Texas style brisket on an offset smoker. Texas style BBQ cooked the old school way by a Texan. Wood, fire & meat. No shortcuts, no electronics, no gimmicks. Just patience.
In this recipe and video we smoke brisket on my Mill Scale offset smoker. However, this recipe can be replicated on a pellet smoker, kamado, kettle or any sort of cooker than you have with an indirect heat source as well.
Meat Church Cook How To YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/rHSSlHJ_hkg
Meat Church Brisket Trim YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/B5N1TRKYH8o
Ingredients
- 1 full packer brisket, trimmed to your liking
- Meat Church Holy Cow
- coarse black pepper (we use 16 mesh)
- 2 T, yellow mustard (binder)
Tools
- Thermapen ONE
- Unwaxed butcher paper (sub heavy duty aluminum foil)
- Spritz bottle with apple cider vinegar
Prepare your smoker
Prepare your smoker at 200 degrees. In this video we used a Mill Scale offset smoker with post oak. However, you can replicate this on any type of offset cooking device also also use mesquite, hickory or pecan wood.
Trim the brisket
Trim hard and excess fat off the meat side of the brisket.
Also, remove any “hard” pieces of fat as they will not render off during the cooking process. Trim the fat off the fat side of the brisket only leaving ¼ in fat. We show you how to trim a brisket in this video.
The goal is to create a very uniform and thick brisket so that each slice of the cooked brisket is amazing.
Prepare the brisket
Apply a light coat of yellow mustard as a binder. This helps the seasoning adhere and also stay adhered during the cooking process.
Season heavily with Meat Church Holy Cow. It takes more seasoning that. you think. Holy Cow contain large 16 mesh pepper which helps bark development.
Allow the seasoning to adhere overnight in your refrigerator. If you do not have that much time, let it adhere for an hour. However, it is highly recommended to let the seasoning adhere for hours.
Smoke the brisket
Place the brisket in the smoker fat-side up with the point towards the firebox (heat source).
Smoking fat side up vs meat side up is one of the hottest debates in BBQ! As we mentioned in the beginning, we are smoking this brisket the traditional Texas BBQ joint way. We also have this video showing this differences in cooking fat side up vs meat side up.
After 2 hours, increase the temperatur of the smoker to 250,
Leave the brisket untouched as that beautiful bark develops. Optionally you can spritz a time or two with cider vinegar or water if the brisket appears to dry out. I do not think this is needed with a fat side up brisket. That is more commonly needed when cooking a meat side up brisket.
When the meat reaches an internal temperature of at least 175-180 (the bark will be set nicely by this point) it is time to wrap.
You can wrap in butcher paper or aluminum foil. We have this video showing this differences in wrapping techniques.
Wrapping in butcher paper will allow you to maintain your bark. Wrap the brisket in non-waxed butcher paper. Depending on the size of your brisket this could be 7 - 10 hours into the cook. In this video, it took 10 hours to reach 180. However, the time is no the most important thing to be worried about. Focus on the visual look of the bark and the internal temp. I like to spritz the inside of the paper with liquid with cider vinegar to make the paper more more pliable before I lay the brisket on it to wrap. Alternatively, wrapping in aluminum foil is a bit easier to master and will deliver a juicy, delicious brisket.
Finishing the brisket
Place the brisket back in the smoker. Increase the temperature of your smoker to 275 to help render out those last fats.
Continue to smoke the brisket until the meat is “probe tender” in the middle of the flat. This means when you probe it in the flat there will be no resistance. Think of sticking a toothpick in a cake. Each piece of meat is different but this will likely be around an internal temperature of 203°F.
Resting the brisket
Remove the brisket from the smoker, and rest it still wrapped at ambient temperature for 2 hours.
Top BBQ joints in Texas pull their briskets off the smoker in the evening, rest them a couple hours, then place them in a warmer until lunch service the nest day. However, most people do not own a device at home at will hold as low as 140.
Resting at room\ambient temp will stop the cooking process and allow the juices in the brisket to redistribute. I like to rest brisket down to 150 internal temperature (using my instant read thermometer) before slicing.
Remove the brisket from the smoker, and rest it still wrapped at ambient temperature for 2 hours.
Place the brisket in a 145 warmer for at least 8 hours but preferably 12 hours.
If you do not have a warmer, rest the brisket for 15 minutes at ambient temperature and then place it in an insulated cooler for as many hours as possible. Once it drops it to 140, unwrap, slice and serve.
Slice only what you plan to eat and enjoy!
If you need instructions on how to reheat brisket, we got you here in this video!
