My brisket is so good, my family made me a "Everyone love's Mark's Meat" apron! Here's how I do it...
INGREDIENTS
- 1 trimmed brisKet (9 pounds), with a layer of fat at least 1/4 inch thick
- 3 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- 1-1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1-1/2 teaspoons garlic salt
- 1-1/2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
MOP SAUCE
- 1 cup distilled white vinegar
- 1 cup beer (whole can is fine, or drink a little bit of it and pour at least 8-oz in. Hey, it's 5 O'Clock SOMEWHERE, right?!)
- 1 tablespoon garlic salt
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Combine all of those ingredients in a bowl and mix 'em up really good. Then, put your brisket in a large foil roasting pan. You might need to trim the brisket a little...leave just a quarter inche of fat...do NOT trim off ALL of the fat. The flavor's in the fat...and it'll dry out if you do it that way. Use half the rub and pour over the brisket, making sure to rub it in all over. THEN, flip the brisket over and pour the rest over it, again, making sure to rub it all over the meat. Finally, put the brisket in the foil pan with the fat cap facing up, cover, and let it sit overnight in the fridge.
NOW, this is where you need to do a little math. I get up and start cooking it around 5am so we can eat around 6pm or so. Low and slow is the way to go..so, for a 9 to 10 pound brisket, you're looking at about 12 to 14 hours at 225 degrees. Make sure to insert a thermometer to see the temperature of the meat. Charbroil makes a wireless one...the probe goes in and connects to a gizmo that looks like a phone cradle. It send a signal to the unit (about the size of a smart phone) that give you the current temp of the meat. You can even tell it a target temp and it'll beep when it's done. Best of all, it's only about $12!
Get the coals going in your smoker, once there all glowing and ready, put a few apple wood chunks on them and put your meat in the smoker. You'll want to make sure to keep the temperature at around 225 throughout the whole process..and brush on the "Mop Sauce" every 45 minutes to an hour. After about 4 or 5 hours, you don't need to do the apple wood chunks anymore, as you won't really be adding anymore smoke to the flavor...but you WILL have to keep adding charcoal. I actually transfer mine over to the gas grill when there's about 4 hours left...it's easier to control the heat. Just make sure you're doing it with indirect heat...not right over the burners!
You'll also notice that once it hits about 150 degrees, it will stall and you'll think, "Why isn't it getting hotter?" This is a normal process, called, "The Stall." It will eventually continue to rise in temp. You want the meat to get to between 195 and 205.
Just like a flank steak, you want to cut at a diagonal and across the grain. Enjoy!