Over 30 years ago, I had brisket, in Texas, for the first time. I don’t remember what BBQ joint it was at or even what city it was in. I was driving through Texas while moving from one Army base to another. It was somewhere between San Antonio and Houston. I was 21 and a soldier who ate anything put in front of me that held still. So, I stopped at a divey looking place during the drive because I was hungry and it looked cheap. And I had my first ever experience with Texas Brisket.

Man, what an experience. It was profound. I really wish that place wasn’t so many years in my past, that I knew the name, the location. Or, perhaps it is better that I don’t. Maybe, after many years of eating and cooking brisket, this place wasn’t all that great. Who knows now? What I do know is that Texas style brisket is, done right, sublime. It is smoky, peppery, and immensely about beef. It is the ultimate piece of meat if you love beef. And even if you don’t. It’s not steak or roast or a hamburger.

Important Notes About Texas Brisket

1. Brisket is the pectoral muscles of the cow. They are very heavily used and very tough, lots of connective tissue and hard/tough muscle. Long, slow cooking is required
2. A brisket, cooked right, is the finest bbq you can cook. 
3. Spend a bit of money and buy quality meat – by this I mean Choice or Prime, don’t bother with Wagyu or similar very expensive artisan breeds. Prime is the best I’ve ever cooked
4. Buy a whole packer the first time you cook it
5. Learn how to trim it …. there’s great YouTube videos showing this. See #6
6. Aaron Franklin – great BBQ cook – trims and preps a brisket – https://youtu.be/VmTzdMHu5KU
7. I dry brine the meat I’m going to cook for 24 hours normally. Use 1/2 tsp of Morton’s kosher salt per pound of meat. Put it in the fridge, uncovered, for at least 1 hour, preferably 24 hours, before cooking. For brisket at least 12 hours ahead of time, but 24 hours is better. 

I learned, over the years, from Meathead and his method for brisket. I also learned a lot from Aaron Franklin’s method in his book: “Franklin Barbecue: A Meat Smoking Manifesto”. Then modified by my own experience over the years of cooking brisket. I have cooked brisket probably 50 times since I started learning to BBQ and I think I’ve finally got a basic handle on Texas Brisket. Herein follows what I consider a decent method to cooking brisket.

Eric’s Method

I strongly suggest that you follow my method exactly the first time you cook a brisket. Once you have it dialed in to the point where you are happy, then start adjusting until you get to your perfect taste. Following my method, you can avoid the scary things you have heard about smoking brisket and instead achieve this.

Important Notes About Cooking Brisket

1. learn how to set your grill up for 2 zone, indirect cooking. You want the “cool side” of the grill to be 250 degrees. You achieve this by putting all your heat on one side.
• On a charcoal grill, you pile the charcoal at one side.
• On a propane grill, you turn on only part of your burners.
• You will have to experiment with your grill to find the right technique to achieve this.
• Use a quality digital thermometer to know the actual temperature in your cool or hot zone. I prefer the Fireboard for this.
2. Make darn sure that you have fuel for a long cook.
• Brisket is 12-14 hours at 250 degrees.
• You want a full propane tank, or about 20 lbs of charcoal, depending on your grill.
3. Meat takes on smoke flavor best when it is cold and moist.
• Get your grill set up, get your smoke rolling, before doing anything to the brisket.
• then take your brisket out of the fridge, apply your rub and go straight to the grill.
4. A brisket will stall during the cook. This is normal. Don’t freak out. Do plan for it. Your meat temp will naturally rise to about 155F and then suddenly stop going up. IT IS NORMAL. The moisture in the meat is evaporating and cooling the meat off faster than the temp is increasing from the grill heat. This will continue for several hours, then the meat comes out of the stall and goes up slowly after that
5. Meat temp is a guide. The real way to know if the brisket is done is to probe it with a thin, pointy “probe” …. a thermometer or cake probe … when your probe enters the meat and feels like a knife going into warm butter … it is done. 
6. Meat temp helps, though. Quality brisket is getting into the done range when it’s internal temp is 190F. Start checking it then. Somewhere between 190 and 205, it should be done. 
7. After it is done, you should wrap it tightly in aluminum foil (very tight) and put it in a 170F oven for at least one hour. Or wrap in old towels around the foil and then into a beer cooler (will hold the meat at 170) for at least one hour. Could go as long as 4 hours, depending. 
8. When ready to slice, take it out of the oven or cooler, unwrap, let it sit on cutting board for 10-15 minutes. You want the internal temp to come down a bit, to about 150 …. makes it slice easier

Buying Brisket

Preferably go to Costco and buy a Prime Packer Brisket … this will have both the point and flat and come in cryovac. Bigger is better. Go 14-16 pounds. If your costco doesn’t carry whole packers, go to a local butcher and ask him for a whole packer brisket. If your butcher doesn’t know what that is, find a new butcher. 🙂

Prime is better than Choice. If you go higher grade than Prime, it will cook very different and very fast. Be aware. 

A Prime packer, pre trim weight of 14-16 lbs, will need 12-14 hours to cook, plus 1 hour to prep the grill, plus minimum of 1 hour holding after the cook. Plan on 16 hours start to finish. If it is done early, hold in oven/cooler longer, which is fine. 

Texas Brisket: Eric’s Method

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Recipe by Eric Course: Featured, Smoked, TexasCuisine: Smoked, TexasDifficulty: Difficult

Servings

20

servings

Prep time

1

hour 

Cooking time

12

hours 

Calories

380

kcal

Total time

13

hours 

Ingredients

• 10 pounds prime beef brisket

• 6 tsp Kosher salt

• 20 Tsp Eric’s Beef Rub

Method

• Trim the brisket about 24 hours prior to cooking following the method in Aaron Franklin’s video
• Liberally salt with 1/2 tsp of Morton’s kosher salt and then put brisket in refrigerator, uncovered, for 24 hours prior to cooking.
• hour prior to cooking, prepare grill for 2 zone with the indirect zone at 250 degrees as measured by a quality digital thermometer
• Add wood chunks or wood chips for smoke, depending on your grill setup.
• When grill is ready, just prior to putting brisket on grill, add rub. Use Eric’s Beef Rub, about 2 tsp per pound. Apply liberally.
• Take the brisket straight to the grill, place a meat temp probe in the thickest part of the brisket and then put brisket in the indirect zone. Close lid. Walk away.
• Have a beer or coffee or whiskey handy. Probably a cigar, too. Kick back in your lawnchair. Be prepared for it to cook all day.
• Follow my guidelines above about temps. The brisket will stall. It’s okay. Have a beer. Or two.
• When the temp is over 190 degrees, about 10 hours in, start probing the brisket for done. Use a thin metal probe, from a thermometer or a cake probe.
• When your probe goes in like a knife into warm butter, you are done.
• Now pull the brisket off the grill and wrap in aluminum foil or brown butcher paper.
• Hold in a ice chest, wrapped in towels, or in an oven set to 170 degrees. Hold for at least 1 hour. Can be up to 4 hours.
• When ready to serve, slice into 1/4″ slices. Follow this video to understand slicing brisket, starting about the 8:00 mark.

Notes

• Read through this once in detail. Put the recipe away for a day. Come back, read again. Plan the cook. Read it again. Then do it.
• Servings is assuming a 15 lb brisket, trimmed well. Final, cooked weight of 10 lbs after trimming and cooking will leave a yield of 1/3 lb of meat per person.