Smoked Beef Brisket

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So last weekend the hubby made THE BEST smoked beef brisket!  He woke up at 6 a.m. to get it started in the smoker and let it slowly cook all day long until dinner.  I can’t even describe how good this brisket was…it was just that good!

We are starting to run low on the 1/4 cow we bought from the farm, Jolly Barnyard in Tennessee, and this was one of the last pieces left, besides a few roasts and some ground beef. We saved one of the best for last.

This was a bone-in brisket which is normally not found in grocery stores. The reason ours was a bone-in is because that is how a lot of Amish processors prepare the meat.

The night beforehand the hubby put a rub on the brisket. He used Team Sweet Mama’s rub, which is one of our favorites from a spice shop we like in Colorado Springs. The brisket was then put into a pan, covered with saran wrap, and left in the fridge overnight.

The hubby also put some mesquite wood chunks in some water to soak overnight.

Once he got the grill/smoker up to 225 degrees, he put in the brisket using a drip pan underneath. He did a wet smoke, which means he had a water pan inside, and used something called the minion method that he discovered online a couple of years ago. It basically involves filling the coal basket with fresh charcoal, placing a small number of lit charcoal on top, allowing a continuous burn of the coals and enabling a much longer smoke than filling the entire basket with lit coals. He lifted the lid once an hour to refill the water pan and to add additional coals or mesquite chunks to keep up the smoke and the heat.

The brisket was smoked for about 9 hours at 225 degrees.

To smoke, the hubby uses a standard Weber grill with a Smokenator 1000 that goes inside it.

Then the awesome hubby covered it in foil, cut off the vents to the grill, and let the brisket rest inside the grill (without any heat) for over an hour.

Then he carved it and we had a super delicious meal! We had grilled eggplant and grilled avocado with the brisket.

See that fat on the on the edge of the brisket above? It had the texture of bone marrow and tasted like butter! I have to admit, I took some of it and spread it on the meat. It was crazy good!

Keys to success:

• Put a good rub on the meat the night before
• Make sure you don’t trim off all the fat, as fat is very important when slow cooking
• Maintain the temperature as close to 225 degrees as possible
• Open the lid only when you have to. If you’re lookin you aren’t cookin!
• Be proactive with adding coals and smoking wood
• REST! The meat needs at least an hour after cooking to allow the meat to absorb the juices. Ours was still nice and hot even after more than an hour of rest.

There are lots of homemade smokers and individual methods out there. Do you smoke meat? What do you use and do you have any tips that makes your meat come out perfect every time?