After two years of smoking with my Mastercraft smoker, I finally decided to give brisket a try. I've successfully smoked everything from beef ribs, pork ribs, salmon, chicken, and tri-tip. Bought an a-maze-n-smoker for cold smoking of cheese, and salmon, with great results. But never tried a brisket until this weekend.
Much of my smoking success is due to the help, information and knowledge gained thought my participation on this board. My first attempt at brisket is no different, as I've leaned quite a bit about brisket and how to prepare it on SmokingMeatForums.com.
I purchased a 11 ½ pound full, packers cut brisket from our local Smart & Final, $2.29 a pound
Here's the Brisket rub I used: (thanks Bear)
I do not have a smoker big enough for a whole packer cut brisket. So I (against the advice of just about everybody on this board) separated the point from the flat. I decided to freeze the point for use later, and just smoke the flat portion:
I decided to leave the fat cap as is, and not trim any of the fat off. I cross cut the fat cap on the flat, and generously rubbed the brisket with the rub. I marinated the brisket over night.
At 7:00am the next morning, I fired up the Masterbuilt smoker, and pulled the brisket from the refrigerator. I filled the water bowel with water, added hickory/apple chunks to the smokers, and placed the brisket in the smoker. I brought the smoker to 210 degrees and let her go.
At 1:00pm the brisket temperature had stalled at 153 degrees. At this point, I placed the brisket in foil and added a can of beef broth and wrapped the brisket back up. I returned the brisket back to the smoker.
By 4:30pm, the brisket hit the desired temperature of 195 degrees. I placed the foiled covered brisket, wrapped in towels in an ice chest, and let it rest for 1 ½ hours. I removed the brisket and sliced it up.
And then of course plated it up:
The end result was an extremely flavorful, moist brisket. Just plain outstanding.
In summary, I think I was right with the low heat (<220 degrees), even though it took a long time to get to the 195 degree mark. The total smoke time was in the 9 hour range, but the result was a very moist brisket. In reading the various threads on smoking a brisket flat, the common theme was low temperature. The rub probably had a tad too much paprika for my liking.
Now the only question I have is the wrapping of the brisket during or just before the stall period. Although the brisket was moist, and flavorful, the bark seems to have suffered due to the extended wrapped, braising time of 3 ½ hours. Not sure how this would have come out if I skipped the foil-wrapping part, but I'd prefer moist brisket to good bark, but dried out meat.
All in all, a success!! Thanks to all that have posted brisket related information, ideas, and pictures...
Happy Memorial Day!!
Much of my smoking success is due to the help, information and knowledge gained thought my participation on this board. My first attempt at brisket is no different, as I've leaned quite a bit about brisket and how to prepare it on SmokingMeatForums.com.
I purchased a 11 ½ pound full, packers cut brisket from our local Smart & Final, $2.29 a pound
Here's the Brisket rub I used: (thanks Bear)
1/2 cup paprika 1/4 cup chili powder (mild or hot) 1/4 cup brown sugar 2 tbsp. cumin 2 tbsp. oregano 2 tbsp. salt 1 tbsp. fresh ground black pepper 1 tbsp. onion powder 2 tsp. garlic powder 2 tsp. cayenne powder 1 tsp. ground coriander | 
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I decided to leave the fat cap as is, and not trim any of the fat off. I cross cut the fat cap on the flat, and generously rubbed the brisket with the rub. I marinated the brisket over night.
At 7:00am the next morning, I fired up the Masterbuilt smoker, and pulled the brisket from the refrigerator. I filled the water bowel with water, added hickory/apple chunks to the smokers, and placed the brisket in the smoker. I brought the smoker to 210 degrees and let her go.
At 1:00pm the brisket temperature had stalled at 153 degrees. At this point, I placed the brisket in foil and added a can of beef broth and wrapped the brisket back up. I returned the brisket back to the smoker.
By 4:30pm, the brisket hit the desired temperature of 195 degrees. I placed the foiled covered brisket, wrapped in towels in an ice chest, and let it rest for 1 ½ hours. I removed the brisket and sliced it up.
And then of course plated it up:
The end result was an extremely flavorful, moist brisket. Just plain outstanding.
In summary, I think I was right with the low heat (<220 degrees), even though it took a long time to get to the 195 degree mark. The total smoke time was in the 9 hour range, but the result was a very moist brisket. In reading the various threads on smoking a brisket flat, the common theme was low temperature. The rub probably had a tad too much paprika for my liking.
Now the only question I have is the wrapping of the brisket during or just before the stall period. Although the brisket was moist, and flavorful, the bark seems to have suffered due to the extended wrapped, braising time of 3 ½ hours. Not sure how this would have come out if I skipped the foil-wrapping part, but I'd prefer moist brisket to good bark, but dried out meat.
All in all, a success!! Thanks to all that have posted brisket related information, ideas, and pictures...
Happy Memorial Day!!
