Brisket Recipe for 1st Smoke

David6340 · July 14, 2004, 06:45:28 PM

Hi, I'm planning on ordering my BS tomorow and hopefully will have it by this weekend. I'm thinking about smoking a brisket. Does anybody have a brisket recipe that you could recomend for my first smoke? This is not only my first smoke on the BS but first smoke period. Thanks for your help.

Dave[:)]

MallardWacker · July 14, 2004, 10:00:13 PM

David,

Welcome to the forum. I too will be smoking my first brisket this weekend. I have smoked plenty of other stuff but this will be my first step off into the brisket thing.

This is what I am planning:

Trim my brisket fat cap to about a 1/4 inch.
Wash that hunk of meat off.
Apply my favorite rub the night before.
Smoking temp at 200deg.
Use 4hrs of my favorite smoke.
Cook till internal temp of 180deg.They say this will take about 1 to 1.5hrs per pound.
I will be using the top two racks if possible.
When finished, I will wrap in foil then wrap it in a old towl for a couple of hours.

Here are some sugestions that might help you.

Get youself a remote thermometer, this will help you from opening the door.
Speaking of opening the door, keep that baby shut. I plan on checking on mine about 6 hrs into it.
Set your vent to about 1/4 -3/8 open.
Pre-heat your smoker for an hour or so to about 225-250deg.
You will notice that you temp of the meat will hang at 165deg or so for a long time, don't worry, you don't have to adjust the smoker temp, the meat is "rendering". I'm not going to get into it here but you need this to happen so that it will be tender

These are just observations and sugestions and I am sure that there are greater brisket dudes than I. I humbly sumbit these sugestions to their comments and experience.

Most of all, have fun. Good Luck!

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know. But...

gorph · July 14, 2004, 11:16:36 PM

i got a couple of sugestion that may help.
i live in texas and here brisket is king. anyway i ordered my bradley smoker and it will be here in a couple of days.so i don't have a clue how to cook in one but i'm thinking it has to be just like cooking on a big pit. . with this in mind i will tell you a couple of things about cooking brisket on a smoker with a side fire box like what most people down here in texas uses.

1)I like to put my brisket on the pit while it is warming up it helps with getting a good looking smoke ring

2)I used to cook my brisket 4-5 hrs smoking and 4-5 hrs wraped in foil..... cooking this way lets me have a pretty tender roast beef
the way i do it now ... smoke it all the way never wrap it just keep the heat @ 175-200 degrees and lots of smoke.

3)i never remove any fat .. i always cook with the fat side up this way as the fat starts to melt it's going through the meat keeping it moist.

4) lot of people use a mop sauce and put on the brisket every hour.. i personal don't do this... but if i use a trimed brisket you might keep this in mind just to keep it moist.

5) the rule of thumb is cook the brisket slow and long i keep my temp 175-200 degrees and cook 1 hour per pound. if your cooking a 10 lb brisket cook it 10 hr

gorph

ruffinit · July 15, 2004, 01:53:00 AM

hello david.and welcome to smoker central[:D][;)].mallard and gorph gave some good info.i'll just add my bit o stuff too[^]if you have'nt got it yet a good smokin cookbook is [smoke and spice]by cheryl and bill jamison.got mine at barnes and noble.good rub recipes,how to do all kinds brisket,ribs,chicken ,ect...very good read and loads of info.also go to main forum page under meat,or recipes,or hot smoke bbq and click on brisket or what ever you mite be into,remember there is probably many pages on the subject you click on so it will take a bit of time to read it all,lots of early trial and error stories posted so have fun reading and learning on your own.one more thing,when you do a long smoke like brisket or pork butt empty water pan,and refill four or five hours into cook.sorry so long a post.good luck and enjoy your new smoker.it really is fun.

mike

David6340 · July 15, 2004, 03:53:54 AM

Thank you all for the feedback. I've heard people talking about a "Bark" type coating on briskets, mostly on the Weber Smoky Mountain site. Is this something that will happen with the BS or is this just particular to the WSM? Thanks again.

Dave

Cold Smoke · July 15, 2004, 03:16:51 PM

I'm certainly not a brisket connoisseur- as I've only recently cooked my first one recently- but it certainly had a good bark on it- The brisket I had was pretty well trimmed of all fat[V] though and ended up pretty dry. The pork butts I've done have also had plenty of bark. I've never owned Weber though so I couldn't give you a comparison there.

Good luck.

Cold Smoke

gorph · July 25, 2004, 12:36:13 AM

to add a little
i have never stuck a thermometer in my brisket to see if it done.
and to cook it until the internal temp is 180 is something i never heard of. if you follow the golden rule which is cook @ 200 degrees for 1 hour per pound yu'll do just fine. another way to tell if the brisket is cook good is the middle layer of fat will Collapse. i don't stick my meat after it started cooking because the hole will start draining juices. which you need to keep the sucker moist.
gorph

David6340 · July 27, 2004, 12:00:47 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by MallardWacker
 David,

Welcome to the forum. I too will be smoking my first brisket this weekend. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Mallard,
I was curious how your brisket came out? How much did it weigh and how long did you cook?
Thanks,
Dave

MallardWacker · July 27, 2004, 03:05:16 PM

David,

I had two briskets, both I estimated trimmed out about 11lbs each.(they were both butcher cuts, had the flat and point) I put them in almost cold from the fridge. I used the top two racks and each brisket took up EVERY inch of the rack. I used about 4 1/2 hrs or Pecan smoke. Did not check them for about 10 hrs. Total smoking time 19hrs @ 190 till the internal was at 185. I did wrap them in foil and a towl then placed in a cooler for a couple hours.

My results was excelent(I love my BS and it may sound a bit lop sided), my in-laws even raved about it. Pork butts has always been my favorite, but I think this brisket thing might be taking it's place. They had great bark, completely tender, and the Pecan wood was just strong enough not to over power. The meat however was almost too tender, but I much would rather have it like that then tuff.

What I will do next time:
I might get a bit smaller cut.
I will probably trim more of the point off the piece of meat.
Place my temp probe a little closer to the flat of the meat.

All in all it wasn't a failure, we were all sad when I ate the last of it last night.

I know you tried those spare ribs first, thats one of the hardest hunks of meat to do. Even loin backs are easier but they do take a little TLC to make them come out right. A fool proof piece of meat would be a pork put. Smoke at 220 for 12-13 hrs, wrap and let set, comes out perfect every time.

Thans for listeneing to my ramblings, if I could be of help, let me know.

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know. But...