Here is how I cook briskets as I posted to the BBQ Forum 5/11/09.

The following is how I cooked my last briskets. I cooked a couple of large flats on the WSM at about 240 degrees. I took the briskets out of the refrigerator and injected them with chilled canned beef broth. Then I sprinkled a bit of accent on each of them. Next, I gave them a good coating of Durkee Steak Dust. I then went over them again with Head Country’s Rub, and follow this up with some grindings of Weber’s Chicago Steak Seasoning. These three sets of spices combined with the injected beef broth became my formula, to produce good briskets. This formula worked well, other formulas I have tried in the past did not work as well.

When the smoker was up to temperature I put both briskets on. One brisket went on the top grate and one on the lower grate. The fire was built with lump charcoal and I put in a couple of chunks of oak and two chunks of hickory.

I then cooked them until the internal temperature hit 165 degrees and at that point I pulled them out, wrapped the good and tight in aluminum foil. I cranked up the temperature in the smoker to about 300 degrees and cooked them until the internal temperature hit 195 degrees. Then I took them out of the smoker and wrapped them up in an old insulated (washable jacket) and let them set for three hours. I still had the temperature probe in and made sure the internal temperature never went below 160, which it did not.

After three hours I opened them up and poured the juices that had collected in the foil, into a bowl. I put the bowl in the refrigerator, to separate the fat. While I was waiting for the fat to solidify on the top I sliced the briskets. I then put small portions in pre-made Food Saver bags. Then, after the fat was separated from the juice I removed the fat, and added the remaining excess beef broth. I put a large spoonful of juice in each bag. The bags were then sealed while the sliced brisket was still hot and immediately put into the freezer. Whenever I wanted any brisket I just put the frozen bags in boiling water for 20 minutes and it tasted as good as the day I cooked it.

Now this is a very common way of cooking brisket that has been discussed on the forum almost since that beginning of the BBQ Forum. It almost always produces very good brisket. It seems that a lot more discussion has revolved around how to cook briskets rather than what we put in it or on it. What I used on these briskets was just some stuff I had in the kitchen but the three items I put on the briskets produced really good results. They became a formula when combined coupled with the injected beef broth and the result was good tasting brisket.

I would be interested in hearing from some other people about what spices you put on brisket and what you inject in brisket. I don’t expect anyone to give all the ingredients of your formula like I did. But I am sure that some random items would be of interest to me and others. Your comments would provide a good working ground for people trying to develop their own formula.

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In the follow up messages in the thread some more details came out:

I have won using the same cooking technique, cept I start probing around 203*. When I'm cooking comp, my rub is equal parts K salt, fresh ground bp,and granulated garlic with a little Accent. This is purty spicey for the home folks, but it works for the judges and I inject with fb cut 50/50 with water. Also I try to use a LH brisket, if possible........ed

Posted by Zeb on May 11, 2009 at 20:14:44:

Ray,

Good posting. That has about all a newer cooker should need to know to cook a good brisket. It is hard for a newer cook to find all that info in one place. Great job!

We never inject ours and we wait until that point that it hits 205. We are not really shooting for 205, but when the meat gets to 190-195, just waiting on the temp to "break." For us, it tends to "hang" there for a while and as soon as it gets "unhung" the temp shoots up quick and it is usually about 205 before I get to it. I guess the "unhanging" is when the internal tissues finally break. Though, we have never placed higher than 12th out of 52 teams with our brisket and have consistantly finished 12th - 15th doing it this way, it is as good as any and consistant.

Maybe we need to inject:)

I can say that we prefer a "red-eye" TYPE mop and use it as "sauce."

The only thing with brisket is that no 2 cook the same. If I could figure that part out I guess I'd be brisket king, huh?!

Zeb

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In Reply to: Great Post posted by Zeb on May 11, 2009 at 20:14:44:

Thanks, but most of the technique came from a post to the BBQ Forum in 1996 by Mike Scrutchfield. I and many others have been cooking briskets that way since then. In Mike's post he said to cook the brisket to 205 degrees while in the foil. I stop most of the time at 195 because sometimes 205 is too much. But, sometimes 205 is perfect.

I was just talking about the last briskets I cooked and that is exactly what I did. I didn't leave anything out. These two briskets turned out so good that I didn't put any sauce on it or anything else. I don't know how this would have done in a contest but it was damn good.

Ray Basso

• Mike's brisket post