Every barbecue lover can agree that there’s nothing quite like biting into a perfectly cooked piece of smoked brisket, but there’s also no denying how smoking a brisket can be a huge undertaking for those who are fairly new to outdoor cooking.
All of the best pitmasters are full of BBQ secrets and insider tips, and this is especially the case when it comes to the intricate details oriented around smoking brisket. We’ve been very fortunate enough to have teamed up with the Best smoked brisket barbecue restaurant in Springfield, OH in Rudy’s Smokehouse to provide our readers with some insider trade secrets that’ll help you get juicy, great-tasting meat right in your back yard.
So, check out the below sections to learn some of Rudy’s smoked brisket tips!
Brisket Selection Is Truly Everything
You’ll never have restaurant-quality brisket at home if you’re not purchasing top-quality meat. This is why it’s so important for BBQ connoisseurs to understand meat grading, as well as what to look for when selecting the perfect cut of brisket.
What you’ll want to do is have a bare minimum of choicegrade brisket, but it also doesn’t hurt to go higher in quality either. Choice grade is known for good marbling, and Prime grade is known for even better marbling.
Why exactly is this important? Marbling adds flavor and ensures that your brisket remains moist throughout the smoking process.
It Never Hurts To Give Your Brisket A Subtle Trim
There’s also a lot of “bad fat” that likely won’t render down during the smoking process, so you’ll want to trim off these thick, large pieces of fat. You’ll be surprised by just how thick fat caps can be on briskets, so make sure you’re getting your fat cap down to an even, 3/8” in thickness.
You should also be sure to trim any gray meet that you see along the edges of the brisket.
Give The Brisket A Good Rub
Although you could always find a good brisket rub at your local grocery store, you can also create your own with salt, pepper and garlic being your three main ingredients.
There are some different rub recipes that are easily available online as well, and this step is important because it helps give the brisket more flavor depth.
Meat Side Down Or Up?
This is an age-old brisket question that gets asked all around the barbecue world. Some pitmasters swear by meat down, and others swear by meat up.
If you’re getting a lot of heat from the bottom of your smoker, you’ll likely be better off putting the meat side up. But other than basic smoker temperature, it’s pretty much up to you in terms of how you want to smoke your brisket.
Some people will say that you’ll get more fat juices into the brisket when you put the meat side down, but this isn’t necessarily true for every situation. Brisket is a dense, tough piece of meat, so fat won’t easily work its way through.
Wrap Or Not To Wrap?
A lot of beginner barbecue enthusiasts ask whether they should wrap their brisket or not, but what’s important to know here is that wrapping your brisket around 75% in the cooking process makes it easier to trap moisture and get the brisket through what’s known as the stall.
If you have plenty of time on your hands, like 12+ hours, then you can easily smoke your brisket to perfection without wrapping it. You’ll obviously have to be careful smoking your own brisket for that length of time, because you won’t want the meat to get too smoky.
What’s important to remember is that if you’re not going to wrap your brisket up during the smoking process, you’ll need to be extra careful about maintaining a very clean fire that has minimal smoke.
If you do wrap your brisket, you’ll have the options between aluminum foil, pink butcher paper, and other food-grade butcher paper. When you wrap brisket in foil, it’s often referred to as a Texas Crutch. Pink butcher paper is often recommended over foil because it allows slightly more smoke on the brisket.
The Importance Of Smoked Brisket Fire Management
It’s crucial to keep your brisket at a consistent temperature for a very long time, and the key to this is managing your flame. Famous pitmasters will almost always suggest a gradual easing into your fire, and just remember that it’s easier to slightly increase temperature than it is to decrease it.
Your smoke must remain thin and blue while you’re smoking a brisket, because any black, thick smoke is a red flag that your brisket will be ruined. And because smoking brisket takes so long, you’ll need to be vigilant about managing your fire to avoid over-smoking the meat.
This is one reason why wrapping your brisket is a great idea when you’re just learning how to manage the fire.
The Brisket Is Done When It’s Done!
A lot of people will cook brisket with a target temperature in mind, but this isn’t the right strategy when you’re hoping to eat great brisket.
You’re definitely going to need a high-quality meat thermometer on you, but it’s far more important to rely on how the brisket feels when you’re wondering if it’s ready or not.
Although no two cuts of brisket are ever the same, there are some rules of thumb regarding how it should feel when it’s ready. You’ll want the thickest part of the flat to probe tender, so be sure to cook by feel and not necessarily by temperature!
Keep Track Of Your Results & Cooking Strategies
It’ll be difficult for you to improve your smoked brisket game if you’re not quite sure what you did wrong. This is why pitmasters keep detailed notes for each smoked brisket run, because this gives them information about what went well and what could use some improvement.
Learning from your mistakes is a huge part of improving your outdoor cooking, and soon enough you’ll be smoking brisket like a pro!
Check Out Rudy’s Smokehouse For The Best Smoked Brisket Barbecue Restaurant In Springfield, OH!
When you follow the above insider tips, you’ll put your smoked brisket game into hyperdrive as you slowly but surely fine-tune your pitmaster craft.
It’s important to remember that this is just a very basic beginner tutorial, and there’s much more out there for you to learn as you’re initially getting started with making your own smoked brisket.
And if you want to learn from one of the most renowned pitmasters in the Springfield, OH area, you can get in touch with the specialists at Rudy’s Smokehouse by clicking on the link to their website at the top of this page!