How to smoke brisket Texas style?

Most people in Texas love brisket as their meal. Even, more so a part adventure will not be an enjoyable party when there is no whole brisket as part of the menu.

If you are not conversant with a smoked beef brisket and you encounter this chunk of beef after it has just been removed from the pit, you may confuse it with a meteorite that has just landed from space instead of recognizing it as a delicacy. If it is cooked well and properly burnt, underneath the crust is usually the smoky, juicy, tender meat of all.

Just like a cowboy in Clint Eastwood, a whole brisket can become unforgiving when preparing it the wrong way. Cook it right to enjoy its juicy, flavorful, and tender taste.

Texas Style Smoked Beef Brisket

Don’t tense up yet! A Texas-style smoked beef brisket is a simple recipe that anyone can handle comfortably. It is a just a process where you smoke the brisket beefy part of your meat. Some pepper and salt, time and then smoke, perhaps a good meat thermometer will do the job.

At the first time, trying to smoke that expensive and huge brisket can somehow be intimidating. We have researched various recipes and methods around, but at last, we have come up with a simple process that can easily achieve your desired results. Once you understand this process, you will be smoking a brisket that your loved ones will appreciate. You become an expert in preparing the juicy brisket BBQ the Texas style through experience. So, let’s head straight to the preparation method.

How to Smoke a Brisket- Texas Style:

Cooking butcher paper wrapped brisket is really simple if you stick to basics and don’t try to complicate things by using countless techniques you hear about or see at the barbecue joints. Here’s how you just keep it simple:

1. Find a proper whole brisket that entails both the flat and point muscle. Since the kind of grade will determine the flavors of the meat, I would advise you pick a prime beef grade instead of choice graded brisket. Since it is more fatty, hence, more flavorful and juicy. 20 to 25 people can comfortably enjoy 12-13 pounds of brisket meat. It implies that each will be served with around ½ pounds. But, this portion is set to vary depending on the kiddos of the people, some may demand more.

2. This step involves trimming the brisket. Start by rinsing the meat and drying it. Trim the thick fat off the bottom side down to 1/4” or so. Trim the sides as well to 1/4”. Trim the heal off the top side. If you don’t want to bother with trimming, don’t worry about it. . ¾ of the fat cap should be trimmed off the packer meat. You can freeze the fat and later use it for the burgers.

3. Next you will have to season your brisket. Coarse black pepper and coarse salt will be adequate for the Texas style. On top of that, some like to add some garlic power to the brisket. It only adds some goodness to the meat, but it doesn’t alter the amazing flavor of the smoked beef. However, this addition is not a must; you can still skip it if you do not appreciate it. Take a shaker container and mix the pepper, garlic and salt. Season the brisket through shaking the container about 2 feet above to sprinkle the spices on your meat. At that height, a nice layer of the spices is spread through the surface of the brisket.

4. It is time to smoke the brisket. Now fire up your smoker so it will burn fairly clean, and bring it to it’s ideal cooking temperature so that it won’t burn up your brisket while it cooks for 10-12 hours, unwrapped. This will probably be 225-250 degrees (F) for most backyard stick burners or charcoal pits. Use whatever wood you like hickory, post oak, pecan or a mix of everything. Just get it burning clean and even. If the smoke doesn’t smell good while it’s burning, the meats gonna taste terrible.

5. Place the brisket on the pit cold. On most backyard stick burners, it should probably go fat side up. Fat side down on charcoal pits if the fire is directly below the meat. You decide what works best on your pit.

6. Telling the exact time that smoking the brisket will take is a bit tricky, but alas!, that is what makes BBQ interesting. You will just know when it is done. At the initial smoking phase, expose your briskets (let say they weigh 12-13 pounds) to the heat of 225 degrees F for nearly 8 hours.

7. Later, the brisket will enter a phase at which point the liquid will evaporate from the brisket’s surface as the cooking continues. This is when it’s in the “STALL.” A good thermometer will assure you that you are on the right track. The stall will take around 4-6 hours to complete if you do not wrap.If it looks like the meat is burning, slow the pit down.

8. Once the water on top of the brisket start to dry up, the brisket is coming out of the stall. The internal meat temperature should be around 175-185 (F). 

9. Outside of the brisket will start to turn dark. Let the brisket continue to cook until your index finger will sink into the fatty end about an inch Or crust is formed. Then wrap the brisket in the pink butcher paper. Use this butcher paper, it’s what Aaron Franklin uses in Austin.

10. Let the brisket cook 1 to 3 more hours until the butcher paper is saturated. Check for done-ness by feeling if it’s floppy. Take a probe and poke the brisket at several spots in the thickest part of the flat.  When the probe goes in and out like a knife through warm butter, the brisket is ready.

11. Let the brisket rest for at least 1 to 2 hours! This step is crucial and should not be missed at all. It involves allowing the brisket to rest for the meat to redistribute, and the bubbly and hot juices to settle down. It allows the brisket to cool down to a temperature that you can be able to slice and serve. 

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