How to Barbecue (smoke) Low and Slow Beef Brisket on the Grill

I've barbecued a lot of different things over the years. From a whole pig, and salmon, to pretty standard things like beef ribs and pork tenderloin, but nothing turns out as well as something barbecued low and slow. Up to this point, my low and slow pulled pork was my favorite, but now I have to say after this epic cook that beef brisket has been my crowning achievement of barbecuing.

I largely followed a recipe from a How to Grill book by Steve Raichlen on beef brisket, but added in a few of my own touches and tweaked the recipe a bit. It may look like there isn't enough rub, but this recipe will cover a nearly 7 lbs brisket.

I started with a nearly 7 lbs center cut beef brisket. The brisket comes from the cows chest and has a layer of fat on it. My brisket was trimmed with about 1/4 inch layer of fat. 1/4 inch of fat is a minimum. The fat is really important for low and slow cooks. It largely reduces, but it helps flavor the meat. When we are cooking a piece of meat like a Santa Maria style tri-tip, or beef brisket, I advocate for doing the majority of the cook fat side down. I like fat side down for two reasons. First, when it's on a grill, the fat protects the meat and can be trimmed off at the end of the cook so you don't have to worry about burning the meat. With beef brisket, I place it in a tray on the grill fat side down. The fat will often end up sticking to the pan, but when you peel off the brisket, it comes off nice and clean and you have a nice slab of brisket and the fat layer is left in the pan that I use for the sauce.

I start my beef brisket with a rub. It includes several spices that I work into the meat with my hands.

3 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon sea salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons garlic salt
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. Then apply to both sides of the brisket and let it sit for up to two hours.

6 cups wood chips (Don't over due the smoking)
1 aluminum foil pan (disposable)

Barbecuing a beef brisket low and slow is a process. I smoke my brisket low and slow in a Kamado, but it can easily be done in a charcoal weber as well. I fill my fuel chamber with charcoal. On my grill, I can do an entire cook with the initial charcoal load. I try and budget about 1 hr and 15 minutes for every pound of brisket with an internal grill temperature around 250 degrees. Sometimes my grill will get closer to 300 degrees, so you have to watch it and shut down the airflow if it gets too hot. Each cook is different, so you can't predict to the minute when it will be ready. On this cook, we didn't eat until 11 PM, although I was shooting for the brisket to be ready at 8:30 PM. Some folks went home hungry, but you can't rush a great low and slow, although I felt a little bad about folks being hungry. My advice was to drink more wine.

Wash the brisket and dry it before applying the rub. After I apply the rub and start the fire on the grill, I let the meat sit out and get to room temperature sitting in a pan. I cook the beef brisket in an aluminum pan fat side down that I can recycle at the end of the cook. Before I put the meat on the grill, I insert my meat thermometer. Getting the meat thermometer in the exact center of the brisket is one of the critical steps. If it's off center, it will prematurely read that it's ready to be pulled off. As a precaution, I'll double check the reading with an instant read thermometer once my main thermometer reads 195 degrees.

If you love Texas style beef brisket, they typically cook that over Oak. If you are going to smoke your brisket over hard wood, you must get the wood down to coals before putting the meat on the grill, otherwise the brisket will end up with a very strong smoke flavor that is over powering. I also like hickory smoking chips that work well with charcoal. if it's your first time doing a brisket, I advise to go easy on the smoke. Mesquite charcoal will give it plenty of smoke flavor.

Barbecuing a low and slow brisket is a full day affair. Once the brisket is at 195 degrees, you pull it and let it rest at least ten minutes. At this point it's ready to be served. If it's too early to eat, the brisket can be wrapped in tinfoil, and then wrapped in towels and placed in an ice chest. It will remain hot until your are ready to serve it. Beef brisket should be served in strips about 1/4 of an inch thick with a side of sauce. To slice the meat, I recommend using an electric knife. Electric knives work great for getting even cuts of meat and a large beef brisket can be sliced into dozens of pieces. Make sure to slice it across the grain of the meat, that is typically the shortest side of the brisket.

With the rub, the mop sauce, and the fat in the pan, it's super simple to make the sauce. I pour the drippings into a sauce pan and place it on the stove. Then I add catchup in equal parts to the drippings and heat it up while stirring it. The sauce is incredible. Then I sit down and enjoy what I think is the greatest barbecuing accomplishment.

When a beef brisket is finished it should be moist and tender. It makes an excellent steak sandwich since it's so easy to bite through.

One piece I forgot to mention is that low and slow cooks can be really challenging. The brisket plateaued at a temperature of about 160 degrees. It sat at that temperature almost an hour. Then it plateaued again at about 170 degrees. At one point it was 173 degrees and then dropped to 167. After another 45 minutes it started to rise. It gets tempting to up the temperature to finish the cook but you have to be patient and keep the temperature low. It's worth it:)

I love to eat my brisket on a fresh roll, with the bbq sauce and coleslaw. I recommend preparing a peanut coleslaw to go with the beef brisket.