Bark on the skin and inside is juicy | Today’s Brisket Basics will help you get it right on your brisket anytime and every time.
Brisket is a fairly easy cut to smoke. It takes plenty of time and this instruction is how I do mine and can be varied as you find new and different ways of doing your own thing. Of course, you’ll get more tips on Heated.
Anyway, pick out a rub of choice. You can create your own by looking through the recipes available online today or using a premade rub. I use different rubs each time just because I’m always looking for new taste.
Walmart has a decent rub called Applewood Rub that is not bad if you are in a pinch and need some now. you can use some regular old bottles of yellow mustard and rub a thin layer all over the brisket.
This will give something for the rub to stick to. It won’t cause and noticeable flavor change in the brisket. Rub the brisket down with a liberal application. You can let the brisket sit if you like for an hour or so or just throw it on the smoker now.
Another cool brisket idea-
Have your smoker fired up and temp stabilized at around 225. During the smoke, the temp will vary. I set my thermometer alarm for 210–240 and try to stay in that range throughout the whole smoke. You can use wood chips to impart new flavor.
Once it’s ready put the brisket on and letter rip. Depending on the size of your brisket, it will take 6 hours or so to make it up to stall.. this time is not exact. As long as the temp keeps rising you haven’t made it yet.
Eventually, the temp will stop going up and just sit there for what will seem like forever. This usually happens between 160–165 or thereabouts. Don’t change anything. Just keep the temp steady.
At this point, if your brisket is as dark as you want it, you may choose to wrap it in foil. This is not required and some people prefer to let the meat continue to build bark. It is said that meat doesn’t take on any more “smoke flavor” above 150 or so. After that point, you are just building bark. You can over smoke a piece of meat and cause a bitter taste. This really is a personal preference.
After you finally make it through the stall, the temperature will start going up again. At this point, you will need to keep an eye on the internal temp because it will seem to start rising rapidly ( so some have said I personally didn’t think it was fast enough lol)
If you are going to be slicing your brisket, the internal temp you are looking for is about 190. If you are planning on pulling (shredding) it, you will want to let it go to 205.
These temps seem to be the consensus as to the best temps for the correlating type. Once you hit your preferred Internal Temp, pull the brisket off, and if you haven’t already, go ahead and wrap it in foil.
If you have a cooler you can set the brisket in a cooler and toss a couple of towels over it and let it rest for a couple of hours. When you pull it out you will find it is still hot. The time in the cooler allows it to rest and relax the meat.
It will cool a bit as well. letting it cool makes slicing much easier as well. slice or pull it and serve it up to all those people who have been bugging you for the last 3 hours wondering if it was ready yet. Lol
Hope this was helpful.
