Brisket

What is brisket? A brisket is a part of the beef brisket that consists of two muscles, a flat muscle and a fatter one (point). It is not difficult to make a brisket, but it does require patience. The exact cooking time is difficult to estimate and depends on the thickness of the meat and the percentage of fat. However, the starting point for a successful brisket is excellent marbling of the meat. The brisket should be well-fatted at the top to ensure a perfectly succulent result. There should be about a centimetre of fat, and if there is more, it should be trimmed thinner.

Inject salt water into the meat, you will find that when you need it, the meat will no longer absorb the water and will push it back out of the meat. Rub the rub well into the meat and refrigerate covered for 24 hours.

Take the meat to room temperature a couple of hours before cooking. Choose suitable smoking pieces and preheat the grill to 120°C.

Place the meat on the grill, fat side up, and smoke it “naked” to the top until a meat thermometer reads about 70 degrees. Then wrap the meat in butcher paper and continue smoking until the meat thermometer reads 90 degrees. The idea of butcher paper is to keep the meat juicy. However, the wrap will still allow smoke to pass through, so you will still have smoke flavours for the rest of the smoking time. If you don’t have a roast meter at your disposal then an approximate cooking time for brisket is around 2-2.5h/kg.
Allow the meat to soak in the butcher’s paper properly (1-2h) before cutting. Cut the meat crosswise and serve as is or take a look at our other recipes for great side dishes!