Who doesn’t love the taste of smoked meat? Brisket is our all time favorite meat to smoke on the smoker and let me tell you, this recipe is amazing!! I mean, just look at how this brisket turned out! And all that juice….YUM!
The Story
My 2 brother-in-laws are always smoking some type of meat for the holidays. It’s either turkey, brisket, chicken or some other type of fabulous type of meat and I got to the point where I didn’t want to have to wait until a holiday to have that wonderful taste! So…I asked my hubby for a smoker and he got me one for Christmas last year! Now, all I had to do was figure out how to actually use it!
That’s where my dad comes in. Daddy grew up in the south and he was always smoking pork. He tells me stories about how he and his dad and brothers would stay up for 24 hours smoking a Boston butt just hanging out, monitoring the temperature of the meat and telling all kinds of tales. When I got my smoker, I told my dad he was going to have to educate me on how to do this the right way. Dad and I have now been smoking meat for about a year and we have such a great time together! We’ve smoked chicken, ribs and salmon and they have all turned out amazing! But what we really wanted to do was smoke a brisket.
My nephew called me 3 weeks ago and said he wanted to come spend the weekend with us and smoke a brisket. I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to get my dad over here and smoke this brisket we have been talking about for a year! The only problem was, I am booked every weekend in November and the weekend my nephew wanted to smoke was the weekend I was doing a fitness challenge with my company. But my dad said, “Don’t worry…you prep the meat and I’ll watch the smoker while you compete for 3 hours.” What a great dad!
I started doing research on how to smoke a brisket and decided to just call my brother-in-law and asked him his secrets. He told me what I needed to do and I went to it! Let me tell you, the brisket turned out amazing and extremely tender. So, I’m going to share with you our secrets on how to prepare and smoke a brisket so it turns out incredibly juicy and tender. Before I tell you how, let me show you the outcome. It looks fantastic, doesn’t it!?!?!
The Secret
You can see how juicy this brisket turned out. Brisket is the toughest cut of meat from the cow, so how you prep your brisket both before, during and after you smoke it is so important. If you do it right, it will turn out tender, juicy and full of flavor.
Here’s how I prepped the brisket. I bought a 10-pound brisket and it had a thick layer of fat on the bottom. What you want to do is cut some of the fat off, but you want to leave about a 1/4 of an inch of fat on your brisket. The slim fatty layer really helps add moisture and flavor to your brisket. After the fat is cut, you are ready to rub your brisket down with your favorite dry rub.
Taste wise, there are so many ways you can go on rubs. Some people like a spicy rub, but I love the mixture of a caramelized brown sugar rub with a hint of salt and spice. Here is my recipe for the brisket rub:
Ingredients for Rub
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 Tablespoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons seasoning salt
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon oregano leaves (dried)
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
Directions for Brisket
Place the brisket in a large Pyrex dish. Take each ingredient listed above and mix well in a bowl with a spoon. Once your ingredients are mixed well, start rubbing and pressing the rub into the meat. You want to ensure you are pressing the rub into the meat with a little bit of force so the rub can start to seep into the meat. Use all the rub to cover your meat. Cover the Pyrex dish with either aluminum foil or saran wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours.
Let’s talk about wood for a minute. I like to use wood chunks instead of wood chips. My favorite wood chunks to use for smoking a brisket are a combination of half hickory and half apple. I soak my wood chunks for at least an hour before I start smoking. Once the chunks are done soaking, what you want to do is wrap your chunks in heavy-duty aluminum foil and poke little holes in the foil. By doing this, your wood chunks will last longer and they won’t crumble to ash half way through your smoking time. Speaking of smoking time…let’s talk about that a minute. For a brisket, you want to estimate about an hour of smoking time per pound. I bought a 10-pound brisket and we smoked it for about 9 1/2 hours.
Once your wood chunks are wrapped, place them in the tray in the smoker. The next thing you want to do is prepare your water tray. Wrap your water tray with heavy-duty aluminum foil and drop in about 3 Tablespoons of liquid smoke into your water. The liquid smoke helps provide that deep smoke taste. I turn on my smoker and get the temperature to 225 degrees. When it’s time to put the brisket on the smoker, I lay it fat side down. I go ahead and put my electric meat thermometer in the brisket and sit back and let it smoke…never letting the smoker temperature get above 250. Remember…the slower and lower the meat, the better. I really like to keep my smoker at 225 degrees.
The Stall
Have you ever heard of the 165-degree stall when smoking a brisket? Well, if you haven’t experienced it, it’s frustrating. Brisket is not a cheap cut of meat to begin with and having it sit there at 165 degrees when you want it medium-well to well done is not a great thing. Well, let me tell you the secret to get past this stall. When you get to the point where your meat has about 2 to 3 hours left to smoke, what you want to do is pull the brisket out of the smoker and double wrap it with heavy duty aluminum foil. This will help maintain the internal heat and help get past the stall. Wrap it tight. The tighter the better. Insert your meat thermometer back into the brisket and continue to smoke until your brisket reaches 180 to 185 degrees.
I have one more secret for you. It sounds crazy, but trust me on this one. Once your brisket reaches 180 to 185 degrees, pull it out of the smoker and leave it wrapped in the aluminum foil. Take your wrapped meat and wrap it again in a beach towel. Pull out a large empty cooler and place your wrapped brisket in the cooler to rest for about 1 to 2 hours. This process really helps make the brisket juicy and more tender. After about 2 hours, you are ready to cut into your brisket. Make sure you slice it against the grain.
Take a look at the smoke ring. This is what you want to see on your brisket. People believe that the smoke ring proves you have done a good job by properly smoking the meat in a “low and slow” manner. The goal is to get your smoke ring to be about a 1/4 of an inch thick. I’m pretty happy with how my smoke ring turned out and let me tell you, the brisket was so tender and juicy and had an amazing taste.
Enjoy your smoking process. It’s a great way to make memories with your friends and family. I cherish the hours my dad and I spend hanging out monitoring the smoker. I get to hear old stories and I learn so much about his past and our family. And look at the outcome…we get to brag about how awesome our meat tastes!
Oh and if you’re looking for more smoker recipes, check out my Applewood Smoked Chicken recipe! These Slow Cooker Herb Roasted Garlic Potatoes pair wonderfully with any smoked meal!
Beef brisket and a backyard smoker: It doesn't get any better than that! This beef brisket is rubbed down with my special rub then smoked on the smoker. And...I'll even tell you how to get past that stall! You're going to LOVE this post!
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 Tablespoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons seasoning salt
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon oregano leaves dried
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 10 lb Brisket
Place the brisket in a large Pyrex dish. Take each ingredient listed above (excluding the Brisket) and mix well in a bowl with a spoon. Once your ingredients are mixed well, start rubbing and pressing the rub into the meat. You want to ensure you are pressing the rub into the meat with a little bit of force so the rub can start to seep into the meat. Use all the rub to cover your meat. Cover the Pyrex dish with either aluminum foil or saran wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours.
- Let’s talk about wood for a minute. I like to use wood chunks instead of wood chips. My favorite wood chunks to use for smoking a brisket are a combination of half hickory and half apple. I soak my wood chunks for at least an hour before I start smoking. Once the chunks are done soaking, what you want to do is wrap your chunks in heavy-duty aluminum foil and poke little holes in the foil. By doing this, your wood chunks will last longer and they won’t crumble to ash half way through your smoking time. Speaking of smoking time…let’s talk about that a minute. For a brisket, you want to estimate about an hour of smoking time per pound. I bought a 10-pound brisket and we smoked it for about 9 1/2 hours.
- Once your wood chunks are wrapped, place them in the tray in the smoker. The next thing you want to do is prepare your water tray. Wrap your water tray with heavy-duty aluminum foil and drop in about 3 Tablespoons of liquid smoke into your water. The liquid smoke helps provide that deep smoke taste. I turn on my smoker and get the temperature to 225 degrees. When it’s time to put the brisket on the smoker, I lay it fat side down. I go ahead and put my electric meat thermometer in the brisket and sit back and let it smoke…never letting the smoker temperature get above 250. Remember…the slower and lower the meat, the better. I really like to keep my smoker at 225 degrees.
- Have you ever heard of the 165-degree stall when smoking a brisket? Well, if you haven’t experienced it, it’s frustrating. Brisket is not a cheap cut of meat to begin with and having it sit there at 165 degrees when you want it medium-well to well done is not a great thing. Well, let me tell you the secret to get past this stall. When you get to the point where your meat has about 2 to 3 hours left to smoke, what you want to do is pull the brisket out of the smoker and double wrap it with heavy duty aluminum foil. This will help maintain the internal heat and help get past the stall. Wrap it tight. The tighter the better. Insert your meat thermometer back into the brisket and continue to smoke until your brisket reaches 180 to 185 degrees.
- I have one more secret for you. It sounds crazy, but trust me on this one. Once your brisket reaches 180 to 185 degrees, pull it out of the smoker and leave it wrapped in the aluminum foil. Take your wrapped meat and wrap it again in a beach towel. Pull out a large empty cooler and place your wrapped brisket in the cooler to rest for about 1 to 2 hours. This process really helps make the brisket juicy and more tender. After about 2 hours, you are ready to cut into your brisket. Make sure you slice it against the grain.
- Take a look at the smoke ring. This is what you want to see on your brisket. People believe that the smoke ring proves you have done a good job by properly smoking the meat in a “low and slow” manner. The goal is to get your smoke ring to be about a 1/4 of an inch thick. I’m pretty happy with how my smoke ring turned out and let me tell you, the brisket was so tender and juicy and had an amazing taste.
- Enjoy your smoking process. It’s a great way to make memories with your friends and family. I cherish the hours my dad and I spend hanging out monitoring the smoker. I get to hear old stories and I learn so much about his past and our family. And look at the outcome…we get to brag about how awesome our meat tastes!
NOTE: A 10 pound Brisket contains 160 ounces. Most people eat 4 ounces of meat at a time. This is how I calculated the serving size for the nutritional value of this brisket.
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Looks great Amanda, now you have me wanted to go smoke a Brisket. I’ve done that low and slow and experienced the stall, unfortunately it was overnight (it was a 24 hourish smoke) and the fire started to go out! I knew about wrapping it afterwards but did not think about double wrapping during the stall! Good tips!
Amanda, even though I made so many mistakes the first time I used my smoker, your rub recipe was absolutely wonderful! Connie
Thank you! I know when I first started smoking, it took me a couple of time, too! Glad you liked the rub!!!
Oh boy. I commend your efforts and exploration into the world of smoking a brisket. As you know, there is more than one way to skin a cat.
Smoking meat is as much about the good times and fun of doing so as it is about experimenting different techniques and flavors. Which, just adds to more opportunities for fun and good times.
Try forgetting the foil all together. Keep a fire of 250. Let the internal reach 203-210. Wrap the brisket in some butcher paper or not at all once the crust takes form, just keep it moist with a bowl of water in the smoker or spraying each hour with whatever flavorful concoction you can muster. And lastly, cook with fat side up. The fat renders into the meat and adds a ton of flavor and keeps it from drying out.
The stall just adds more time to tell more tales!
Happy smoking! Can’t wait to try our your recipe and technique .