Courtesy of Ray Lampe, Dr. BBQ
If you want to smoke a brisket, saddle up, get a big fat one, and ride out the long cook. An old barbecue man once told me that the reason he liked smoked brisket so much was because it allowed him to cook it for a long time. Genius! Shorter cooks just won’t taste the same. In Texas they’d serve it with white bread, raw onions, and jalapenos. A pot of real pinto beans would go nicely too, but not the typical sweet barbecue beans. Sauce would be seriously optional and I’m in the no-sauce camp.
Ingredients
- 1 whole brisket, about 12 pounds
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Big Green Egg Classic Steakhouse Seasoning
Instructions
Equipment
Butcher paper or heavy-duty aluminum foil
convEGGtor
Big Green Egg Hickory Chunks
Method
Set the EGG for indirect cooking with the convEGGtor at 275°F/135°C using hickory chunks for smoke flavor.
With a sharp knife trim out some of the fat that is in between the two muscles of the brisket so it will cook evenly. Trim any extreme fat from the top, but most of it should remain. Rub the brisket all over with the oil, then season it liberally on all of the exposed meat using Big Green Egg Classic Steakhouse Seasoning.
Place the brisket in the EGG, fat side down, and cook for 6 hours. Flip to cook fat side up for another 2 hours. Lay out a large double thick sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil or butcher paper. Lay the brisket on the foil or butcher paper fat side up and wrap. Return to the EGG and cook until the brisket reaches an internal temperature of 200°F deep in the thick part of the meat. This should take another 3 to 4 hours but be sure to check the temperature.
When the brisket reaches to the internal temperature of 200°F/93°C place it in an empty ice chest and let it rest for at least 15 minutes and up to 4 hours. Take the brisket out of the foil and place it on a cutting board. Reserve the juices. Trim away all of the excess fat. Slice the brisket through both muscles across the grain and about 3/8” thick. With a spoon remove as much fat as possible from the juices, then drizzle over the top of the sliced brisket.
Makes about 12 servings
I have cooked 2 on my egg and having never done one before the first I followed the Hey Grill Hey instructions for trimming and slow cooked at 225* for 6 hours till it hit the slow spot where I wrapped in foil and waited till it hit 200-205*and took it off to rest .That thing was so tinder falling apart and the only seasoning I used was salt and pepper. Have plans to do another one when I can afford it.
Lee
I followed your recipe to the letter on a 12 pounder from Sams. There were no leftovers. Thanks for the help!!! Nixa Mo. between Spring field and Branson
Can you smoke a 12 pound brisket on a medium egg?
It seems that many times, I end up using a smaller piece of brisket, say 3 or 4 pounds. Obviously, the cooking time is going to be less. Could you go into the cooking times, both covered and not covered? Plus in the cooler?
Thank you,
Gary
Isn’t 275° way high. It should be around 225°. Why do y’all recommend such a high temp
Hi Dustin, There are many ways to smoke a brisket. If you find that 225 works best for you and the flavor that you want than EGG on!
I am a new BGE owner. I followed these directions to the tee. Once I put the butcher paper on and placed the brisket back in, it was only about 15-20 minutes before I hit 205F. I pulled it off and let it rest in a cooler. The thick part sliced well and had the characteristics described in the video. The rest of it was like pulled pork texture. The bark on the fat side was very hard. What did I do wrong? Flavor was very good.
What was the raw weight of the brisket? If it was smaller than 12 lbs, it probably could have used less time unwrapped. I always put in a probe from the start to cook by temperature and do not time my cook. I smoke unwrapped until the brisket hits 160 and then wrap, reinsert probe at the thickets part and cook to 203. I then cover the wrapped brisket in a clean towel (I bought one just for the purpose of BBQ) and rest it in my cooler for no less than 2 hours.
When cooking any meats, time is simply a guide and not exact. Each piece of meat will be different (grade of meat, marbling, weight thickness etc…) so the best method of timing is by the internal Temp. The reason you wrap is to power through the “Stall”. The stall is where all the fat starts to liquify keeping the meat “stalled” at that temperature for longer than anticipated because the fat is rendering out and it renders at the same temp. I use an instant read thermometer and they work the best. This gives you a very fast, accurate temperature. If I wrap, I wrap when the internal Temp reaches 160 degrees. When it hits 199 I start to use the Instant read thermometer to “probe” the meat through the butcher paper. In Between 199 and 205 the meat will “probe tender” or probe like a hot knife in butter. I have never had a brisket probe tender past 206 degrees.
If you are doing a full packer (point and flat) the thicker end (the point) will get to temp slower then the flat. The flat is where “burnt ends” come from when the brisket is done for the exact reason you mentioned. If you bark was to hard you can use a bit of yellow mustard instead of the olive oil to reduce the amount of bark. Mustard does not bark easily.
No no no no no! Burnt ends come from the point. As a general rule, smoke the flat to temp and then the point is gonna do what the point is gonna do.