Beef Brisket - any suggestions

[cimbaliw]

I have a 4# beef brisket that I'm going to cook on Saturday. I've never had great luck with such using marinade/smoker grill ~225f, too tough. Probably not cooked long enough at 4 hours. Any cooking and marinade suggestions are welcome. I definitively want to smoke it over hardwood for a couple of hours. I reckon it'll be grilled 'taters, carrots and green beans for the trimmin's.

Bill C.

 

[Boatboy24]

Sounds like what you have is a "flat" - the leaner, flatter portion of the brisket. I think they do better with a higher heat cook, though I've had my challenges with them and tend to stick with whole briskets as a result.

Look here: I love this site. While the conversation leans toward cooking on Weber products, all the concepts are the same, regardless of the cooker. The second link is to their discussion forums. Go there, and search "high heat brisket". You'll get a lot of hits. If not, ask - it is a well run site with a great group of members - like this one!

http://virtualweberbullet.com/cook.html

http://tvwbb.com/

 

[JohnT]

Try this... I have had great reviews!

1) Trim some of the fat off of the brisket (but still leave a thin cap of fat).

2) Place brisket in a roasting pan and apply dry rub (recipe below) to brisket (using all of it).

3) Cover with tine foil and refrig for a day. Turn the brisket over every 8 hours or so. You will notice that the dry-rub turns to a syrup over time. This is what you want.

4) The next day, set oven for 350.

5) Uncover pan and ensure that the brisket is "fat side up". Pour brazing liquid (recipe below) into the pan (to the side, do not pour directly over the brisket or you will simply wash off the dry rub). You want a level of liquid where the brisket is 2/3s submerged. If needed, you can make more of the brazing liquid, but I usually just add more wine until the desired level is reached.

6) Tip: At this point, for an added treat, try adding some beef kilbasa (half rings). No prep is required, just toss them in so that they are also sitting in the brazing liquid. As they cook, they take on a wonerful flavor and texture. It will taste nothing like a kilbasa.

7) Cover the pan tightly with tin foil bake the brisket for 45 minutes at 350. turn the oven down to 275. Continue baking for another 4 hours or until the meat is tender (a knife will slide into the meat with very little effort).

8) At this point, you could place the brisket on the grill and add BBQ sauce. Be careful! the meat will be so tender, that it wants to break apart! To be honest, I simply carve it, add BBQ sauce on top, and serve.



Dry rub

8 TBSP of Brown Sugar
3 TBSP of Kosher Salt (must be kosher. Will be too salty if you used tablesalt)

The rest is just a combo of spices, you can use anything you like or find handy. The total amount of spice here should be around 2 TBSP.

I use the following...
old bay seasoning
Black Pepper (no more than 2 tsp)
Cyanne Pepper (no more than 2 tsp)
Paprika
Caraway Seeds
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
ground thyme

Mix all of the ingrediants together, breaking any sugar clumps.

Brazing liquid
1 bottle of white wine
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of worchestershire sauce
1/4 cup honey.

mix well in a bowl until honey is dissolved.

 

[tonyt]

Beef Brisket

Trim and rub brisket with BBQ rub I use a modified version of Alton Brown

Marinate:
Worcestershire sauce and Italian Salad Dressing
Cover with marinate and refrigerate overnight
Inject:
Inject with Tony Chachere garlic/butter injection or similar

DRY COMPLETELY PRIOR TO PLACING ON GRILL add more rub after 2 hours
Place fat side UP

Low and Slow
Full pit of lump - mostly Pecan chunks with heat deflectors
225-230 till IT reaches 175
Remove, coat with butter, spray with apple juice sprinkle with rub.
Wrap till 185, remove and rest

Separate point from flat to slice.

Alternative for Burnt Ends:
Remove at 175 IT, separate point from flat.
Wrap flat with butter, apple juice and rub
Cube point in one inch cubes mix in pan with BBQ Sauce
Return to grill covered till flat reaches 185

 

[jamesngalveston]

i agree with johnT all the way. pretty much what i do , and its all ways good. sometimes i do it ahead of time, put in frig overnight, the next day you can slice it and not have it fall apart, put in pan with some bbq sauce and warm in oven....

 

[seth8530]

Im not sure which one of these I would pick because they all sound really good... But to me beef briscut just begs to be served with a large helping of beef juice marinated mushrooms!

 

[JohnT]

Im not sure which one of these I would pick because they all sound really good... But to me beef briscut just begs to be served with a large helping of beef juice marinated mushrooms!

I think that all of these recipes (so far) are for a more "texas bbq" type of briscut. To me, this is WAAAAAY better! Interesting how I got this recipe (although I changed it a bit over the years).

I was in a hotel bar down in Houston, Texas (don't ask). I had just ate some beef briscut at a BBQ joint for the very first time. Still on a beef high, I turned to the stranger next to me and asked how it was made.

Well, in no time flat, the bar divided into rival gangs like a scene from "West Side Story".

On one side were the pit-masters, who believed briscut needs to be cooked in an authentic BBQ pit/smoker low and slow. Anything short of that would be an insult to the cow.

On the other side were the brazers, who though an authentic pit was much more work and very expensive. They held firm in the belief that brazing in an oven (again, low and slow) would produce a briscut that Texans could be proud of.

(Now that I think of it, one thing I forgot to mention in my recipe above is to use the SMOKED BEEF kilbasa. This will give the briscut that "pit flavor" from the smokiness in the sausage).

Well as the beer flowed, the conversation started to get heated. It went kinda like this..

"brazing is the way my momma did it"
"Your mamma is cheap"
"You calling my momma cheap, well your momma's a wh-re".

As the yelling continued, I collected my cocktail napkin recipe notes and made an unnoticed movemy way towards the door. I could hear barstools being knocked over behing me as I made it outside.

Once outside, I noticed that another bar patron that took my lead and followed me out of the bar. "Son", he said, "In Texas we have three things that we never talk about in bars.. Religion, Politics, and most of all Beef!".

I never knew it was is possible for a Jersey Boy to love another state.

 

[cimbaliw]

John, a Riot is an Ugly Thing. Great story. Anyhow you are officially on the hot seat as the brisket is rubbed. I was really impressed how the kosher salt cut the sweetness of the brown sugar. Picture is below as are the three pictures I tried to send you long ago.

 

[tonyt]

Well as the beer flowed, the conversation started to get heated. It went kinda like this..

"brazing is the way my momma did it"
"Your mamma is cheap"
"You calling my momma cheap, well your momma's a wh-re".

JohnT, I didn't realize that was you . . . small world! Man that was fun. Here's a picture of me and my pit. There's two things you gotta remember in Texas, Brisket and The Alamo.

 

[JohnT]

John, a Riot is an Ugly Thing. Great story. Anyhow you are officially on the hot seat as the brisket is rubbed. I was really impressed how the kosher salt cut the sweetness of the brown sugar. Picture is below as are the three pictures I tried to send you long ago.

Thanks for the photos. It truly is a beautiful city. The chain bridge is remarkable.

Did you ever make it to the museum of wine?


BTW, I would go with Texas Toast (garlic bread) and slaw as sides.

 

[JohnT]

JohnT, I didn't realize that was you . . . small world! Man that was fun. Here's a picture of me and my pit. There's two things you gotta remember in Texas, Brisket and The Alamo.

Are your kidding?????

Is that really a pit???

If it is, I am very impressed! My love of Texas just shot up another notch!

 

[tonyt]

Are your kidding?????

Is that really a pit???

If it is, I am very impressed! My love of Texas just shot up another notch!

Yes, I am always kidding.
Yes, it's a real pit.
This awesome 6 foot 11 barbecue pit shaped was built by Joe Wood of Weimar, Texas:

The barrel is 10 feet long and 8 inches in diameter, and the entire rig is over 15 feet long. The pistol’s grips, which cover the firebox, are made of red oak. When cooking, the barrel acts as the grill’s chimney. It took over two years and 1,100 hours to complete, and used more than two tons of red oak, stainless, and carbon steel.
​

 

[cimbaliw]

John, I did not make it to the museum of wine. There's so much to see and do in Budapest!

 

[cimbaliw]

The brisket turned out swimmingly. After 24 hours of rub, I placed the meat on the smoker grill at 225f for a couple of hours. Then into a crock pot with a pre heated broth. Eight hours total cook, tender deliciousness. So a hybrid technique. Thanks everyone for the advice.

BC