First Brisket Attempt

[Jay Turner]

Hello everyone,

I'm gearing up to do my second smoke on my WSM. I'm happy to say that my first cook turned out fantastic! I used the BRITU recipe from this site and my girlfriend is actually encouraging me to spend more time with my smoker.

I have a friend coming in from California and he wants to cook brisket while he's here. I figured I would cook two briskets. I will do one using a recipe from this site. The other one he wanted to use a recipe from the Food Network web site for Salt Lick BBQ brisket, since that's his favorite bbq place (outside of Austin, TX). I was hoping that maybe you could look it over and give me any advice you like since I know people have tried the recipes on this site, but I don't know anyone who has cooked this one. Here is the recipe:

8 to 10 pound grain-fed beef brisket (recommended: Angus beef)
3 tablespoons dry rub (recommended: Salt Lick dry rub)
Barbecue sauce (recommended: Salt Lick BBQ sauce)

Dry brisket with a clean cloth. Evenly spread the dry rub over the entire outside of the brisket. Rub in lightly and dust off any excess. Start a fire in your grill using oak, other hard woods, or oak charcoal. Do not use mesquite in any form. Once the fire has reached the stage where you can hold your hand about 1-inch over the grill to a count of 4, place the brisket fat side down above the coals. Leave for 5 to 10 minutes or until caramelization begins. Turn brisket over and repeat process. Remove from fire. The purpose of this procedure is to set the spices into the meat so that they will not wash off during the cooking process.
Place the brisket on an open grill away from the coals and maintain a temperature to where you can hold your hand over it to a count of 12 or place in a closed smoker away from the coals at a temperature of 210 degrees F. Cook for 14 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F.

During the cooking process, turn and baste the brisket with Salt Lick BBQ sauce often (at least 4 times). If not using Salt Lick BBQ sauce, make sure your sauce has no tomatoes in it, as they will burn and leave a bitter taste.

The part that concerns me is that it says to pull the brisket at 160* Could this be okay to do if I let it rest for a long time in a hot cooler? Sorry for the long post.

 

[Doug D]

If the Salt Lick does indeed have good brisket, I suspect the only similarities between theirs and the result of following this Food Network recipe will be the sauce. I would suggest following the time estimates and temperature recommendations from the cooking articles on this site, and then serve it with the Salt Lick sauce. Brisket taken to only 160° won't be very good, no matter how long you rest it.

 

[Christopher]

Hmm, I have only seen briskets cooked over open flames on the Food Network when talking about Texas brisket.... I think you could adapt it for the WSM with minimal issues if you wanted to try it out. Personally, I don't think I'd sear it first as the outside of the brisket dries out enough over a longer cook. I'd rub it the night before though... Also, I think you can reach an internal temperature of 160° pretty quickly (within a few hours at 210°). If you pull it here, it'll still be juicy but it probably won't be as tender as you'd like. Once a brisket hits a higher temperature (around 190°) the connective tissues break down and the meat gets tender. A lot of people baste with fruit juice, if you were to baste with bbq sauce I'd try not to do it too early as the sugars in the sauce may burn and leave a bitter taste to the outside of the meat.

Just a couple of thoughts.