Smoked Brisket

Ingredients

• Brisket
• Tallow or lard

Rub options

For pellet smokers you need a more complex rub to create the bark. Use a balanced blend that has some sugar and also less salt, as you need to layer it pretty thick.

Suggested components include:

• Lowre's Season All
• Onion powder
• Garlic powder
• White sugar
• 16-mesh black pepper
• Dry mustard powder

Personally: I made a blend from my existing big shelf of rubs that covered all the core ingredients.

Instructions

Trim and season

1. Trim the brisket while it is still cold so the fat is firm.
   • Trim off any thin sections.
   • Trim the fat to ¼ inch, cutting away the excess.
   • Leave the underside fully exposed.
   • Cut off the hard fatty bits.
   • Even out the cut areas as best you can.
2. Apply your chosen rub thickly.

Smoke

Don't use a water pan as it inhibits bark formation

1. Don't pre-heat your smoker. You want the super smoke hitting your brisket from the start.
2. Use the recommended almond/plum pellet blend: almond for the bark, plum for the flavor.
3. Put your brisket on the 3rd rack, if possible. Farthest away from heat as possible.
4. Add a handful of pellets to the firebox to help generate that initial burst of heavy smoke to help form the bark
5. Set the smoker to its lowest heat setting or highest smoke setting, generally around 180°F.
6. Try to generate bark until fat starts to turn yellow, generally around 4 hours
7. Raise the temperature to 200°F for 1–2 hours.
8. Raise the temperature to 225°F for 1–2 hours.

Prepare the tallow or lard

1. Smoke tallow/lard 1 hour before wrap to absorb smoke flavor
   • You can take your fat cuts from above to render your own tallow
   • Alternatively, you can take the leavings and add to the fire for additional smoked flavor (may only work with offset smokers)

Finish in a foil boat (recommended for a pellet smoker)

Pellet smokers benefit from a foil boat approach, so you don't dry out the meat side while you try to render the fat side

1. Put your tallow/lard on the bottom of the foil boat, then lay the brisket fat-side up.
   • Tallow/lard can be right out of the can here or the pre-smoked stuff from above
2. Wrap up the edges of the foil up the sides of the brisket, leaving the fat layer exposed for rendering
3. Set the smoker to 250°F to render the fat. Increase to 275°F if necessary, based on feel.
4. Take the brisket to an internal temperature of 200–205°F, depending on feel.

Rest and hold

1. Finish smoking by midnight.
2. Put the brisket in an oven or warmer (usually around 175°F) and let it rest until the meal the next day (around noon): an 8–12-hour rest. A 17-hour rest for a 5 p.m. meal is also fine.

Slice

1. When slicing brisket, don't push down. Let the knife slowly slice through
   • Use a long knife, as long as it doesn't tear
2. Cut against the grain. Start with the smaller end, then shift 90° when you reach the thicker end with layered muscles.
3. Slice when the brisket is 135–140°F.