Smoked Brisket

What was I thinking, cooking BBQ on Friday the 13th. No worries here, as someone who was born on a Friday the 13th, I consider it especially lucky. So I launched in to an all day cook.

Lately my briskets have been good enough that I almost think I know how to cook them. This time I did three for friends and us. One friend wanted a whole brisket. Another friend wanted a whole one done as burnt ends and the third one was split between another friend and me. I’ve been using 8-9 pound choice packers from Sam’s Club and have been really pleased with them. I trimmed them up the evening before and on cook day, I pulled them out of the fridge an hour or so before cooking and gave them a light coating with Worcestershire then a nice coating of Billy Bones Beefmaster. Here’s a pic of one of them rubbed and ready for the smoker.


I was cooking several things and so I ran the smoker at 250 F all day. For the two regular briskets, I cooked to 170 internal, wrapped in foil and cooked to about 195, then unwrapped and cooked until a meat probe slid in without resistance (about 205 internal). The last hour re-established a nice bark. This is the pre-wrap look.


The finished whole brisket.


I’d never done an entire brisket as burnt ends, but have a friend who absolutely loves them and wanted one that way. I cooked it to 180 internal, then removed, cut into a one inch or so dice , tossed in a pan in Tennessee River BBQ sauce, then back on the smoker until tender. As expected, they were a little dryer than those made from just the brisket point – but still tasty. Here's the brisket with the first couple of pieces cut off.


A little closer look - this had the makings of a fine brisket.


In the bowl being tossed with the sauce.


On the pan and into the smoker - forgot the finished pics but they looked similar to these, just darker.


Over in Kingston, Tn, John Colyer and his wife make a unique BBQ sauce - maybe more acurately described as a food sauce as John puts it on salad. It comes in Regular, Spicy, Cranberry Delight, and Blackberry (also spicy) and has won many awards including some at the National Barbecue Festival (Best Of The Best), in Douglas, Ga. I use it primarily as a BBQ sauce and as a rib glaze. The Cranberry Delight goes especially well with the Billy Bones XXX Cherry in my rub.


That’s it for the brisket, tune in tomorrow for the pork. Have a great day and GO VOLS.