Fork and Gobble It: Texas Brisket and a Shortcut

My food magazines are bombarding me, as they always do this time of year, with BBQ articles and recipes. They start slowly in May and by July they are roaring about the virtues of charcoal, hardwood smoke, and a thousand variations on barbecue sauce.

I had a Sunday last month that was free enough for me to mentally commit to cooking a beef brisket Texas style. That means slow smoking with hardwood charcoal in order to tenderize and impart flavor just as you would braise a tough cut of beef. Slow cooking turns fats and collagen, the connective tissue in muscle meat, tender and moist, and makes a tougher, more muscular cut of meat a tender, delicious treat.

A whole beef brisket is made up of two pieces, the point and the flat, that are connected by a thin layer of fat and tissue. Usually you can opt to buy the whole, or one or the other of the smaller cuts. I purchased a flat cut weighing in at about 6 pounds. For this particular type of barbecue I would start by seasoning the meat with a mix of salt and pepper and other seasoning collectively called a dry rub.

Brisket Dry Rub

-¼ cup Kosher salt
-2 TBSP ground black pepper
-2 TBSP chili powder
-½ Tsp cayenne pepper
-1 Tsp garlic powder

Mix together well and rub liberally all over the brisket.

This cut is the “flat” portion of the brisket. I chose it because of the two parts, it is evenly sized, has less external fat (but lots of collagen to cook tender), and is usually the smaller of the two pieces. While this was going on, I started a hardwood charcoal fire in my Weber kettle. When the coals were ready, I moved them all to one side of the grill. I placed an aluminum pan in the grill next to the coals and filled it with water. I then added a few chunks of hickory wood to the embers. I then put the grill grate back in place. Once I got some good smoke coming off the fire, I put the brisket on the grill over the water pan and placed an oven thermometer in the kettle next to the brisket. I turned the dampers on the grill almost completely closed. My goal was to keep the temperature inside the covered grill at about 225F.

Three and a half hours of smoke and I brought the meat inside. BBQ purists would say keep it in the smoker until it is done. On the grill I think it would have taken another 6 hours, which I didn't have. I place the meat on a half sheet pan and dumped a full beer (Blue Moon Belgian White) over it.

I covered it with foil and put it into a 225F convection oven. Another three hours and voila', she was done. I took the meat out of the oven and let it rest for about 20 minutes. When I started slicing it, it was obviously very moist and very tender. I cheated a little bit in the eyes of BBQ purists, but my results were supreme.

Served up with a potato salad I'd made the night before, and some fresh corn on the cob, it was heavenly.

We washed that all down with some Caymus Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. One of my favorite Cali Cabs, still delivers for it quality to price ratio. Great wine for well under $100.00.

When I have the time, I'll cook the meat all the way over smoke, but it's nice to know I can get killer results in a little less time.