Bozz BBQ's: My First Brisket

A year or two ago, my brother in law got the offer to buy part of a cow from a farmer.

As a kid, my aunt and uncle used to keep cows on their farm. I remembered how good that beef was compared to what you get in the store.

So when my brother in law asked if I wanted to go in on the half cow that he was purchasing, I was a little more than excited.

I took some ground meat and some steaks, but knowing that I enjoy BBQ'ing, my brother in law insisted that I also take the brisket.

I was a little hesitant at first. I mean sure, I have smoked pork shoulders and turkey breasts before, but briskets are a whole different animal (excuse the pun).

I knew from reading that there were a lot more factors you had to take into consideration when smoking a brisket. Likewise, they can be a lot less forgiving if you mess them up than another kind of meat.

I finally agreed to take the brisket and it then sat in my freezer for quite some time. My fear of messing up such a choice cut of meat was overwhelming.

Eventually, we were coming up to a time when our family was going to be having a get-together and it was decided that I was going to smoke the brisket as the main course.

I have used this picture before for other stories, but this was actually taken the night before I smoked this brisket.

I used the offset barrel charcoal smoker up on the top of the deck to smoke the meat.

I used the little grill sitting next to it to keep coals going for when I needed to add some fuel.

My barrel smoker is a pretty cheap model, so it doesn't hold the tempurature as well as some other models. This forces me to have to add fuel more frequently than I would like to.

This is a picture of the brisket before I put it on the smoker.

I had put a (store bought)rub on it the night before and I put it in the refrigerator covered. The next morning before I started the smoking, I pulled it out and let it get up to room temperature.

When I smoke pork I usually like to use applewood because the sweet smoke goes well with the white meat.

With the brisket, I decided to use some hickory. I thought the heavier and more rustic smoke would go well with the red meat.

This cut of meat was relatively small compared to some briskets I have seen. At only about 6 pounds, I figured this one would take about 9 hours to smoke.

It was getting time to head to the location we were having the family get together, and I still had a bit of time left on the brisket. It was at a safe temperature to eat, but it wasn't quite at the perfect temp brisket should be served at which is right around 195 degrees Fahrenheit.

I threw it in the oven quick at the house we were eating at, but by then it had lost some of its heat due to the travel.

Everyone enjoyed it and by the time we left what hadn't been eaten was already claimed as leftovers.

I definitely learned some things that I will be taking into account if I ever smoke a brisket again... Next time I will for sure make sure I give myself enough time. I think this one needed another two or three hours to get the fat and tissue broken down properly so that the brisket would be the right consistency.

Additionally, if you look at the picture at the top, you can see there is a red smoke ring around the outside of the cuts. I think it is a bit too pronounced though. I feel like I might have hit it with too much smoke at the beginning and I should have cut back a little on that.

Some people like a lot of smoke flavor and some people don't, so my opinion on the smoke ring could be subjective.

Thanks for stopping in and checking out my BBQ. I hope to post a lot more on this subject as the weather starts to warm up.

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