The Art of Smoking Brisket: A Restaurant-Style Backyard Brisket Recipe

Smoking a brisket is an art form that requires patience, attention to detail, and a deep understanding of the meat itself. In this article, we'll delve into the world of smoking brisket and explore the techniques and tricks used by a seasoned pitmaster.

The First Step: Preparing the Brisket

When it comes to smoking brisket, not all cuts are created equal. The packer brisket is a type of cut that contains both the flat and point, two different cuts within the same package. The flat is the leaner cut, while the point has plenty of inner muscular fat. To begin, we'll brush the entire packer with a little bit of mustard. This will not only add flavor but also help our rub stick to the meat.

The Rub: A Blend of Flavors

For this recipe, we're using a simple yet effective blend of coarse ground black pepper and kosher salt as our rub. We want the brisket to be the star of the show, so we won't be adding any other ingredients to the mix. The mustard brush will help the rub stick to the meat, ensuring an even coating on all sides.

Applying the Rub

Now that we have our rub, it's time to apply it to the brisket. We'll sprinkle the coarse ground black pepper and kosher salt evenly over both sides of the meat, making sure not to go too crazy with the amount. The goal is for a nice, even coating on all surfaces.

Flipping and Preparing the Brisket

Once we've applied the rub, it's time to flip the brisket and prepare it for smoking. This is where things get interesting – we'll be placing the point closest to the heat source, as it will cook for longer than the flat. The ideal temperature for smoking a brisket can vary, with some pitmasters preferring 225-275 degrees Fahrenheit.

Smoking the Brisket

With our brisket prepared and ready to go, it's time to fire up the smoker. We'll place the point closest to the heat source and let the magic happen. The cooking time will depend on several factors, including the temperature of the smoker and the size of the brisket. For this recipe, we're aiming for 12-16 hours until the internal temperature reaches 205 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wrapping the Brisket

At around 160-165 degrees Fahrenheit, it's time to wrap our brisket in peach butcher paper. This will help retain moisture and speed up the cooking process. The butcher paper will also serve as a makeshift "steam table," ensuring that our brisket stays juicy and tender throughout the cooking process.

The Final Touches

After 14 hours of slow-cooking, our brisket is finally ready to be sliced. We'll start with the flat part of the brisket, cutting it until we reach the point. The key to slicing a great brisket is to wait until you get to the point and then spin the meat around before making your cuts. This will help avoid tough, chewy bits.

Slicing the Brisket

Once we've reached the point, it's time to slice our brisket. We'll cut the flat part of the meat in one direction, from end to end, and then make two more cuts before spinning the meat around to get to the point. This will ensure that our brisket is sliced evenly and stays juicy throughout.

The Result: A Deliciously Tender Brisket

And there you have it – a deliciously tender, restaurant-style backyard brisket recipe that's sure to impress even the most discerning palates. With its perfect balance of lean meat and fatty goodness, this brisket is a true masterpiece of culinary art. Whether you're cooking for a crowd or just want to treat yourself, this recipe is sure to become a staple in your kitchen.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enoh yes this is some perfect brisket okay so we are going to smoke a little bit of a brisket so this isn't competition style brisket this is more of a restaurant-style backyard brisket we're cooking the whole packer so that means we have two very different cuts within the brisket we have the flat which is the leaner cut of the brisket and then we have the point which is up here which has lots of inner muscular fat so what i'm gonna do first is i'm just to brush this with a little bit of mustard now you could use any mustard of your choice at mabel's we have a mustard sauce that we use on the table and what this is doing is two things it's going to add some flavor obviously it's going to add a little bit of moisture but the other thing that it is going to do is it's going to help our rub stick i am just using uh coarse ground black pepper and kosher salt for this rub because i want the brisket to kind of be the star of this show you could add other things to your rub you could add paprika you could add some people add sugar i wouldn't add sugar to a brisket rub because this is a 14 to 18 hour cook and it's gonna cause things to burn so now we're just gonna rub this in a little bit just to get that nice binder on there and we're just coating the brisket and now we're just gonna come with this coarse ground black pepper and kosher salt rub and don't put too much rub on so we're going to go above we're going to give it a good sprinkle so it's evenly coated you don't have to go crazy with the rub just a nice even coating on all sides flip and then we're going to get obviously both sides once this is all seasoned up it's then going to go in our smoker with a brisket some people go 225 you see up to 275 i've even seen some people in texas go 300 these are all different preferences uh that you could use so this is ready to go on the smoker i'm at about 250. i'm going to put the point closest to the heat source so i'm going to point the point towards the box because it could end up to the heat a little bit longer this is going to go for anywhere between 12 and 16 hours until it reaches an internal temp of 205 we are going to wrap this in peach butcher paper at about 160 to 5 degree mark we could missed it going up to that point every 30 to 45 minutes all right so the brisket's been going for about 14 hours it is at 207 degrees right now we wrapped it in the butcher paper at the 160 165 degree point and you can see that butcher paper it served its purpose pretty much basically coated in fat now from the cooking but this is already cooked through it's ready to go i'm just gonna move it to my tray and then we will slice this up oh yes all right let's take a look at this if we open it up you can see the butcher paper is great because it's held in a ton of moisture sped up our cook a little bit take this out this is the flat part of the brisket the point is back here you can see it has that nice jiggle that we're looking for if you're slicing brisket you slice it about as thick as a number two pencil we're gonna cut the flat until we get to the point the tricky thing about slicing a whole pack of brisket like this is the flat and the point the grain of the meat runs two different ways so if you just cut this way from end to end it's gonna get tough down here once you get to the point so we are gonna wait till we get to that point and then we are gonna spin this brisket around and cut through the point i'm going to get about two more cuts here before we spin it there is your flat let's see how beautiful that is you can see there's still a good amount of fat and now we're going to start cutting the point and if you want you could go even a little thinner on the point because it has so much great natural fat in there look at that if you look at a piece of the lean the fat is the cap on top the meat itself is relatively lean if you look at a piece of the fatty or the point you have all that inner muscular fat in there which to me brings a lot more flavor to the game you could eat this naked just like this i mean fully clothed but your meat would be naked or you could drizzle it with a little bit of sauce the choice is yours but at the end of the day this is some perfect brisket you\n"