Brisket Tips and Hacks

Beef brisket is a popular cut of meat that, when cooked correctly, can be a tender, flavorful meal. It’s great for family get-togethers, BBQs, and holiday celebrations. However, cooking brisket can be tricky and requires a bit of skill and patience. In this guide, we’ll delve into tips and hacks for cooking brisket that will leave your taste buds watering.

Resting time

If you take anything away from this article, I can't recommend enough, giving your brisket plenty of time to rest after it hits your target temperature. When meat of any sort is at a high temperature, the muscle fibers are still seized up and pushing moisture outward. The longer it takes a large cut to get to the finished temperature, the longer it takes to cool down and redistribute juices and relax the muscle fibers. This is why a steak can be good after 10-15 minutes, but brisket takes significantly longer. 

I like to allow at least 2 hours if sitting out wrapped in foil or butcher paper to retain heat and slow the cool down period. If at all possible, resting in an empty cooler with plenty of warm towels or an oven with a warm or low setting is the best option.

Brisket trimming

If you'd like a refresher on the basics of trimming a brisket, please head back to our original brisket article How to Smoke a Brisket. This tip doesn't have a lot to do with how but more with what to do with those trimmings. 

SAVE YOUR BRISKET TRIMMINGS!!!

With a meat grinder or a sharp knife and some knife work, you can turn brisket trimmings into some of the best ground beef that is light years better than anything you'd buy in your local megamart.

Any extra fat you have leftover can also be used to render down into the liquid gold known as beef tallow. Literally put all of the chucks of almost pure fat into a sauce or stock pot and heat on low to medium-low heat for 20-30 minutes, or until the fat has melted down and become liquid. Strain out any solids that are left and place in an airtight jar in your fridge for up to 2 months. This is seriously some of the most flavorful cooking fat you can use!

Brisket seasoning tips

Normally, everyone who is considered an expert on brisket will tell you this when seasoning a brisket: KEEP IT SIMPLE! I also like this advice in most cases. Brisket is not an inexpensive meal to prepare, and you want it to be the star of the show, so just salt and pepper, or our Brisket or SPG rubs are super easy and make some crazy tasty brisket.

I don't do this every time though. Just like any other cut of beef, you can season it up in numerous different ways. My simple advice is... #KeepExperimenting! It's printed on your gift boxes for a reason! Use rubs and sauces you haven't tried before and you can come up with some amazing new dishes that will wow a crowd!

Cubano, Fiesta, and Q-NAMI are just a few that work really well on brisket. Try to limit the sugar content in your rubs as they can burn with such a long cook time. Try different flavors and find your unique favorite brisket flavor!

Cooking to feel vs. temperature 

The reading on your probe thermometer is the ultimate gauge as to when your food has safely been cooked through. That's not always the case with BBQ! While cooking to temp is a great way to know when your food is getting close to being ready, it is not the end-all/be-all gauge.

Start checking for doneness at around 195 degrees internal at the thickest part of the brisket where the flat meets the point. A probe thermometer should not have any resistance going into or coming out of the meat.

Check multiple spots of the meat for this, and when it feels like you're inserting the thermometer into peanut butter in all spots, pull your brisket and rest as noted in the first tip! 

Conclusion

In conclusion, smoking a brisket is a labor of love that requires patience and attention to detail. From selecting the right cut of meat to choosing the perfect wood and maintaining a consistent temperature, every step in the process is essential to achieving that mouth-watering, melt-in-your-mouth flavor that makes brisket a favorite among meat lovers. With the tips and techniques outlined in this article, you'll be well on your way to mastering the art of smoking brisket and impressing your friends and family with your delicious creations. So fire up your smoker, grab a cold drink, and get ready to savor the rich, smoky flavor of a perfectly smoked brisket.

Happy Grilling!