Overview
Several years ago, I was talking BBQ with local BBQ aficionado and friend Jeremy Goodwin. Jeremy was explaining how he did BBQ for his food truck business. He said "I use a lot of hardwood to generate some great smoke. Ya know, I'm from North Carolina and where I'm from, when we smell smoke, we get excited." Naturally, I had to make a smart ass reply and said, "Well, I'm from Detroit and when we smell smoke, we run!" The exchange generated a laugh but there was also much truth in both comments. You can create great cooked meats without it but smoke adds an element that is just unparalleled in flavor, especially for barbequed beef brisket. That's the subject of this post - to create my own brisket at home that would rival the best of the best in my review of BBQ joints blog post. This is a tall order because the best brisket in town is filled with smoke flavor, has a nice bark consisting of a beautiful smoke ring, charred edges and a unique spice rub. The meat becomes so tender that it literally falls apart when you poke it with a fork.
I am no stranger to making my own BBQ beef brisket. Over the years, I have labored to create my own method of cooking and smoking BBQ, whether brisket, pork butt, chicken, salmon or otherwise. I don't own a smoker or charcoal grill, so I have always had to improvise a bit without sacrificing quality. Early on, it seemed really difficult to get a good smoke flavor on my gas grill. However, I have learned that you can still get an awesome smoke flavor cooking "low and slow" by adjusting your grilling technique.
Adjusting Your Grilling Technique
The gist is this - fill a foil pan with charcoal briquettes and hickory, mesquite or other wood chips and chunks that you like, get a good fire going in the foil pan and when the fire turns the wood and charcoal into a bed of lovely smoking embers, move the pan to one side of the grill, place the meat on the other side, close the lid and using indirect heat, slow cook the meat to around 200 degrees for some awesome BBQ. This is a simplification, of course. There is a lot more needed to do it right. But what is needed is mostly your time - required to monitor the temperature of the grill and meat and feed the coals. A fancy smoker makes it easier but you can totally do it without the added expense and space occupied on your patio.
No Shortcuts
As I was drinking my morning coffee today, I saw a post in my news feed from the Today Show called "How to Cook Brisket to Tender Perfection." I started to read the article to see if there was anything new or groundbreaking. The author led off with the following statement: "I don't know why brisket recipes always seem to take five hours and consists of 10 or more ingredients. I love a good slow-cooked piece of meat with a complex rub, but for everyday meals at home, we can't always make that long timing work. This recipe aims to dispel the myth that those steps are necessary." I read on and the author's technique consisted of three hours in a 325 degree oven for a piece of brisket of three pounds or less, adding pomegranate juice, beef stock, chili flakes, shallots and other spices.
Well, I thought, I have a problem with the very premise of the article. First off, we don't do brisket for an everyday meal at home. Next, there is no smoke flavor. Last, if you're trying to reduce complexity and avoid having to maintain an extensive spice rack to get flavor, I have to ask, "who keeps pomegranate juice and shallots on-hand and how does that reduce complexity?" For the record, I usually keep shallots in my refrigerator because they can turn just about any protein from ordinary to extraordinary in a few minutes (thanks to Anthony Bordain for that tip). However, most people don't even know what shallots are. Anyway, that was all I needed to read. Yes, you can certainly cook a three pound piece of beef in the oven at 325 degrees and have it ready by dinner time. At my house, we call that a roast. The oven can certainly play a role, but we'll get to that later.
I should have focused on the Today Show header on the article and considered the source. If you like Hoda and Jenna and want to learn how to bake a roast in the oven, follow the Today Show. If you want to make an awesome beef brisket, please read on.
Aim of This Post - Recreate the Best Brisket at Home
In my Nov 16, 2021 post entitled Louisville BBQ Joints - Beef Brisket
https://tastybitesbymike.blogspot.com/2021/11/louisville-bbq-joints-beef-brisket.html I discuss in detail, what makes great brisket, the various methods for preparing, cooking and serving. I won't repeat all of that here, but if you have not read it or want a refresher, I encourage you to click on the link above.
When I do my "Money Where His Mouth Is" post, my intent is to recreate what I consider to be the best recipe among the various restaurants I visited. Where beef brisket is concerned, the brisket I found to be the best and that I want to create had the following qualities:
1. Good quality beef
2. Smoked over hardwood and/or charcoal
3. Cooked low and slow
4. Prepared with a flavorful spice rub
5. Moist and tender meat with a nice smoke ring and bark on the outer edges.
6. Most of the fat is trimmed off
7. Slab cut against the grain
8. A complex and sweet tomato & vinegar-based sauce with a hint of spicy heat offered on the side
9. Served with red onion and pickle slices
10. Side dishes with flavors and textures that compliment the brisket.
In this post, I will focus on the brisket. I keep this post from becoming too voluminous, I will dedicate a separate post to three delicious side dishes that I feel are a must with BBQ beef brisket: Collard greens, coleslaw and potato salad.
Anything Worth Doing is Worth Overdoing and Everything Works if You Let it
In the 1980 film Roadie staring rock singer Meatloaf as the multi-talented Texas beer delivery driver Travis W. Redfish turned world's greatest rock roadie, two common refrains are heard throughout this hilarious movie: "Anything worth doing is worth overdoing" and "Everything will work out if you let it." Since I first saw the movie at the theaters when I was 16 years old, these "principles" have helped to shape my approach to many things, including brisket. Overdoing does not mean overcooking. Simply put, it means there are really no shortcuts to getting a high quality outcome. Do a good job, do it right, find ways to do it better and don't settle for mediocrity.
And the refrain, "everything works if you let it" was made famous by the band Cheap Trip when they worked that phrase into a great song they produced for the movie soundtrack
I encourage you to play this song while you prepare your brisket. It should be the national anthem for good brisket. Rock it out - your food will come out better. Trust me, it really works. Be patient, follow the steps, take your time, and don't rush because your beef brisket will work out if you let it.
Here's What You Need To Do
1. Procure The Meat - Start with a good quality piece of beef brisket. You can find it at most grocery stores. Brisket will have a layer of fat on one side and comes in a variety of sizes. Before you begin the cooking process, I urge you to take the meat out of the refrigerator for about an hour to allow it to begin to approach room temperature. The bigger the brisket, the longer it will take to "warm up." When I made this brisket, the meat had been out of the refrigerator for over an hour and when I put it on the grill it was still at 32 degrees. More weight equals more time.
As I said in my BBQ Joints post, beef brisket can be expensive, especially these days. Here is an excerpt from that post:
I bought a lovely 7 lb. USDA Prime boneless cut of brisket at my local grocery store that was a whopping $83.21 before using my discount card which brought the price down to $55.45. That's $11.99 per pound before the discount, $7.99 per pound after the discount. At an average of a half pound per serving, that chunk of USDA Prime will yield approximately 7-8 servings. Trimming that fat and cooking will cause the meat to lose 40%-50% of its weight by the time it is ready to serve. This means you're really looking at around $8.00 for a half pound serving.
The yield numbers in that post were an estimate, but were fairly close. Here is what actually happened.
My favorite butcher shop is Kingsley Meats in Louisville near Bowman Field. I shop there often. Their meats are always top quality and while generally priced a little higher than the supermarkets, Kingsley is usually my first choice. However, if you apply their recent brisket pricing of $13.98/lb + tax (untrimmed) to the yield analysis above, we end up at a gross meat cost per lb of $14.82 and a net price (after cooking and trimming) of $28.85/lb! Again, Kingsley's brisket is some of the finest in town, but be prepared to pay for quality.
4. Start a Fire - As I mentioned earlier, if you don't own a smoker, you can make your gas grill into one as follows:
As you can see with probe 1, the internal temperature of the meat rises slowly over time. While not reflected on this timeline, but captured on the other probe screen shot above, the meat started at 32 degrees at 9:17am and steadily rose to 148 degrees by 2:37pm. Probe 2 tells a different story. You can see from the extreme increases and decreases where the temperature fell below the desired temperature and where I added wood to get the fire going again - for low and slow, this is a constant process.
On the other end of the price spectrum is GFS. The prior 3 visits to GFS on Hurstbourne Ln, they had nothing in the meat section except for chicken drumsticks, thighs and pork tenderloin. No 80/20 tubes of ground beef, no brisket, no chicken wings...disappointing. Recently however, they did have a big slab of beef brisket listed at 13.735lb @ $4.76/lb with tax = $65.37 with tax. On a gross weight and price basis, this is almost double the size for half the price per pound compared to Kroger. Although I would venture that the GFS brisket contains more fat than the Kroger or Kingsley versions, it probably would be worth it to try. GFS caters to many restaurant customers so some of the brisket you find in restaurants likely comes from them.
Here is another important point from a "make vs buy" decision standpoint. If the brisket costs you $16.49 per lb., before considering the cost of hardwood, charcoal, spices and most importantly, your time and you can buy a pound of excellent beef brisket from a place like Shack in the Back or South End BBQ for under $15.00, you're probably better off buying from them than trying to make your own at home. Naturally, if you can find a lower cost retailer to buy your meats and you like the challenge, this math goes out the window.
2. Create a Spice Rub - I have used this spice rub recipe multiple times and have found that it imparts all of the right flavors to my BBQ's meats. Individual tastes vary so feel free to experiment. The litmus test is this - when you combine your spices, lick your finger, put it in the spice rub and taste it. If you like what you have, go with it. If it needs a little spice, start adding teaspoons of black or cayenne pepper until it suits you. If the rub has too much heat, try adding some brown sugar. Make sure you add plenty of salt but don't overdo it - salt will add flavor and tenderize, but will also draw moisture out of the meat. At this stage, I add some salt but I will hold back and leave it to the eater to decide if they want to add more. Remember, you can always add more but if you over salt, you cannot remove it.
Here is my spice rub recipe for approximately 7 lb. of beef brisket
4 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons cayenne or chipotle pepper powder
2 tablespoons black pepper
2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
1 tablespoon fine sea salt
2 teaspoons ground allspice
Mix the ingredients thoroughly.
3. Prep the Meat - Once the meat has been out of the refrigerator for about an hour, place the brisket into a pan and get ready to apply the spice rub on all sides of the meat. Before applying the rub, I like to rub Dijon mustard, extra virgin olive oil or a combination of white vinegar and olive oil to all sides of the brisket. Using the mustard or vinegar will help tenderize the meat but will also add a tangy flavor to the bark. On this occasion, I covered the entire brisket with Dijon mustard and then liberally applied the spice rub. The mustard also helps the rub stick to the meat.
4. Start a Fire - As I mentioned earlier, if you don't own a smoker, you can make your gas grill into one as follows:
Fill a deep foil chafing dish pan with charcoal and your favorite hardwood pieces (chips make a great starter but wood chunks work better for longer lasting smoke). Close the lid and monitor the temperature. When the grill temperature is between 250 and 275 degrees, place the brisket directly on the grill fat side down right next to the pan. Fill another foil pan with water and place it inside the grill. This will help maintain humidity and moisture inside the grill during the cooking process.
There is no need to use the gas fire in the grill unless you are having problem maintaining the right temperature inside the grill. Therefore, the meat will not sit directly above any flame. All of the heating is indirect. To accomplish "low and slow," you need indirect heat.
Note in the photo above that my brisket has a temperature probe in the center. One really cool function of my Weber grill is the ability to link (via Bluetooth) up to four temperature probes to an app on my phone and constantly monitor the probe temperatures. To fully utilize these functions I placed one probe at the center of the brisket (as shown) and another hanging from the rack above the brisket to most accurately monitor the actual temperature inside of the grill. This worked well because I could simultaneously watch both probes and could add more wood for more heat and smoke or reduce heat by opening the grill lid as needed. Another cool feature of my grill is the ability to graph the temperature over time, which I will show a little later.
5. Cook the Brisket - A rule of thumb suggests that you need to cook brisket approximately 1 hour for each pound of meat using the "low and slow" method while maintaining a grill temperature in the 250-275 degree range. Remember, our target temperature for the meat is between 195-203. If you are cooking a big piece a meat, pull up a chair, get something to read (or watch) and plan to settle in for several hours. Even though my brisket had been out of the refrigerator for over an hour, you can see from the screenshot below that the internal temperature a few minutes after I put the meat on the grill was still at 32 degrees. We have a long way to go.
I started prepping my brisket at 8:00 am and got the fire going around 8:30 am. By around 9:00 am, the grill temperature was stable and I was ready to put the meat on the grill. I had plenty of wood on-hand, a hand-held temperature probe (just to check the accuracy of the Bluetooth app), heat-resistant silicon gloves and a spray bottle filled with a 50/50 mixture of water and distilled white vinegar. The spray bottle is handy for controlling the fire but also for hydrating the meat. The vinegar helps add a little zing to the bark. Once the brisket had been on the fire for a couple hours, I probably sprayed the meat an average of once an hour.
I'll spare you the play-by-play during the cooking and smoking process but let's just say we got plenty of smoke over the next several hours. A little after 11:00 am, I got the brilliant idea to add the second probe to monitor the temperature inside the grill instead of just the internal temperature of the meat. As you see from the screen shot, the internal temperature of the meat went from 32 degrees to 95 degrees in about 2 hours and 20 minutes and the grill temperature was at 256 degrees. I set my iGrill app target temperatures to 195 degrees for the meat internal temperature (probe 1) and 275 degrees for the grill (probe 2). These were the maximum temperatures I wanted to achieve on the two probes - the app would sound an alarm when probes approached and reached those temperatures making it easier to monitor everything.
This iGrill app has another cool little feature that I think tells the tale quite nicely regarding the internal meat temperatures achieved over time. Check out these two graphs:
By just after 3pm, the temperature had reached 151 degrees, a 3 degree increase in about 30 minutes. Shortly within the next hour, probe 1 hovered around the same range and I concluded we were now in the "stalled phase." This is where the internal temperature reaches a certain point and stays there. This is usually the point where the grill master needs to wrap the brisket either in brown butcher paper, parchment or foil to hold in the moisture while the grill or smoker temperature is increased.
In fact, this was the point where I set my kitchen oven to "Convection Bake" and turned the temperature to 275 degrees, got out the oven probe and began the process of transferring the brisket from the grill to my oven. This was around 4:30pm. I placed the brisket into a foil catering half-pan (shown) and covered it with foil. I inserted the temperature probe and set the desired oven meat temperature to 195 degrees.
Combine all of the ingredients except for the bourbon into a sauce pan over medium-high heat. Stir until all of the brown sugar has melted and the other ingredients have thoroughly mixed together. There should be no lumps. If there are any lumps, pulse a few times with an immersion blender until completely smooth. You can add a couple teaspoons of white vinegar if you want to really add some tang to the sauce. Bring to a boil and then remove from the heat. Add the bourbon after you turn down the heat and stir until the bourbon is completely mixed into the rest of the sauce. The sauce is ready. You can store this sauce in the refrigerator for several weeks if you keep it sealed and cool.
Over the two hours that followed, I watched the oven probe temperature steadily climb from 151 to 195 degrees. Upon reaching the desired temperature, my oven sounded an alert and sent a message the LG smart oven app on my phone (that was cool). When I removed the brisket from the oven, the brisket had the bark I was looking for and a lot of liquid had settled in the bottom of the pan. I let the brisket rest for about 20 minutes before transferring it to a cutting board.
6. Make Some Sauce Somewhere between putting the brisket on the grill and resting the meat before cutting, take a few minutes to make this awesome sauce. I love a sweet-tangy tomato-based sauce with a slight amount of heat and a shot of bourbon. Here's a great BBQ sauce recipe that goes well with this brisket (or any BBQ for that matter) and checks all of the boxes:
Mike's BBQ Sauce Ingredients
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup yellow mustard
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons granulated garlic
2 teaspoons red paprika (preferably smoked)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1.5 Oz shot of bourbon
7. Get Plates, Sauce and Side Dishes Ready At this point, I got my side dishes ready: Collard Greens, Cole Slaw, Grilled Brussel Sprouts and Potato Salad (I will publish these awesome recipes under other posts). I readied my sweet-heat BBQ sauce that I described above. Once the sides were plated for my guests, it was time to portion the brisket into slabs cut against the grain.
Just look at that. Flavorful and tender slabs of delicious beef brisket cut against the grain, much of the fat removed and ready to serve to my guests. I also carefully preserved the trimmings and weighed the final result so I could have an accurate accounting of the gross vs net weight presented in the section above.
8. Finally, Time to Eat!
Well, it's time to eat. There's a lot on the plate, but when you are outside working the grill most of the day, you get hungry.
While I did not display it in this photo, I added several dill pickle slices to the plate. I just love pickles with my brisket. I did not, however, add red onions because they were included in my potato salad - I did not want to overpower the dish with more onions. If I had made a brisket sandwich, I would have definitely added either raw red onions or pickled red onions (the best of both worlds).
These flavors all just work so well together. Hungry yet?
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