First Brisket On the RecTec

I’d had a Choice Angus brisket in the fridge for a little while and have been looking forward to cooking it on my nearly year-old RecTec Smoker and it was now time.  At 18 pounds, this thing must have come from an elephant steer and it is the biggest one I’ve ever cooked.  I used Chris Lilly’s recipe from the Kingsford University as found on the “Grill Girl” blog.  I followed the ingredients list but I amended the directions quite a bit - the original recipe can be by clicking on the above link. 

Chris Lilly Brisket – Amended from Kingsford University

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon beef bullion base (I use better than bullion)

2 cups beef broth

Dry Rub Recipe:

2 T salt

2 T paprika

2 T black pepper

2 T sugar

2 t garlic powder

2 t onion powder

1 t oregano

1/2 t ground coriander

Directions:

For trimming, I removed all but about 1/8 inch of the fat cap on the bottom side, nearly all of it from the top side, and much of the fat between the flat and the deckle so I ended up removing 3½ lbs of $5.23/lb fat.

Cover the entire brisket with the beef bullion base.

In a small bowl, mix the dry rub ingredients and coat the brisket with the dry rub, wrap in plastic and let it sit in the fridge overnight.  It’s sitting on a 12”x17” jelly roll pan to give an idea of its size.

Cook the brisket at 250F to an internal temperature of 170 degrees (5:30pm)

Remove the brisket from the smoker rack and place in a pan.

Pour the beef broth over the brisket and cover the pan with aluminum foil.

From this point on, the brisket is just being braised so no need to leave it in the smoker and waste the pellets so I moved it into the oven at 300F to finish cooking.

Cook until the internal temp of the brisket reaches 185 degrees, turn off the oven and let the temp go up to 200F.  When serving, slice the brisket across from the grain. Sorry about the blurry pic.

I separated the point and the deckle at this point and let the two pieces of meat spend the night in the juices with the bark side down.

The Verdict:

It ended up not getting done until 7:30pm but it was worth the wait as it turned out very well, moist, tender and great taste.  Bev said it was the best I’ve ever made and likely the best brisket she had ever eaten - WOW, quite the compliment and I look forward to eating the remainder of it over the next few days.  I was concerned about the amount of smoke from the pellet smoker would be too low but judging from the beautiful smoke ring and the taste, it was about perfect.  Next time, I will put it on around 11pm on 200F and let it cook all night then adjust the heat as needed to get done when I want it.

Photos can be slightly enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

10/25/25 event date