I have never cooked/smoked a brisket before. Matter of fact, I don't think I've ever eaten this cut of meat. My loss.
I scoured my cookbooks to find the right recipe to use in my smoker. As you might expect, there were quite a few to choose from, and depending on which cookbook you looked at, there were a variety of ways to prepare it.
Big Bob Gibsons' BBQ Book had my final choice. I made his Bare Naked Brisket on page 91 of the edition I have.
Here is the recipe (I'm modifying it to match the weight of my brisket)
I used hickory wood in the smoker.
It took 6 hours in the smoker.
Before I placed it in the smoker, I made a paste of:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
5 garlic cloves, minced (you can never use too much garlic)
My brisket weighed 5 pounds.
I spread the paste on the meat and then placed it in the smoker. During the smoking process, I replenished the wood chips (which had been soaking for hours in water) about every 30 to 45 minutes. After two hours in the smoker, I began using "Jeff's Mop Water" every hour:
1 cup water
1 stick of butter
2 tablespoons of Creole Seasoning
This recipe came from my "Smoking Meat" book by Jeff Phillips.
Once you remove it from the smoker, let it sit for an hour, covered in foil.
The results? Just DELICIOUS!
I have a handful of smoking cookbooks. The two I used here, are among my favorites and ones that I have numerous pages bookmarked.
From Bob Gibson's book, try the Memphis Style BBQ sauce. And from Jeff's book, the Big Bald BBQ Rub is the one I use most.
Regular readers will know I began smoking meat last summer. I've never had a failure yet! It is something I love to do and found that I have a talent for.
I only use grass fed meat from my farmer, Autumn's Harvest Farm. There are no additives or hormones in their meat (except that their bacon, by NYS law, must contain additives). It is healthy and great tasting meat.
I tried to do the whole "healthy vegetarian" thing with fake soy based meats and it just made me sick. I eat game, bison and organic meat (and 4H cow). I don't eat factory farm meat, or imitation meat any more and feel much better for it. I still eat a lot of veggie meals, meat being a condiment not my whole plate, but quality is everything.
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