat, be it pork butt or brisket. Traditionally, smoking meat has been a way to preserve it in conjunction with salt curing or trying. With the advent of refrigeration, smoking only for flavor has become more and more common.
How to buy a brisket for a smoker?
When buying a brisket for your smoker, ask your butcher for an untrimmed or “packer” cut. This ensures you’ll get both parts of the brisket together. Keep in mind, this brisket will be somewhere between 12 and 16 pounds. You’ll need to trim some of the fat from your brisket before you begin the smoking process.