I recently acquired my first smoker and have been smoking meat almost every other day. There is something about hanging outside on a nice summer's day and tending to the smoker, keeping the temperature at just the right degree and the smoke steadily flowing. After trying smoked burgers and reverse seared smoke steaks (www.jayeatz.com/blog/so-you-want-to-up-your-steak-game-try-reverse-sear-smoked-prime-rib-steak) I felt up for a more challenging smoke. To me the holy grail of smoked meats has always been the beef brisket. As Canadian Beef puts it:
A growing trend in Canada is the slow cooking movement. An application of slow cooking is the American BBQ. In the United States, BBQ is a bit of a cult and the king of the BBQ is the brisket. There are national competitions and a lot of hype around BBQ with many different recipes for BBQ brisket. - canadabeef.ca/carcass/#brisket
The BBQ cult has captured me and I feel the hype of the smoked beef brisket. The sheer size of a full brisket, often 12-18 pounds, and the time to smoke it, 8-16 hours can be a little intimidating, but the end result is the thing meat dreams are made of.
A growing trend in Canada is the slow cooking movement. An application of slow cooking is the American BBQ. In the United States, BBQ is a bit of a cult and the king of the BBQ is the brisket. There are national competitions and a lot of hype around BBQ with many different recipes for BBQ brisket. - canadabeef.ca/carcass/#brisket
The BBQ cult has captured me and I feel the hype of the smoked beef brisket. The sheer size of a full brisket, often 12-18 pounds, and the time to smoke it, 8-16 hours can be a little intimidating, but the end result is the thing meat dreams are made of.
Beef brisket may not be a cut of beef readily available at the grocery store. I went to my local butcher shop to pick one up. Beef brisket is made up of two muscles. The fatty muscle, the pectoralis superficialis, (a.k.a the point) and the leaner muscle, the pectoralis profundus (a.k.a the flat). I decided on a 4 lb cut from the point of the beef brisket mainly because I wanted the flavour that the fattier cut would deliver and I was only feeding 3 people so a whole brisket would have been a little much for my dinner party. A good measure of thumb is to purchase a 1/2 lb of beef per person but consider a shrinkage factor when smoking beef brisket and aim for 1 lb per person precooked weight.
I decided to try a try a Texas style smoked brisket. This style of cook truly showcases the flavour of the beef relying only on salt and pepper to season the roast. Don't get me wrong, you could get really creative with a complex rub that might include 10 or 15 different spices but sometime keeping it simple will deliver the best results.
To prepare the rub combine equal parts of kosher salt and black pepper in a container with a lid. I mixed a 1/4 cup of each together and had left over for a future smoke. Sprinkle a generous amount of the rub on all sides of the brisket but do not go overboard. You will also want to shake the rub occasionally as you sprinkle it on the brisket as the heavier salt tends to settle to the bottom of the container.
To prepare the rub combine equal parts of kosher salt and black pepper in a container with a lid. I mixed a 1/4 cup of each together and had left over for a future smoke. Sprinkle a generous amount of the rub on all sides of the brisket but do not go overboard. You will also want to shake the rub occasionally as you sprinkle it on the brisket as the heavier salt tends to settle to the bottom of the container.
I returned my rubbed brisket to the fridge while I prepped my smoker. For the wood I decided to go with Oak wood which is the traditional wood they would choose in Texas. My smoker has a built-in water pan which I filled with 1 inch of warm water. The water pan will help the cooking chamber maintain an even heat, keep the meat moist and help the smoke adhere to the meat. If your smoker does not have a water pan just add an inch or so or warm water to an aluminum disposable pan and place it under the grilling rack where you intend on placing the brisket. I preheated my smoker to 225 F and added my wood chips.
There seems to be a debate within the BBQ community around fat side up or down when it comes to placing your brisket on the cooking rack. I have a vertical smoker and decided to place my brisket fat side down as the heat source is directly below the rack. The reverse is recommended if you have an offset smoker where the heat source is off to the side. Place your brisket fat side up if this is the type of smoke you have.
Now the waiting game begins. Some online research may suggest that a brisket will take 1.5 hours per pound at 225 F. This suggests my 4 lb brisket should take about 6 hours to be done. The key to smoking meat is low and slow. Temperature is king and time is only a good judge for when to insert the thermometer into the meat. Your brisket should be finished once it reaches an internal temperature of 200 F - 204 F. As your meat progresses a good idea is to spritz it with liquid to keep it moist and to help the smoke stick to it. I used a spray bottle with beer (but water or apple cider or juice is a suitable substitute) and sprayed every 30 minutes or so after the 2-hour mark.
Now the waiting game begins. Some online research may suggest that a brisket will take 1.5 hours per pound at 225 F. This suggests my 4 lb brisket should take about 6 hours to be done. The key to smoking meat is low and slow. Temperature is king and time is only a good judge for when to insert the thermometer into the meat. Your brisket should be finished once it reaches an internal temperature of 200 F - 204 F. As your meat progresses a good idea is to spritz it with liquid to keep it moist and to help the smoke stick to it. I used a spray bottle with beer (but water or apple cider or juice is a suitable substitute) and sprayed every 30 minutes or so after the 2-hour mark.
About 5 hours in to my supposed 6 hour smoke my brisket was hovering around 165 F. I had hit a phenomenon know as the brisket stall. This can occur when cooking meat low and slow with such methods as smoking. This is caused by an evaporative cooling effect from the moisture within the brisket (and the fat) escaping which in turn cools the surface of the brisket until the moisture escapes. This can take hours to overcome but eventually will pass. A quick cure to overcome the dreaded stall is called the "Texas Crutch". Simply put remove the brisket from the smoker once it reaches 165 F and tightly wrap in in aluminum foil and return it to the smoker. At this point the brisket is done absorbing the flavours from the smoking wood chips so it is not really important to maintain a good smoke level but rather to maintain a steady temperature. Check your brisket periodically until it reached the optimal internal temperature of 204 F (for me this happened 4 hours later, 9 hours into my 6 hour smoke.....). Once it is within 3 or 4 degrees of the 204 F target remove the brisket from the smoker and let it rest for 45 minutes to an hour. Letting the brisket rest will help the juices of the brisket solidify somewhat, keeping the brisket moist and locking in the flavour from the hours you just dedicated to preparing this cut of beef on the smoker.
Once rested slice the brisket against the grain (this is a little more tricky with the brisket point as the two muscles converge in opposite directions, since my roast was smaller I didn't bother separating the two muscles and slicing each in opposite direction).
If things go well, you should have a beautiful smoke ring on the outer edge of your brisket. This is one of those things' judges look for in those brisket competitions mentioned at the beginning of this article and is considered a defining factor to whether the brisket is cooked well. Once again one of those things that meat dreams are made of.
Hopefully, you have enjoyed #MyCanadianBeef take on smoked beef brisket. Let me know how yours turned out in the comments bellow.
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