"Brisket Is My Spirit Animal"

Those were the words of Aaron Franklin in his 2015 book Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto.  After smoking briskets for several years, I can relate.  Each whole brisket or flat has its own characteristics, but one thing is common:  with plenty of time and attention, a tough piece of meat is transformed into pure heaven. 

I have followed Franklin's techniques since reading the book three years ago, but I am now sufficiently comfortable with the subject to begin branching out into my own variations.  I documented the whole process on my last brisket to provide a step-by-step view.  If you want something authoritative, though, go get Franklin's book.

I was thrilled this year to find out that our local meat shop was now selling whole briskets in the bag (also called packers).  We were hosting a potluck for up to 19 people on a Sunday evening in June.  I like to have about 1/2 pound of brisket per person after trimming, but before cooking.  So needing 9.5 to 10 pounds going onto the grill, I chose a brisket that was just under 13 pounds (12 lb. 13 oz. for those that need the details).  As you'll see, I trim pretty aggressively, so I felt this size would be enough to achieve my target weight for the grill.  It pretty much filled the cutting board.  The brisket was USDA Choice which has sufficient marbling for great flavor.  I'll let others spend the big bucks on Wagyu brisket.

 

My rule for fat is that if feels hard, cut it out; if it's more than 1/4 inch think, thin it out; and if it just doesn't look right, give it the knife.  Fortunately I only apply these rules to brisket and not my own body.  You are kidding yourself if you think the hard and thick areas of fat will render off during the smoke.  They won't, and you'll just have to try to find nice serving slices by working around them after the cook.  This brisket had a very hard and thick slab of fat between the point and the flat (the two perpendicular muscles that make up the brisket).  This fat probably took the most time.  The fat cap on this brisket wasn't real thick, but it just looked and felt odd.  It was very loose and almost grainy, so I trimmed even more than usual.

 

I ended up trimming off 3 lbs. 5 oz. of fat yielding me a 9 1/2 pound trimmed brisket to go on the smoker, exactly at my target weight for 19 people at 1/2 pound each.  In case you need motivation to lose 3 lbs. 5 oz. of fat yourself, here's what it looks like.

Franklin advocates a pure Texas approach of just kosher salt and coarse black pepper for the rub.  I was feeling a little more adventurous, so I made my own rub using a mixture of kosher salt, coarse black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, mustard powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, and turbinado sugar.

I trimmed the brisket and made the rub on Saturday evening, putting the trimmed brisket back in the fridge for the night, wrapped in foil.  Come 5:00 am Sunday morning, I was back to work.  I rubbed the brisket with olive oil to give the surface a bit more adhesion, then liberally applied the rub (not by rubbing, though--just sprinkling and patting).

 

At the same time, I was warming up my smoker.  I use my 400 pound Yoder Smoker 640 pellet smoker that was an early birthday/Christmas/next birthday/next Christmas present to myself in March.  I add a water pan to the smoker to keep the humidity up, and I light some pellets to smolder in a metal mesh tube to increase the smoke during the first few hours.  I used Cherry wood pellets for the smoke, though to be honest, I can not taste much difference in my smokes based on what pellets I use.  I set the smoker to have a top shelf temp of 250˚ F.  The smoker runs a little cooler on the left side, so I always place the thicker point end to the right.  If it matters to you, I'm in the fat-side up camp, whether I'm sleeping or smoking.  I inserted four temperature probes in the brisket (because I could) to monitor how quickly/slowly the meat temperature rose in the first few hours.  Here's how she looked, just on the smoker:

 

I ended up removing the temperature probes after a couple of hours.  While the 640 includes a port for the probe wires to pass through, I think it disturbs the flow of smoke a little more than I'd like.  After two hours, I began spritzing the brisket occasionally with water slightly sweetened with turbinado sugar; the sugar helps in the development of the bark.  At the three hour mark, the color was looking good and the temp around 120˚ F.

Around noon (six hours into the cook), the brisket was through the stall and nearing 170˚ F.  I was happy with the color and ready to wrap. Franklin recommends wrapping in butcher paper rather than foil to preserve more of the bark.  I stick with the Texas crutch (aluminum foil) since I value guaranteed moistness over a crispy bark.  The last look before wrapping was right on target.

I kept the brisket on the smoker for another 3 hours until the meat temperature was consistently at least 205˚ F.  Here's where frequent checking pays off since it always amazes me how quickly the brisket can rise the last 20 degrees.  I removed the wrapped brisket from the smoker, gave it another layer of foil, then placed it in a cooler with blankets to rest for at least 2 hours (in my case, more than 3 hours which is fine).  

The title photo shows the result when I finally unwrapped the brisket.  Our guests saw a different view.