Easy Authentic Texas-style Smoked Beef Brisket

When I started writing this recipe up, I thought about what to name the article and recipe. Calling it ‘Texas-Style’ might be too much of a blanket statement. I mean, Texas is a BIG state, and there are so many great BBQ places around the state. Furthermore, there are many ways and styles of preparing brisket and barbecue–Kansas City, wet rubs, dry rubs, ‘Texas Crutch,’ and so on. BBQ is a religion to many. I have watched enough cooking shows and read enough articles to make my head spin, but I feel like I am treading on sacred ground trying to even attempt a brisket recipe. On the other hand, I have smoked, eaten, and absolutely ruined enough briskets to know how I like my smoked brisket to taste. Fortunately enough, one of my previous gigs required me to travel to Austin, TX quite a bit, so I feel like I have enough exposure to good brisket to compare. Finally, my brother in law Chuck, who lives in Texas, was the one who first introduced our family to brisket, and he is an AMAZING chef.

The Backstory

I had never had brisket until I tried Chuck’s–and man it is good. It seemed so mysterious how you put this cheap hunk of meat into a smoker very early in the morning and by mid afternoon, you had this euphoric meal that tasted unlike any cut of meat on earth. He would come up from Texas and carry up the meat with him on the plane. This guy can cook up huge quantities of the meaty gold for the extended family without blinking an eye–he knows his stuff. He inspired me years ago to go out and buy a cheap vertical smoker from the local home improvement store. I laugh thinking about my first disastrous experiences with brisket. ‘Yeah! Gimme some smoke. I’m going to stuff this thing full of hickory and get the smokiest flavor I can. Just LOOK at the smoke pouring out of it–can’t wait to taste it.’ I finally knew what creosote from the inside of a chimney tasted like, with my family and I looking at each other in horror.

Fast forward to today. After having ruined another brisket after that first one years ago, I sat down and did some SERIOUS research, and started experimenting with various methods of smoking brisket. Some folks prefer a ‘dry rub’, where a dried mixture is rubbed onto the meat, and there is the ‘wet rub’, where, as the name implies, you rub sauce into the meat before smoking. With many things in life, I like the best of all worlds, so I do both. I also was amazed by the sheer number of smoking woods you could use. I tried pecan, cherry, allspice–you name it. Through trial and error, I found that the combination of apple, hickory, and white oak created a heavenly flavor that my family loved. Finally, I got tired of going out and adding more charcoal to the smoker to keep it going throughout the day, so stumbled across ‘the Minion method’ of using unlit charcoal to keep the heat on all day. What follows is an easy to follow method combining much of what has worked for me so you don’t have to throw out your first brisket. Even if you are a seasoned pit master, I encourage to give these combos a shot.

The summary

Okay Liam, quit yapping and tell me the details. If you don’t want to read through everything, here is a high-level summary of tips and overview of the process, which is easy to break down.

• Prep the smoker, coals, and water bowl in the smoker (Minion Method)
• Do the dry/wet rub on the brisket
• Plan on ballpark 80-90 minutes a pound, so I generally estimate 6 hours for a 4-5 lb brisket.
• Check it in about 4 hours for temp (around 155-160 degrees) and wrap it to increase the temps (The Texas Crutch)
• Check temps at around the 5 hour mark.
• Pull the brisket at around 195 degrees

What you need

The smoker

Let’s start with the smoker. Go for a real charcoal smoker, and not electric or gas. Many people prefer electric or gas smokers for the conveience. They will work fine, and you can follow these steps ina similar manner. However, for the best taste, I firmly believe you need real lump charcoal, and not the Kingsford-style briquettes or electric-powered smokers that you toss the smaller chips into. Get down and dirty, and back to nature with big chunks of wood. The food tastes soooo much better. You don’t need a large fancy green egg, or Weber bullet, either, but don’t let me stop you from buying one. I like the cheapest vertical smokers you can find, and the cheaper the better. My requirement is that they have a water bowl for catching the drippings and making ‘smoky gravy’. I am still using the same Brinkmann knockoff I bought ages ago, and it is falling apart from rust and years of use, but I love it.

The chimney

You definitely should not use lighter fluid, as it will a leave bad after taste when smoking food long periods of time, so a starter chimney is a must. I have been using the same one for years, and I did spend a little more for a decent one. Don’t skimp too much here–you can usually find something decent at your local hardware store.

The charcoal

Easy. Get lump charcoal. Don’t mess with briquettes, which are made from sawdust–they give off too much nasty smoke. You can use them if you are in a pinch, and also for shorter cooking times, but go for the lump charcoal… Ask your hardware store for it. It gives off a steady, consistent heat.

The smoker wood

There are many you can choose from, and I have tried a ton. People instantly think hickory when they think of smoked foods like bacon, but just plain hickory by itself is kinda boring. You can use just about any kind of fruit wood. Cherry is nice, but I find it is too pungent for brisket. This is where you must experiment on find your own combo. For me, it has to be the combo of apple, hickory, and white oak. If you do not have access to these types of woods growing around you, you can usually find bags of specific types of smoker wood at your hardware store. We had a giant white oak that the town took down years ago. I saved a bunch of it into thin logs and just take a circular saw to it when I need some chunks. Don’t use chips as they will burn off too fast and you will be making many trips to the smoker to feed it. Ideally you want wood chunks of around 1-3 inches big.

The dry rub

Make your own, or buy some premixed. I am a total DIYer, so I like mixing my own. Always have lots of spices on hand–always. Spice is the spice of life. Here is the combo of what I throw in mine ( except for that hand-sanitizer in back ):

The wet rub

Simple–yellow mustard and leftover pickle juice. Always have these on hand for other recipes, too–always 🙂 I use this simple but amazing combo as the basis of other marinades, and it works wonders.

The brisket

You do not want a corned-beef brisket that has been cured or brined. Buy a plain flat-cut brisket. Many club-style stores like BJ’s and Costco carry brisket in warmer weather. Tell your local butcher you are smoking a brisket, and they should be able to get one for you. I recommend a brisket around 4-5lbs, since it cooks in only around six hours. Plan on around 1.5 hrs per pound.

The smoke

Even if you haven’t cooked a brisket before, you have probably heard the term ‘low and slow.’ You do NOT want a ton of smoke–only tiny wisps of smoke pouring out of the smoker. I achieve this by placing the smoker/fruit wood on the very edges of the coal pan so that they give up the smoke a little at a time. Also, you want nice dry smoker wood. The smoker works by only allowing a small bit of air in, thereby starving the flame and creating the smoke, so you do not need wet wood to create the smoke.

Let’s do this…