Beef Brisket

4-28-11 1.5lb Smoked Beef Brisket


Grilled on: Weber Silver One Touch
Charcoal: Kingsford original approx 25 briquettes, then added 10 after 4 hrs
Wood: Dry Hickory chips
Dry rub: Garlic salt, garlic powder, black pepper, Byrons Butt Rub


First off let me say I don't normally cook or eat brisket.  I never order it at a restaurant. I'm a pork purist!! But about twice a year I'll be at the grocery store and decide to pick up a brisket and cook it.  I always buy the brisket that is pre-brined and has the spices to make corned beef.  I like my beef rare and thats probably why I not a big brisket fan. 


Method: Meat was pre-brined, threw away pickling spices that came with brisket.  Seared meat over direct heat on all sides.  Seared the fatty side extra crispy, left it black.  Then cooked on indirect heat for 4.5 hours, with fatty side up and sitting on aluminum foil.  The foil is shaped into a bowl to catch the juices and the meat sits in its own juices to keep it from drying out. I added hand fulls of hickory chips at the beginning and once ever hour for the first 3 hours, added chips a total of 3 times.  Meat was really tough after 4.5 hours, wraped the meat completely in aluminum foil added more charcoal and cooked the meat for another 3 hours on indirect heat and as the charcoals began to die out cooked over direct heat for the last hour.  Cooked a total of 8.5 hours. 





Result: Meat was perfectly tender.  Texture and appearance were excellent.  Downside, meat was way to salty.  I forgot that the meat was pre-brined in salt water.  Next time do not add salt and even try to wash some of the salt off.  Or maybe I should try to find a cut that hasn't been brined. Also I didn't really like BBQ sauce on the meat, it tasted better by itself.  Maybe it would be better with a sweet fruity sauce.


I'm not sure if it needed more smoke flavor. I could have doubled the smoke, adding chips every 30min for a total of 6-8 times. If it had more smoke flavor it probably would have been better with the BBQ sauce.  Next time I think I will not try to add more smoke flavor but find a better sauce.