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Texas Beef Brisket


jimjimbo

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OK, all you Lone Star boys and girls, here's a challenge for you.  Although I have volumes of cookbooks on smoking, grilling, bbqing, etc, etc, and have combed the internet of course, I would still like to hear what the forum has to say about the best way to cook a Texas style beef brisket.  To brine, to rub, plain salt and pepper, low and slow, hot and fast, hickory, maple, mesquite, oak, pecan......you name it, I've read it.  But I know there are quite a few folks from Texas and other parts of the South here and would love to see what your favorite recipe would be.  (Everyone else is invited to join in too, of course....)

 

I've cooked em before, but with only moderate success, so I thought I'd reach out here.  It's getting to the end of smoking season here, so I'm looking to get in a good one before it gets too cold.

 

Thanks in advance, and, as usual, pictures are always welcome!!

 

Jimbo 

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This is what I use to do....Maybe not true Texas but damn it is good

I never brined....I never injected....I used a rub and smoked with pecan....

After I pulled it from the cooker I would seperate the point and flat....

I would cube the Point meat and make burnt ends.

I would slice the flat very thinly.....

Mmmmmmmm I'm getting hungry

Here's a link to Smokin Okie Brisket 101.....These are instructions for a Cookshack smoker but I'm telling you It will apply to anything you are using plus Pictures :)

http://www.cookshack.com/store/Smokin-Okies-101-Series/Brisket-101

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Confession:  I don't think I've ever had a brisket.  (if I have, I was unaware)

 

What does a brisket do for me that a thick cut NY strip doesn't?

A brisket is smoked long and low and slow, and turns from a very tough piece into an extraordinary tender piece (if done properly).  Your thick cut New York is cooked hot and fast, and is also tender when done, but it's a whole different ball game.  Brisket is not easy to do well, and very easy to screw it up.

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Confession:  I don't think I've ever had a brisket.  (if I have, I was unaware)

 

What does a brisket do for me that a thick cut NY strip doesn't?

A brisket is smoked long and low and slow, and turns from a very tough piece into an extraordinary tender piece (if done properly).  Your thick cut New York is cooked hot and fast, and is also tender when done, but it's a whole different ball game.  Brisket is not easy to do well, and very easy to screw it up.

 

So true.....If done right you will say to yourself, What the hell have I been eating all these years????? My favorite is brisket, I'll take it over and I mean "OVER" any animal protein if done right.

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You can find our family's receipe here,  you'll see it is submitted by the Welch Clan

This is for dipping/dressing the brisket after smoking

 

Smoke the UNTRIMMED brisket fat side up (letting the fat marinate thru the meat) at a smoke temperature of 170-190 (your own smoker temp will vary of course, my thermometer is located above the meat approx 3 feet from fire box).
I typically use a load of hickory sticks but when mesquite is used I use Kingsford charcoal as a bed and layer mesquite on top as too much mesquite is, well, too much and bitter.

 

Smoke for 8 hours +/- and serve after resting or smoke for 4 hours and then finish wrapped in foil in oven as once the pores are closed on the brisket no more smoke penetration occurs.

 

The sauce offered above is used to spoon over the sliced brisket.

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Rubbed and refrigerated overnight.  Cook it low and slow. Has to get the faux cambro treatment.  The most important part of the process is choosing a good cut to start with.  Pick it up and wiggle it.  The loosest brisket wins.  So much depends on the actual piece of meat itself.  I prefer oak but any combo of hardwoods will work, but the traditional Texas brisket is done with oak.  Why?  Because there is more oak here than anything else, and mesquite burns too hot and fast.  I have had good success with a mustard coating then adding spices before placing in the smoker.  Personally, I think brisket is the hardest cut to master.  One additional side note, Texans don't do burnt ends.

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Confession:  I don't think I've ever had a brisket.  (if I have, I was unaware)

 

What does a brisket do for me that a thick cut NY strip doesn't?

A brisket is smoked long and low and slow, and turns from a very tough piece into an extraordinary tender piece (if done properly).  Your thick cut New York is cooked hot and fast, and is also tender when done, but it's a whole different ball game.  Brisket is not easy to do well, and very easy to screw it up.

 

Brisket can also be cooked long and slow in a 275 degree oven in a liquid marinade (i.e. not smoked) and if done properly and not over cooked provide you the most favorable roast beef cut you'll ever eat... including prime rib.

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OK, all you Lone Star boys and girls, here's a challenge for you.  Although I have volumes of cookbooks on smoking, grilling, bbqing, etc, etc, and have combed the internet of course, I would still like to hear what the forum has to say about the best way to cook a Texas style beef brisket.  To brine, to rub, plain salt and pepper, low and slow, hot and fast, hickory, maple, mesquite, oak, pecan......you name it, I've read it.  But I know there are quite a few folks from Texas and other parts of the South here and would love to see what your favorite recipe would be.  (Everyone else is invited to join in too, of course....)

 

I've cooked em before, but with only moderate success, so I thought I'd reach out here.  It's getting to the end of smoking season here, so I'm looking to get in a good one before it gets too cold.

 

Thanks in advance, and, as usual, pictures are always welcome!!

 

Jimbo 

 

I'm not from Texas but I've smoked brisket, ribs, sausage, Pacific salmon and cold smoked cheese. An entire beef brisket, done properly will take as much as 12 hours to smoke. I never brine or use a marinade, just a dry rub the day before. Store the brisket at least overnight in a non-reactive pan in a 40 degree refrigerator. Dry rub it with anything you like the taste of in (dry) spices. You can smoke it in any hardwood above but I like to alternate 2 to 3 - for example oak and hickory. Mesquite is too intense for me for a long smoke. It goes well with beef, in moderation, or for cold smoking steak before you grill it a day or two later.

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A brisket can be done in your oven over night if you don't mind the house smelling like brisket the next day. Fat side up, seal it real good in foil, half a bottle of liquid smoke, low temp and you have lunch the next day after church. I probably have at least a couple of aortas closed 35% due to this. And the sandwiches that evening or Monday are great if not too many of

of the family come over to mooch on Sunday. But the smoker/grill is the best, just takes effort. The BBQ houses in Austin, Lockhart and Luling do it the best though. Heaven.

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Rubbed and refrigerated overnight.  Cook it low and slow. Has to get the faux cambro treatment.  The most important part of the process is choosing a good cut to start with.  Pick it up and wiggle it.  The loosest brisket wins.  So much depends on the actual piece of meat itself.  I prefer oak but any combo of hardwoods will work, but the traditional Texas brisket is done with oak.  Why?  Because there is more oak here than anything else, and mesquite burns too hot and fast.  I have had good success with a mustard coating then adding spices before placing in the smoker.  Personally, I think brisket is the hardest cut to master.  One additional side note, Texans don't do burnt ends.

A friend of mine does competition cooking and he swears by Wagyu  beef for competition cooking....

Wagyu
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Wagyu....for real high end competitions, sure, but for the normal dude that knows his way around a smoker and grill, and just wants to put a really good brisket on the table on a Saturday or Sunday evening....I think it's a bit of overkill.

 

USDA Choice and/or Angus for the weekend warrior, IMHO.

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Wagyu....for real high end competitions, sure, but for the normal dude that knows his way around a smoker and grill, and just wants to put a really good brisket on the table on a Saturday or Sunday evening....I think it's a bit of overkill.

 

USDA Choice and/or Angus for the weekend warrior, IMHO.

I go for grass-fed Alberta Beef. I can buy it when I'm visiting Montana for ~ 1/4th of the per lb price here. 

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My brother-in-law in Dallas does an excellent job and will smoke it starting in the morning for an evening meal. So wonderful. He's an excellent cook.

Let me point out that brisket is very often the beef used in corned beef and pastrami so Yankees have it in those forms. From what I read, that sort of processing was to preserve the beef, most of all.

Texans do it right though.

WMcD

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Wagyu....for real high end competitions, sure, but for the normal dude that knows his way around a smoker and grill, and just wants to put a really good brisket on the table on a Saturday or Sunday evening....I think it's a bit of overkill.

 

USDA Choice and/or Angus for the weekend warrior, IMHO.

Diddo this.... I would buy mine from Sams Club....I left all smokin behind when I divorced....Sucks to be in an apartment....Brings back memories and I love awesome slow cooked BBQ....My friend is doing awesome with his Comp....

https://www.facebook.com/Pork-Patrol-BBQ-265040390189603/timeline/

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Wagyu....for real high end competitions, sure, but for the normal dude that knows his way around a smoker and grill, and just wants to put a really good brisket on the table on a Saturday or Sunday evening....I think it's a bit of overkill.

 

USDA Choice and/or Angus for the weekend warrior, IMHO.

I go for grass-fed Alberta Beef. I can buy it when I'm visiting Montana for ~ 1/4th of the per lb price here. 

 

This is my favorite Alberta....

 

https://youtu.be/JF6wEKtzCdQ

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sometimes i wish we were all located in the same place…a cook-off would be fun.  I’d have to be a judge; because, i can’t cook worth a crap.

Well, guess what?  Come to Hope in the spring, and lots of us will be!!  And, you won't have to cook!!

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