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Low and Slow Beef Brisket with a Texas Style Bark

Summer Recipe Series

Low and Slow Beef Brisket with a Texas Style Bark

Brisket rewards patience more than any other cut on the pit. Give it time, keep the heat steady, and it pays you back with a dark peppery bark and slices so tender they barely hold together. This recipe works on a smoker or a charcoal grill set up for indirect heat, and the method is simple enough that your first brisket can be a good one.

Prep30 minutes
Cook10 to 12 hours
Rest1 to 2 hours
Serves10 to 12

Ingredients

  • 1 whole packer brisket, 10 to 12 pounds, point and flat attached
  • 1/4 cup coarsely ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons granulated garlic
  • 2 tablespoons yellow mustard or a light coat of olive oil, as a binder
  • Post oak, hickory, or pecan wood for smoke
  • Unwaxed butcher paper or heavy foil for wrapping

Method

Trim

  1. Start with a cold brisket straight from the refrigerator. Cold fat trims cleanly, soft fat smears.
  2. Trim the fat cap down to about a quarter inch. Remove the hard lump of fat between the point and the flat, and square off any thin edges that would burn during the long cook.
  3. Flip the brisket and remove the silverskin and any loose fat from the meat side.

Season

  1. Rub a thin layer of mustard or oil over the entire brisket. It will not flavor the meat, it just helps the rub stay put.
  2. Mix the salt, pepper, and garlic, then season every surface generously, including the sides. Let the brisket sit at room temperature while your fire comes up.

Cook

  1. Run your smoker or grill at a steady 250 F with clean, thin smoke. On a charcoal grill, bank the coals to one side and place the brisket on the cool side, fat cap toward the heat.
  2. Smoke undisturbed for the first 3 hours, then spritz with water every hour or so if the edges look dry.
  3. When the bark is set and deep mahogany, usually around an internal temperature of 165 to 170 F, wrap the brisket tightly in butcher paper.
  4. Return it to the pit and continue cooking until a probe slides into the thickest part of the flat with almost no resistance, typically 200 to 205 F.

Rest and slice

  1. Rest the wrapped brisket in a dry cooler or a turned off oven for at least 1 hour. This step is not optional. The juices need time to settle back into the meat.
  2. Slice the flat against the grain into pencil width slices. When you reach the point, rotate it 90 degrees and continue slicing, since the grain changes direction. Serve with the bark side up and let the smoke ring do the talking.
The Right Knife for the Job

After a 12 hour cook, the last thing a brisket deserves is a short blade sawing back and forth. The HELENA SERIES 11-Inch Slicing/Carving Knife is forged from German steel with a long, narrow blade built for exactly this moment. One smooth pull carries you through the entire flat, so every slice comes off clean with the bark intact and the juices where they belong.

The slim, semi-bolster design keeps the knife balanced through long carving sessions, which matters when you have twelve pounds of brisket and a hungry backyard waiting.

Notes from Our Kitchen

  • Cook to feel, not just temperature. A probe should glide in like it would through warm butter. Some briskets are done at 198 F, others need 205 F.
  • If the flat is done before the point, separate the two and give the point extra time, or cube it for burnt ends.
  • Leftover brisket keeps beautifully. Slice only what you plan to serve and store the rest whole so it stays moist.

Planning the full spread? This brisket pairs well with the charred corn and watermelon salad from earlier in our Summer Recipe Series.

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