Texas Brisket

As I have spoke before, Beef Brisket rules in Texas. My hubby loves to fire up this baby, then season a huge slab of meat and start cooking.  And he doesn’t plan ahead, he just wakes up one morning and starts to build a fire while I jump on the bandwagon and drive into town for a nice brisket.  Nope, it doesn’t matter if it’s just the two of us or if we have guests, the brisket is always huge.  And I know we will have a great time and great foodies by the end of the day.

After the fire is started, its time for the meat.  We start with this awesome, huge chuck of beef.  I think this  brisket weighs about 15 pounds.  I always spend way too much time at the store going through all the briskets trying to find the best one.  But with all that marbling, most are just perfect.

We always season the brisket very well with a rub.  We have so many different rubs and seasonings but today we are trying out a new rub that I purchased on our last trip to our hometown in Texas. 

When the temperature reaches 250-300 degrees, it’s time to put the meat on.  
But wait!   Ok (1) We have a well seasoned brisket, (2) a smoker heated to the proper temperature but I think we missed one key ingredient!  
An Adult Beverage!!  Yep, something about fueling the fire and seasoning a huge slab of meat makes one very thirsty!  
   The meat is placed on the grill furthest away from the firebox.  The smoke raises from the fire, travels across the meat and exits out the smoke stack.  The heat is low and the meat is cooked slow and smoked.

After the brisket has smoked for about 1/2 -1 hour per pound, check the internal temperature of the meat. When the brisket has reached just above 175 degrees, remove from smoker, wrap in heavy foil and place back into smoker.  Close down the vents of the smoker to put out the fire and leave it for about 45-60 minutes.  Then remove the brisket from the smoker and let the meat rest.  The brisket should be done to about 190 degress and will be tender.  The trick is cooking it to the point that it is tender but not falling apart.

Also it is important to have the smoke ring. This is the indicator that you have smoked the meat low and slow and it has just the right amount of smoke flavor. See the pinkish line on the top edge of the slices.  This is just perfect!