full brisket....

[tt300z]

gonna do a full 12 and a half pd brisket this weekend.. anyone have a good marinade for it and how long and what temp should i do it at?

 

[igolf2]

Hi,

Check to the left of the main page - Jeff has a nice tutorial on smoking a brisket or just do a search and you will find a bunch of info.

Really comes down to personal taste, what type smoker you are using, what type wood you have available to smoke with etc.

I am still somewhat of a newbie but lately I have been doing my briskets using a high temp method. Basically start the brisket out low temp (225) to take smoke for a couple hours then ramp up the temp (325-350) for the rest of the time needed to get it to the right temperature and tenderness. And I still foil once the brisket gets to 165 and rest wrapped in towel in a cooler when done.

Tons of info here so welcome and enjoy!!

 

[tasunkawitko]

you can choose to marinade or not, depending on what you are looking for in the final product. some folks keep it simple and marinade with one liquid, such as beef broth or dr. pepper. others marinade with an oil + and acid such as wine. for a first attempt, i'd recommend keeping it simple so that you can start at a fundamental level and build on that experience.

for cooking the brisket, i would recommend temepratures between 240-250 degrees on the grate. you can go down to around 230 if you want, but i wouldn't go much lower than that, personally, as with such a long smoke there is a danger of drying the meat out - plus, there is something that happens to meat at temperatureas around 240 or so and above. i think it is called the maillard reaction, but in laymans terms, it simply gets good.

a mopping baste during the smoke is recommended, starting about 2 hours into the smoke and then again every time you are fiddling with the fire, opening to check temperatures or whatever. once again, a mop can be pretty much anything you want, but should have some sort of oil-base. last year i used a mop that was a 50/50 mix of beer and melted butter (blend before each application of mop, in order to emulsify the ingredients) with excellent results. another one that i have had great success with is a mop consisting of 1 cup dr. pepper, 2/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce and 1/3 cup olive oil. this is something that really brings out some great flavors in meat, plus, it can be modified to push flavors in a particular direction by changing any of the ingredients around a bit.

as far as wehen your brisket is done, there are many schools of thought. i have not yet perfected that part of brisket cooking, so i will eave it to the experts to answer that question. the temperature i hear the most batted around is 185-190, then pulled from the heat, wrapped in foil, and rested at least a half-hour before slicing.

RIVET has an outstanding finishing sauce for brisket and i highly recommend it. here it is:

 

[fire it up]

Personally I enjoy a brisket with just a great rub on it and no marinade or injection.
I will recommend that if you are doing a full packer consider turning your point into burnt ends...you won't regret it.