Smoked Beef Brisket

I wanted to smoke a beef brisket for Father's Day. And as things happen in life, when the meat was ready to go on the smoker, the smoker decided it wouldn't smoke any longer.  It had smoked its last meal.  Now some people would have panicked. There you are with a 6.5 pound beef brisket which had rested comfortably in the refrigerator all night with a delicious rub penetrating the meat to flavor it throughout.  

Thankfully, Lolly always has a Plan B.  Let's just move the brisket and the wood chunks to the propane grill.  The bowl of hickory wood chips (which had been soaked in water for about 30 minutes) went over the direct heat set to low.

The prepared brisket was placed in an aluminum pan and placed on the other side with NO heat under the pan.  The indirect heat cooked the brisket perfectly.

Let's get started with first things first.

The Rub:
4 T. iodized salt

2 T. granulated garlic

2 T. fine black pepper

2 t. cayenne pepper

3/4 T. dried thyme

3/4 T. dried oregano

2 T. paprika

1 T. onion powder

1/2 T. dried basil

1/2 T. cumin

2 t. coriander
3 T. chili powder

1/2 T. dry mustard

Toss all ingredients together in a bowl and store in an airtight container until ready to apply to meat before cooking.

The night before cooking the brisket, trim the fat to 1/4" thickness and apply enough rub to cover the brisket completely.  Wrap in plastic wrap, place on a baking sheet and refrigerate overnight.

When you are ready to begin smoking the brisket, either place on the smoker or on your propane grill over indirect heat as outlined above.  Line an aluminum baking pan with two layers of foil.  Put the brisket in fat side up and you're ready to go.

You will need to keep the heat between 200 and 225 degrees.  Once you have the brisket on the grill or smoker....close the lid and let the brisket cook for two hours WITHOUT PEEKING!

Here's the brisket after two hours.

Baste the brisket with the pan drippings that are forming in the pan.  Close the cover and continue smoking the brisket for at least 6 - 8 hours depending on how much the brisket weighs.  A good rule of thumb is 1 1/4 hours per pound of meat.  Baste the brisket every 45 minutes.  About halfway through, replace the wood chunks with freshly soaked chunks.

After six hours, the brisket should be smoked enough that you can begin to check the temperature.  160-165 degrees is done for a brisket.

Here's what the brisket looked like after a little over 6 hours with indirect heat.

 

Remove from heat, wrap the pan with foil and let rest for 45 - 60 minutes before slicing.

When you're ready to serve, slice AGAINST THE GRAIN.  I was thrilled with the outcome of this one.  It was EXTREMELY tender.