One of my favorite things to do in the fall is put a brisket on Friday night so it’s ready for college football kickoff of Saturday in the fall. To some, briskets are intimidating, and it takes practice and patience to get it right, but when you do, your friends and family will love it.

Start by firing up your smoker to around 250 using pecan and post oak wood. While your smoker is getting up to temp, it’s time to trim your brisket. The first rule of trimming a brisket is to not shave off too much. Believe me, I’ve done it before and didn’t like the results.

With the fat cap down, trim off a bit around each side to create a squared off shape. Cut off a good portion of the moon-shaped chunk of fat where the flat and point meet. Trim off any shiny skin, small pieces of fat, and any loose pieces hanging off. Flip it over and trim the fat cap down to about 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch all across. You want it to be as uniform as possible so it cooks evenly.

Once you have it trimmed how you want it, rub it all over with your favorite beef rub. If you want to use a binder, you can use oil or yellow mustard. I’ve done both and without a binder and don’t really have a preference. If you want to go true Texas style, just use salt and pepper as your rub. I use my Lawless Beef Rub, which is a coffee-based rub that also has a high amount of salt and pepper, as well as some citrus from lime infused sea salt and ground orange peel.

Put it in your smoker and let it go for a few hours. You don’t want to keep opening the lid; just let it gather smoke and heat. After 3-4 hours, it will start to dry out a little bit, so it’s time to starts adding some moisture. I love to use dill pickle juice.

Spray it every 30-45 minutes for the next few hours. Around this time you will start to hit the stall, which is when the moisture that has accumulated on the meat starts to evaporate off. Don’t panic. Just let your brisket fight through the stall. Once it’s through and has a rich, dark mahogany color, wrap it in butcher paper.

You can use foil instead of butcher paper, but butcher paper lets the meat breathe a little bit more and allows it to still absorb smoke. At this point, you’re just waiting for it to finish. As with any good barbecue, it’s done when it’s done. I like to take mine to at least 203 degrees, but you’ll know when your Thermapen slides in and out like butter or when you pick it up and it’s nice and jiggly.

Before you unwrap it, put it into a cooler with towels around it, or a Cambro, and let it rest for at least an hour, up to a few hours. The rest is just as critical as the cook.

After the rest, unwrap it and place it onto a cutting block. First separate the point from the flat. Turn the point 90 degrees and slice down the middle of it. Continue slicing this direction (against the grain) on both sides of the point for the fatty/moist brisket. On the flat, slice as is for lean brisket. Serve it with some fresh dill pickle slices on the side and a couple of pieces of white bread.

Note: Any products I endorse in my recipes are solely because I like them and believe in them. I am not paid or encouraged to endorse anything.

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