American · Main · Hard
Smoked Brisket
Low and slow smoked beef brisket with a peppery bark and a juicy, tender interior. The king of barbecue, done Texas style.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Smoked Brisket, in 5 ideas
- Salt and pepper is the classic Texas rub. Fancy rubs cannot beat it on brisket.
- The stall around 165F is normal. Wrapping in butcher paper powers through it while preserving bark.
- Probe tenderness matters more than temperature. It should slide in like warm butter.
- Resting is not optional. It lets the juices redistribute through the meat.
- Always slice against the grain or even perfect brisket eats tough.
What you need
Ingredients
- 1 whole packer brisket (12 to 14 lbs)
- 1/4 cup coarse kosher salt
- 1/4 cup coarse black pepper
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp yellow mustard as binder
- Butcher paper for wrapping
How to make it
Directions
- Trim the brisket, leaving 1/4 inch of fat on the fat cap. Remove hard fat and the deckle.
- Rub a thin layer of mustard all over as a binder. Season generously with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Heat your smoker to 250F with oak or hickory wood.
- Place the brisket fat side up and smoke until the internal temperature hits 165F, about 8 hours.
- Wrap tightly in butcher paper and return to the smoker until the internal temp reaches 203F and probes like butter, about 4 more hours.
- Rest the wrapped brisket in a cooler for at least 1 hour, ideally 2.
- Slice against the grain. Separate the point from the flat and slice each against its own grain.
Start the brisket the night before. A 12 hour cook plus rest means dinner at 6pm needs the meat on the smoker by 4am. Plan backwards from serving time.