Best Texas Style Brisket
Tom Jackson
Rated 4.3 stars by 12 users
Category
Barbecue
Cuisine
American
Servings
17
Prep Time
30 minutes
Cook Time
15 hours
Calories
964
Experience the smoky, succulent flavors of a Texas-style brisket in your own backyard. Learn from Chef Tom the techniques to perfectly trim, season, and smoke this delicious cut of meat just like the pros on your own offset smoker! Unlock the flavor and aroma of a true Texas pitmaster’s delight!
Ingredients
Directions
- Light a chimney of lump charcoal in the fire box of the Yoder Smokers Loaded Wichita Offset Smoker. When the coals burn red to the top, dump in the back half of the fire box. Lay 2-3 splits of oak wood on top to immediately burn and lay one more split against the front wall of the fire box to warm for later.
- Adjust the airflow to stabilize the temperature around 250ºF. Roll the warming log over onto the coal bed about every 45 minutes to maintain the 250ºF temperature, replacing the warming log with a new log each time.
- Trim your brisket, removing any hard fat from the surface. Shave the soft fat down to about 1/4” thickness across the fat cap. Trim any fat and silver skin from the meat side of the brisket. Round corners and remove thin areas that will char up during the smoking process.
- Rub the brisket with a very thin layer of melted tallow. Season generously on all sides with Cattleman’s Grill Lone Star Brisket Rub. Press the rub into the meat and allow to tack up.
- Place the brisket on the smoker, point side (fat end) toward the fire box, and fat cap up (flat on bottom, point on top).
- Smoke until a dark crisp bark is formed and the internal temperature surpasses 165ºF, about 7-8 hours.
Remove the brisket from the smoker and transfer to two long (5 foot) sheets of butcher paper laid out to overlap one another width-wise in the center. Spread a layer of beef tallow under the brisket and on top of the brisket. Fold over the end of the paper to cover the top of the brisket, then fold in the sides of the paper to wrap the edges. Roll tightly to fully encase the brisket in butcher paper.
- Return the brisket to the smoker, still cooking fat side up.
- You may now run a slightly hotter fire, but keep it below 300ºF. Continue cooking until the brisket offers very little resistance when probed with a thermometer and the internal temperature surpasses 205ºF.
- Remove the brisket from the smoker and rest it inside the wrap.
For a quick rest, let it sit at least two hours at room temperature, fully wrapped. The internal temperature should come down into the 150sºF.
- For a long rest, wrap in foil and a towel and rest in a cooler 4-8 hours before slicing.
- Slice and serve with Plowboys BBQ KC Crossroads BBQ Sauce, pickled onions, Holmes Made Dad's Spicy Dill Pickles and white bread.
Recipe Note
You might also enjoy: The Z-Man Brisket Sandwich or Foil Boat Brisket
Nutrition
Nutrition
- Serving Size
- 4 oz
- per serving
- Calories
- 964
- Carbs
- 8.7 grams
- Protein
- 152.3 grams
- Fat
- 32.1 grams
- Sodium
- 1421 milligrams
Great video as usual. Can you add one on knife selection and maintenance?
Bruce – It’s really hard to over-salt a brisket, especially when it come to the brisket point since it contains so much fat, but if I were keeping the salt to a minimum, I would use my usual amount of rub on the point end and then use less rub on the flat end.
Matt – I think I would go with ghee (clarified butter) before I went with stick butter. It will alter the flavor less and can handle the temperature better. Just know that the reason for the tallow is to add more beef flavor, so when you use butter you’ll get a different flavor than if you used ghee.
If you were going to dry brine the brisket prior to smoking with kosher salt, would the brisket rub then make it too salty? Would it better to use a low salt/no salt rub if dry brining first?
Is there other options other than tallow, such as butter or oil?
And is there rule of thumb how long to cook per pound of brisket ?
Enjoy Tom’s videos and recipes .