One of our favorite things to do is gather a group of friends and family members and enjoy a good ol’ backyard grilling and smoking meat party. Recently we had one of our customers share their experience and recipe with our grass-fed beef brisket and how big of a hit it was with everyone. This recipe is great for anyone that wants a simple start to smoking their first brisket with amazing results.
This entire meal was done with a Green Mountain Grill – Daniel Boone pellet smoker. This can also be done with a Traeger but not tested.
Cook Time: 16-20 Hours; total time for exposed meat and foil-wrapped time
Prep Time: 10 minutes to apply the salt and rub. Let the dry rub and salt soak for 3 to 5 hours in the refrigerator.
Ingredients List:
- 1 Whole Brisket, untrimmed (12-14 lbs)
- 1/2 teaspoon Morton’s kosher salt per pound of meat after trimming
- 1/2 cup Dry Rub Seasoning
Prepping the meal
Prep the Meat: Trim your brisket to remove a lot of the fat down to about 1/4″ thick. Once trimmed, score the fat in a grid pattern making it look like a checkerboard when done.
Dry Rub Application: Salt and season the brisket if you can 12 to 18 hours in advance so it has a chance to flavor the soon to be brisket and make a nice bark on the outside. Don’t be shy, be liberal with your application and coat that sucker all the way around. Set meat in the fridge to rest for 3-5 hours before placing on the smoker to complete flavor absorption.
Smoker Prep/Preheat: 20-30 minutes prior to loading the meat, remove from the fridge and let rest on the counter. In the meantime, go out and set the smoker to 225°F. If you haven’t already, make sure the smoker is cleaned, and you have enough pellets for this ride because you’re going on a 16-20 hour flavor ride.
Cooking: Once the smoker has reached its 225°F temperature consistently, you can then place the brisket on the grills with the fat side on top and the thick end facing the hottest part of the smoker.
Cook the brisket until the internal temperature reaches 155°-165°F. This is usually where you see a “stall” in temperature rise. At this point, remove the brisket from the smoker and wrap in heavy-duty aluminum foil. Place the brisket back on the smoker until internal temperature reads 205° F.
Pre-Serve Hold: Once the meat is cooked and reaches an internal temperature of 205° F. Remove from the smoker and immediately place the foil-wrapped brisket into a sanitized empty cooler and close the lid. Here it will be held for a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 4 hours prior to serving. This gives the meat a chance to break down the proteins and allow you to cut it with a fork.
Serving: Remove brisket from holding cooler and slice to serve. Remember, brisket dries out very very quickly once it is cut so you’ll only want to slice what is needed or slice as you serve.
Here’s a handy knife for smooth cutting into that perfect brisket.
ENJOY!
Pro Tip: Using Yardley Premium Beef makes for best flavor. Don’t skimp on quality, or you will taste it!