How to smoke a brisket

This cook seems to get people really nervous and I get it, you just paid a hundred bucks or more on a piece of meat you don’t want to waste it. If I’m you, I’m not buying anything below prime because once you’re at the choice level meats, quality seems to fluctuate making it more difficult to hit your target. If you want to cook a brisket here is the simplest way to enjoy it.

INGREDIENTS

1 whole brisket, about 12-15 pounds
2 tablespoons olive oil or 1/4 of mustard
Liberal amount of salt and pepper
Instructions

Equipment

Bucther paper (you can use heavy-duty aluminum foil)
convEGGtor

Method

Set the EGG for indirect cooking with the convEGGtor at 225°F using Natural Lump Charcoal. I do not use any extra smoking chips or chunks. Natural Lump gives me all the smoke I need.

15lbs Brisket before trimming

With a sharp boning knife trim out some of the fat that is in between the two muscles of the brisket so it will cook evenly. Trim any extreme fat from the top, not all, most of it should remain. Rub the brisket all over with the olive oil or in some case people like to use mustard as a bonding agent but that is up to you, don’t worry about the mustard taste because that cooks off, then season it liberally on all of the exposed meat using your salt and pepper mixture.

Place the brisket in the EGG, fat side up, and cook for 6 hours. Flip to cook fat side down for another 2 hours. Lay out a large double thick sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil or butcher paper. Lay the brisket on the foil or butcher paper fat side up and wrap. Return to the EGG and cook until the brisket reaches an internal temperature of 200°F deep in the thick part of the meat. This should take another 3 to 4 hours but be sure to check the temperature.

When the brisket reaches to the internal temperature of 203°F and when a toothpick goes in and out of the meat like it was warm butter, place it in an empty ice chest and let it rest for at least 15 minutes and up to 4 hours. Take the brisket out of the foil and place it on a cutting board. Reserve the juices. Trim away all of the excess fat. Slice the brisket through both muscles across the grain and about 3/8” thick. With a spoon remove as much fat as possible from the juices, then drizzle over the top of the sliced brisket.

Chopped and sliced brisket

Makes about 12 servings

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