My first brisket
After cooking chicken, sausages and ribs in the past months, I was ready for my first brisket. I was extra motivated, after taking Aaron Franklin’s masterclass on Texas style bbq, and admiring plenty of briskets in the Camp Chef Facebook group.
I got an untrimmed 14.5 lbs choice brisket and drafted a game plan for the next day. I followed the plan almost to the letter:
- 4am: trim the brisket. This was a lot harder than I thought. My piece of meat looked much different from those I saw in the trimming videos. I left sufficient fat to “protect” the meat from drying out.
- 4:45am: season the brisket. I didn’t use any lather, and did a 50/50 kosher salt/pepper mix - central Texas style. I was conservative in applying it. Next, let it rest at room temperature for 30-40 minutes
- I started the pellet grill/smoker at 5:40am, 250F and smoke level 8.
- The meat went on the grill at 6am, accompanied by a water pan.
- I started spritzing with apple cider vinegar every hour to avoid the edging from drying out.
- Near hour 6, I increased the heat to 265F to be ready for the infamous stall. I didn’t really notice the temperature stall.
- At hour 8, I wrapped it in butcher paper and let it smoke another 4 hours. I did notice that the internal temperature went closer to 210F, which was higher than I was aiming for (198-203F). I kept lowering the grill temperature to eventually 220F in the hope to bring down the internal temperature a bit. Though it really didn’t come down much at all. Regardless, the meet turned out to be juicy enough.
I am pretty happy with my first brisket. It had a nice bark and the point was very juicy. Next time I was run the grill at a lower temperature.
