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BRISKET STEP BY STEP
Shop, Trim, Marinate, Inject, Rub, Smoke, Rest, Carve, and Serve.
Shop:
Purchase a "packer cut" whole brisket, Choice or CAB if possible. At the very least try to get better than Select grade. If you've got a selection available to you try to buy between 9 and 11 lbs, with white fat, as marbled and pliable as possible. (After cooking, anticipate 40% waste of untrimmed weight.)
Trim:
(10 minutes)
If you've got a butcher you trust have him trim the fat cap to 1/8" to 1/4", but tell him not to trim down to red meat. If you're reasonably proficient with a large knife go ahead and trim yourself. Try and leave the thinnest possible, but fully intact fat cap. If that sounds like it might be too difficult, forget trimming the fat. Turn the brisket over, so the lean side is up. Check for large flecks of fat, or pieces of thin, gray-white membrane. Use a small knife to remove them completely.
Marinate:
(30 minutes - 24 hours)
In a pan just large enough to hold the brisket, make a marinade of 3 tbs each of red wine, Worcestershire sauce and extra virgin olive oil. Slosh the brisket around in the marinade, making sure all surfaces are moistened. Allow the brisket to marinate at least 1/2 an hour at room temperature, or as long as overnight in the refrigerator. During that time the marinade will mix with the beef juices and partially coagulate into a syrup. This is desirable. Turn the brisket over occasionally during the marinade period. Reserve the marinade while injecting the brisket.
Inject:
(45 minutes)
1 cup beef stock or broth
1 cup wine
2 tbs Worcestershire
6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed, but not chopped
4 tbs salted butter, very cold, cut into 4 pieces. Or, substitute flavored oil for some or all of the butter.
Reduce the stock by half. Add the wine, Worcestershire and garlic. Reduce by half again. Strain through a tea strainer or cheesecloth to remove any solids that might clog your injector’s needle, return to heat, bring back to a simmer and remove from heat. Add the butter 1 tbs at a time, whisking each piece in just as the previous piece has melted from the residual heat. Mixture may thicken as the butter forms an emulsion.
Fill an injecting syringe with the mixture and inject the brisket. Make many small injections, rather than a few small ones, as large injections will puddle rather than disperse. No matter how careful you are when you inject, the injecting fluid will squirt out from the meat in totally unexpected places. Hilarious but messy. Less clean up, if you clear a large area on your counter and work in a large sheet pan.
Rub:
(15 minutes)
1/2 cup Morton Kosher salt
1/4 cup sweet paprika
3 tbs coarsely fresh ground black pepper
2 tbs smoked paprika, or mild chili powder, or 1 tbs ground chipotle chili
1 tbs granulated garlic
1 tbs granulated onion
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp dried thyme
Mix all thoroughly. Refresh the surface of the brisket with the reserved marinade. Cover the brisket generously with rub. If the fat cap is untrimmed, don't bother using rub on that side.
Smoke:
(12 to 20 hours)
Prepare your smoker to run between 225 and 275. I prefer 275, but your realtionship with your smoker is what it is, and it will do what it will do. Don't make yourself nuts by trying to make it do something that's too much trouble for you. If you're using a small offset use water, a water-wine mix, or beer in the water pan. If you're using a WSM, use sand or some other dry material. If you have one, use a digital probe type thermometer, placed as close to where the meat will go to monitor cooking process.
When the smoker is prepped, place brisket in the cooking chamber, fat side down. If you have one, insert the probe from a digital thermometer to keep track of internal temperatures.
Smoke over red oak if possible, but nearly any of the usual smoke woods will turn out well.
Do not open cook chamber door for three hours. After three hours, flip the brisket over fat side up. If your cooker runs uneven temps from side to side, rotate the meat as well. Replenish the water pan. Continue replenishing water pan every three hours. If necessary rotate the brisket at those times.
Figure total cook time according to average chamber temperature and weight of brisket. 225 deg - ~2hrs/lb. 275 deg - 1-1/4 hrs/lb or a bit less. Stop adding smoke wood chunks or chips at one half of estimated time or when meat reaches internal temperature of 145, whichever comes first. If you're buring sticks or logs for heat, don't worry about it. You're cool.
Some people wrap when the meat hits 150. If not sure whether or not you should, you probably should. If so, wrap in aluminum foil. Before sealing packet add a little bit of the injection mix to the pack plus a rough chopped onion. (I don't wrap, but that's me). Return the brisket to your 'cue.
When the brisket hits an internal temperature of 185, remove the wrap and return the brisket to the smoker, continue cooking until brisket reaches an internal temperature of 195.
It's likely that during the cooking process, somewhere above 150, continuing until up to 185, the internal temperature increase will slow or stop. This is called "the stall." It's common with whole butts or picnics and almost universal with brisket. It's normal. Don't worry about, be patient. Temperatures will rise.
Wrap:
(5 minutes)
When brisket reaches 195 (or 190 if it's still stalling) remove it from the cooker, wrap it in saran wrap (not aluminum foil) and set it in an insulated cooler just large enough to hold it. Pack the cooler with wadded newspaper to fill the remaining air space. Cover the cooler and make sure the cover is closed.
Rest:
(2 - 6 hours)
Rest for at least 2 hours, and up to 6. The extended rest is part of the cooking process. Don't shortcut it.
Carve:
(20 minutes)
Separate the point from the flat. If you have a substantial fat cap, trim it. If the flat splits into two pieces with a layer of fat between them, separate the pieces and completely remove the fat. Cut one of the flats in half, cutting against the grain. Carve an interior piece, about 1/4" thick and taste it. If it wants to fall apart or is very, very tender you'll be carving thick slices. If it's tough, you'll be carving thinner slices. 1/4â€