Waaayyyy Better Than Restaurant Brisket

Waaayyy Better Than Restaurant Brisket – competition style

· 1 or more beef briskets, flat half only

· Worcestershire sauce

· Rub of choice

· Apple juice

· Mop or spray solution of choice

· Special Brisket Goo (below) or New Favorite Brisket Mop (below)

· Charcoal and wood of choice

Once you have mastered the BTR brisket, you are ready to go for the gold. Here is your recipe for competition-style brisket. You are already better than restaurants and your neighbors. Now lets earn some real bragging rights. Some of the steps are the same as BTR Brisket but there are some added steps and tricks. 

Buy a brisket in a Cryovac bag and leave it in the refrigerator for two weeks. 

The night before you plan to smoke the brisket, prepare it. Trim any fat in excess of ¼ inch but leave a smooth, even layer of fat. The fat layer is important for insulation and moisture. Find the grain of the meat and cut one end straight, perpendicular to the grain so that slices can be made directly across the grain. The triangle-shaped piece that is cut off can be slathered, rubbed and cooked just like the rest of the brisket. This small (1/3 pound or so) piece will be done earlier and can be trimmed and cut into chunks for a great burnt end appetizer or a snack for the cook that nobody else needs to know about. If you like, you can cut another off the side opposite and have twice the burnt ends, I usually do.

Inject the brisket with a phosphate solution made from a commercial brisket injection and beef broth, according to package directions. Some brands have a bit of an off flavor and you will just need to sort that out, I’m not going to name the ones that disappointed me and they may have improved their product since I used it. You can buy an injector (a simple syringe with a big chamber) at barbecue stores and at grocery stores that have the right attitude. Use 10-12 injection sites in each brisket. 

That’s more holes than you would make with just AJ but you need to avoid any pooling of the phosphate solution because that can cause uneven color. You can see the meat plump a little while you inject it. This will improve tenderness, moisture and flavor even more than injecting with AJ, like in the BTR recipe, because the phosphate salts improve water holding capacity of the meat. I also find they get done slightly faster when injected.

Once injected, pour Worstcerchestersher sauce all over the brisket and rub it in. Place it in a 1 or 2 gallon Ziploc bag and put it in the fridge overnight. Put the burnt end chunks in a Ziploc bag, add some Worst sauce, roll them around a bit and refrigerate. 

Tips: A flat that weighs 6 lb or less will probably fit in a 1 gallon bag but bigger ones will require a 2 gallon bag, which are a little harder to find so make sure you have some on hand. Also, any bag can leak so place the bags on a rimmed baking sheet when you put them in the fridge overnight. Rotate them a couple times to make sure the Worst sauce stays on every part.

Start the charcoal about 12 hours before meal time and finish prepping your brisket. Pat dry to get the Worst sauce off and to get rid of anything that leaked out of the brisket overnight. Sprinkle on your rub, apply heavily but do not rub into the meat (common mistake, rubbing it in makes smoke entry more difficult). Be sure to remove any chunks of sugar or salt so that the appearance is smooth and even and there are no bites that are too salty or sweet. Remember that each judge only gets one slice. One key is to dry your brown sugar a bit before mixing your rub and storing it in an airtight container to avoid clumping. Turn the brisket over and apply rub to the meat side, do not forget to add rub to the ends and sides as well. Put rub on the burnt end chunks once the brisket is in the smoker.

With the smoker at 250-300 degrees, place the brisket meat side up in the smoke box or on the side of the grill opposite the coals for indirect cooking. Place the probe of a digital read out thermometer into the thickest part of the brisket. Insert the probe parallel to the slicing edge and about two inches in so that you will not get holes in any competition slices. Add wood to the coals to start the smoke. Close up the smoker or grill and leave it alone.  Do not disturb anything as long as the heat stays around 225-240 degrees. After 3 hours of undisturbed cooking, you can increase temp to 240-250 but don’t exceed 250. At this point, spray with apple juice or AJ+Dr. Pepper. Repeat every 30 minutes or so. 

The internal temperature of the brisket will rise fairly rapidly for the first few hours but will stall at around 145 degrees.  Don't worry, its still cooking and making progress but your temp may change only a few degrees for 2-4 hours (see chart below).  That's OK and normal.  After 5-6 hours, switch to a mop instead of the spray. Add charcoal as needed.  When the internal meat temperature reaches 165 degrees, remove the brisket from the smoker and place it on a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil. Spray or mop one more time, then wrap and seal the foil. 

Place the wrapped brisket back in the smoker at 250 degrees. The temperature will rise more rapidly than it had been before the meat was wrapped in foil. When the internal temp reaches 195-200 degrees, remove the brisket from the smoker, unwrap and place on a clean sheet of foil. Apply Special Brisket Goo (40% apple juice (or AJ+DRP), 40% your favorite ‘cue sauce, and 20% honey). Then re-wrap in foil and seal tightly. Wrap it in two beach towels (still in the foil) and place in a Styrofoam or other insulated container. After 30-60 minutes, unwrap, paint on a little sauce, slice and eat or turn in to the judges. 

Notes: This is aptly named. This will be slightly sweeter than the easy version and will have a shinier appearance. Don’t use a real sweet sauce but contest judges often seem to like food sweeter than most of us prefer at home. This version should look great on dark green lettuce in a competitive display. 

Making brisket this way will take more practice to get the doneness exactly right than the easy version but if you get it right it is soooo good. Proper doneness is a key. Brisket should never be tough or chewy but can be overdone and fall apart a little. If the meat is too tender to slice your guests will like it but you won’t win any contests. A slice of brisket 3/16” thick should have some elasticity when pulled apart but yield easily and be very tender when eaten. That is the right level of doneness. 

Depending on their size, the burnt ends can be indicators of doneness but they will be done an hour or two ahead of the brisket. I like to start the burnt ends at the same time as the brisket. If I make two briskets, I have four burnt end chucks. About two hours before you expect the brisket to be done, take out one burnt end and see if it is done. Test the rest at one beer intervals (45 minutes or so, unless you are from Wisconsin). Trim off excess fat, chop them up and let your guests have them as finger food samples. These can also be delivered to neighbors that did not get invited because their dog craps on your lawn sometimes (hypothetically, of course, just choosing a random example, not something I am angry about). If they get one burnt end it won’t be a whole meal and will make them wish they had been better neighbors.

Some purists object to use of foil in making brisket but do not be dissuaded. Wrapping tightly in foil allows better temperature control and creates a more moist and tender product. If someone says you are taking a shortcut, don’t let it bother you and allow them to hold your trophies occasionally.

Get you some!!