My first whole Brisket

Well my wife & I had a great 4 days with grandson, Gavin. Kept us pretty busy keeping him entertained. He is very well behaved & gave us no problems at all. He liked the meatloaf I had smoked. Sat. morning got up early & headed to the airport for Grandma & Gavin’s trip to his new home in Las Vegas, where his parents were getting settled in. They made it there safe & sound. When my dog, Mag, & I got home went to my local butcher looking for a pork butt or a brisket to smoke. My sister & her son & wife will soon be here from Texas to visit & stay at my Mothers so wanted to have something to take over. He had a nice brisket, a little over 7 lbs. I thought what better for a Texan than an Ohio smoked brisket! I trimmed it up some, smeared it with plenty of rub, then wrapped in saran wrap & in the fridge overnight.

I am not very experienced at doing briskets, & this would be my first whole brisket w/point. I had done several flats over the yrs. & recently did a corned beef flat as pastrami that turned out pretty good. My recipe & method was from several resources. I decided to do it fat side down, now that was pretty hard after years doing all my cooking fat side up. There are pros & cons on this but I read where tests prove fat side up the fat does not penetrate the meat, it just renders out & over the sides. Fat side down advocates say it insulates the meat from the direct heat of the grill, allows the meat to retain it’s juices & take on more smoke. When you think about it that makes sense. I got up a little after 4 am Sunday morning. Got the brisket out to warm some, fired up the smoker. Preheated to 300 deg. then turned to 180 deg. & placed the brisket directly on the grill. After seeing it was perking along good at 180 to 190 deg. went back to bed. I got up for the second time & looked at the brisket for the first time, it had been on for 5 ½ hrs. I inserted two heat probes to monitor the internal temp. (IT). The IT was 140 deg. so decided to up the smoker to 225 deg. In another 2 hrs. the IT was 163 deg. I had a large foil roaster pan w/a quart of beef stock, sliced up onion, some rub, & ½ can of beer and a rack ready. Placed the brisket in the pan, resealed with the foil & back on the smoker. I upped the smoker to 250 deg. Some people like to just wrap the brisket in foil along with some liquid at this point instead of using the foil pan. In another 2 hrs. IT was up to 195 deg so pulled it. Time for a rest, I opted to place it in my preheated 170 deg oven for a 40 min rest. I flipped the brisket to fat side up for this rest. Then I removed it from the oven & removed the foil for another 20 min rest before slicing. It looked nice, had a good smoke ring, very moist & tender. I wasn’t that happy with the rub a little sweet, next time I would omit the white sugar, and double the amounts of chili powders & pepper. I have to remember when I cook I am also usually cooking for my wife, and my Mother, & they don’t like much heat. I can always add heat if I want. I sure do miss my wife! I’ll be glad when she is back home from Las Vegas! I had to clean up all that mess I made!

Later my supper, now that’s what the evening meal is to me, would be a brisket sandwich with some good Bone Suckin Sauce on it. Boiled fingerling potatoes & carrots w/a little parsley & butter and some asparagus. I boiled the potatoes & carrots for 15 min. then added the asparagus on top for another 10 min. I removed the asparagus then drained the potatoes & carrots and added some parsley & butter. All tasted mighty fine, the sandwich was all clean bites & hardly any pull. The Bone Suckin Sauce, I love, not too sweet & just a touch of heat. Would have been better with a toasted bun but that meant another skillet for me to clean! For most of my sandwiches I prefer just a COWB, cheap ole white bun.

Printable Brisket Recipe

After an overnight marinade w/rub

At 160 deg IT

Ready to foil & back on the smoker

After resting, ready to slice

Sliced in half

All sliced up

Slices & some burnt ends for another recipe

My supper