Beef
Juicy Smoked Brisket, Start to Finish
My full brisket process: a prime packer with mustard and Holy Cow, smoked at 225°F until the bark is set around 170°F, wrapped in butcher paper with tallow, finished at 250°F and rested for 4 hours.
- Prep
- 45 minutes
- Cook
- 12–14 hours
- Total
- About 16–18 hours with the rest
- Yield
- 15–20 servings
- Method
- Smoked, butcher paper wrap
- Wood
- Your choice
Ingredients
Instructions
- Trim the brisket: remove hard fat, thin the fat cap, and round off any thin edges and corners. Save the trimmings for tallow.
- Smear a thin layer of mustard over the whole brisket, then season heavily with Holy Cow on all sides.
- Smoke overnight at 225°F, usually 6–10 hours, until the bark is very well set and the internal temperature is around 170°F.
- Lay out butcher paper, spritz it so it sticks, add some tallow where the flat will sit, and wrap the brisket tightly.
- Raise the smoker to 250°F and keep cooking until the center of the flat is probe tender, usually around 205°F. That took about 4 hours on my Memorial Day brisket.
- Rest it wrapped for about 4 hours, in a BBQ blanket or a cooler (after an hour on the counter). Slice when it's down to about 150°F.
- Separate the point from the flat, slice the flat against the grain about the thickness of a pencil, and cube or slice the point.
Pitmaster Notes
- Wrap based on bark, not the clock. If the rub smears, it isn't ready.
- Use a thin probe like a ThermoPop to check tenderness through the paper. Once it's through, it should slide in like butter.
- On an uneven brisket, I'd rather have a juicy flat and a slightly under point than a dried-out flat.
- Leftovers: sear thin slices of point in a ripping hot cast iron pan, chop it into brisket hash, or add it to ramen.
Times and temps are my starting points. Every cooker and every cut runs a little different, so cook to temperature and feel, not the clock.
From dkcraftbbq.com/recipe/smoked-brisket