Brisket with burnt ends
Shopping list
- 1 brisket (full packer, prime or better)
- black pepper
- kosher salt
- wood (post oak or hickory)
- worcestershire sauce
- lots of time
Additionally
- boning knife
- smoker capable of clean smoke
Prepare rub
- Equal parts salt and pepper
Separate the point and flat
Apply rub
- Coat meat in binder (worcestershire sauce)
- Liberally apply rub in nice even coat (don’t go crazy)
- Let it sit on the counter till the rub looks wet
Apply injection
- None
Apply smoke
- Smoke at 250
- This will take around 6 hours
The goal here is to apply clean smoke. Focus on a clean fire.
NOTE: Because we’re cooking the flat and point separately, the overall cook time will be significantly shorter. Think around 8 hours instead of 12 hours.
Finish up the flat
Once the outside has received enough smoke, and it looks like you’d want to eat it, it’s time to wrap the flat in butcher paper. The purpose behind this:
- Prevent it from getting too smokey
- Soften the bark a little bit (we want chewy, not crunchy)
- Retain some water content
- Speed up the process (side effect, not actually a goal)
- This will take around 2 hours
Start checking tenderness around 200 and remove when it feels tender, do not take it off just by temp alone.
Start working on the point
- Put the point in a tin pan with beef broth in the bottom
- Cover in foil and put back on the smoker
- This will take around 2 hours
Start checking for tenderness around 205
NOTE: We’ll cook the point to a higher temp, but it has more fat which means it’ll cook faster than the flat. This means they might finish at the same time but at different temperatures.
Finish up the point
- When it’s fully tender remove and cut cut into 1" cubes
- Use a fat separator and put only the good stuff back in the pan
- Add a little BBQ sauce to the liquid
- Toss the cubes in the liquid
- Leave in the pan, bark side up
- Brush the tops lightly with BBQ sauce and some apple cider vinegar
- Put back on the smoker for around 15 minutes