Can you cook a brisket like this?

[Pinny]

My friend just brought up a brisket, and I asked a neighbor of mine whose a professional chef how to cook it. He told me to light up some charcoal in my kettle to 325 degrees and then stick a pan full of wood chips under the brisket (on top of the lit charcoal) and just cook it like that for a couple of hours with the cover on. Does this sound like it will work? I'm just afraid of drying the brisket out.

 

[Jon W]

Check the grilling forum.

I think your method may net be ideal. I tried a brisket (indirect) on my kettle and was not impressed with the results, and that cook went 5 or 6 hours.

 

[David Lohrentz]

You can indeed smoke a brisket on a kettle, but with all due respect, your professional chef neighbor has no idea how to use a kettle properly, unless I am totally misunderstanding his instructions. You need to do it indirect. That means charcoal on one side and brisket on the other side, or charcoal on both sides and brisket in the middle. I greatly prefer charcoal on one side, esp. for a brisket. I don't think you there is enough space to put charcoal on both sides. Use foil underneath the brisket, with the foil folded up around the perimeter to catch the drippings.

See this thread for instructions on how to set up a kettle for a long indirect burn.