Texas Beef Brisket
Tioga, Texas, Gene Autry’s hometown, there’s a place called Clark’s where they make some of the best barbecue brisket on the planet. They say they smoke theirs for 3 days at 140°. But we’re not gonna put you through all that. It just takes a dedicated pit boss with 6 to 8 hours to spare and a good technique to get the right smoke penetration and produce a juicy but well-done piece of meat in a fraction of the time. That sounds like a contradiction, but it’s possible. All you need is an afternoon with plenty of beer on hand, a bit of patience, and the recipe that follows.
Recipe information
Yield
feeds 8
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Check out the instructions in The Techniques of Outdoor Cookin’ (page 12) and the Beef Brisket Pit Boss Tips (page 45).
Step 2
Dump 6 cups of hickory wood chips into a bowl, cover with water, and soak for half an hour or so. Drain and divide the chips between 4 squares of aluminum foil. Wrap up into individual packets, poking holes in the top of each one. Set aside.
Step 3
Pull off the grill rack and fire up the grill. While that’s going on, needle the brisket all over on both sides with a fork. Mix together the Creole Seasoning or All-Purpose Red Rub and oil. Rub this all over the brisket. Once your coals are good and hot, pile them up on one side of the bottom of the grill, and set two of the wood chip packets right on the coals. Position a drip pan filled with 1/2 inch of water on the side opposite the coals. Put the grill rack back in place. Set the brisket, fat side up, over the drip pan, and close the lid. After about half an hour, check the grill temperature. It should settle down to around 225°. If it’s hotter, close down the vent holes. If it’s cooler, open them up a bit.
Step 4
Check the temperature of the grill every hour for the next 6 to 7 hours and make adjustments. If the temperature dips down to 200° or less, add a couple of hot new briquettes to the pile of gray coals, close the lid, and open the vent holes a bit.
Step 5
Reach into the grill with some tongs after the brisket’s been smoking for 1 1/2 hours, and remove the old packets of wood chips. Toss two new packets of foil-wrapped chips onto the coals.
Step 6
After the brisket has been on the grill for 3 hours, you have achieved the necessary smoke penetration. Grab the meat with tongs, remove it from the grill, and wrap it tightly in foil. Return the foil-wrapped brisket to the grill and cover. Now you’re sealing in the succulence of the meat as you continue to cook it to an internal temperature of 175° to 180°. This will take another 3 to 4 hours, so keep working to maintain an even grill temperature of 225° to 250°.
Step 7
Give that finished brisket a rest off the heat in its foil packet for 15 minutes. Save all the roasting juices and skim off the fat. Slice the meat thinly across the grain. Fan the slices out on a platter and pour some of those roasting juices over them. Serve with some warmed Mutha Sauce to spoon over the meat at the table.
