[0:00] it's a step-by-step video on how to
[0:01] smoke brisket for beginners so let's get
[0:04] smoking okay it's the night before
[0:06] you're going to smoke your brisket let's
[0:07] call it friday so grab your favorite
[0:09] beer open it and have it on standby
[0:11] because trimming is step one get
[0:13] yourself a full packers cut brisket
[0:16] between 10 and 15 pounds the best
[0:19] quality you can afford you'll notice one
[0:21] side has a lot of fat on it that's
[0:23] called the fat cap start by slicing it
[0:26] down layer by layer until it's only
[0:28] about a quarter inch thick you'll need a
[0:30] sharp knife for this now you may think
[0:32] it's strange to carve off all that fat
[0:35] you just paid good money for but there's
[0:36] a good reason for it first we want the
[0:39] fat cap thin so it properly renders and
[0:42] it's nice and soft and juicy when you
[0:44] bite into it
[0:45] second most people don't like a huge
[0:47] strip of fat on their brisket slices and
[0:50] they end up peeling it off if it's too
[0:52] thick so we don't want our guests or our
[0:54] family to have to make that decision now
[0:56] while i'm trimming this fat cap down let
[0:58] me tell you why i'm smoking this brisket
[1:00] because i'm not making it for myself
[1:02] i've been thinking about asking to
[1:04] borrow my neighbor's weber smoky
[1:05] mountain for a long time now i've never
[1:08] used one before and i've heard it's
[1:09] great for set and forget smoking which
[1:12] i'm all about right now because as a new
[1:13] dad i just don't have a lot of time and
[1:16] i finally got the perfect opportunity to
[1:18] ask him because he just asked me to
[1:20] smoke this brisket for him so the plan
[1:23] is to smoke this awesome brisket for him
[1:25] and then i'll ask him to borrow his
[1:27] weber smoky mountain the perfect plan
[1:30] now moving on slice the hard fat off one
[1:32] side of the brisket this stuff doesn't
[1:34] render down at all so you won't want to
[1:37] eat it but make sure you save it because
[1:39] we're going to use it in the next step
[1:42] now i slice the corners off the flat
[1:44] side of the brisket if i don't they'll
[1:46] get really crunchy and dry and we don't
[1:48] want that we want everything to be
[1:50] tender and juicy
[1:52] when you're done with that flip the
[1:54] brisket over and slice off the hard fat
[1:57] on the other side of the brisket again
[1:59] you won't want to eat this stuff so get
[2:01] rid of as much as you can while still
[2:03] retaining the general shape of the
[2:04] brisket you don't need to carve so deep
[2:07] that there's a big crevasse in the
[2:09] brisket if there's a little hard fat
[2:10] left over that's fine you can just carve
[2:13] it off when the brisket's done and you
[2:14] slice it to serve it now moving on to
[2:17] the back side of the flat you'll notice
[2:18] there's fat and a translucent bluish
[2:21] film called silver skin that stuff
[2:24] doesn't render off so we want to slice
[2:26] it off just poke your knife under the
[2:28] silver skin and try to slice it off
[2:30] without taking too much of the
[2:31] underlying meat with it you don't have
[2:33] to get it all off just most of it now
[2:35] you're done trimming and you're left
[2:36] over with a bunch of fat do you throw it
[2:38] out no way we're gonna keep it and we're
[2:40] gonna render it down into tallow so step
[2:42] two is to render down your tallow place
[2:45] your fat trimmings in a slow cooker and
[2:47] just let it slow cook for the whole day
[2:49] stirring it occasionally eventually
[2:52] it'll render down into liquid fat that
[2:54] you can strain into a container we're
[2:56] going to use the tallow when we wrap
[2:58] this brisket later on and it'll make it
[3:00] super tasty and juicy now while that
[3:01] tallow is rendering we're moving on to
[3:03] step three
[3:04] rubbing your brisket i like to just use
[3:06] a really simple rub of 5050 kosher salt
[3:09] and coarse grain black pepper i shake it
[3:11] onto the back side of the brisket then i
[3:13] flip it over and i do the top sides and
[3:15] the edges then i flip it over again and
[3:18] i give it another coating and then a
[3:20] final coating on the top side now i'm
[3:23] going to let it sit for at least 30
[3:25] minutes so that salt can penetrate and
[3:27] season the brisket you can even do this
[3:29] the night before so all you have to do
[3:31] the next day is wake up and throw the
[3:32] brisket on the smoker okay it's saturday
[3:34] and it's time to get excited because
[3:36] it's time to smoke the brisket that's
[3:38] why we're all here now prepare to drink
[3:40] from the fire hose of knowledge because
[3:41] we're going to talk about time and
[3:42] temperature now but don't think you have
[3:44] to retain it all i'm still gonna cover
[3:46] everything later in this video step by
[3:48] step now you can set your smoker
[3:49] temperature between 225 degrees
[3:51] fahrenheit and 300 degrees fahrenheit it
[3:53] doesn't matter as long as you're in that
[3:55] zone you're fine there are two
[3:57] exceptions the first one is if you're
[3:59] smoking on a pellet smoker you always
[4:01] want to go fat side down to protect the
[4:03] rest of the brisket from the radiant
[4:05] heat coming off of that deflector plate
[4:07] and the burn pot and you want to be
[4:09] below or at 225 degrees fahrenheit you
[4:12] don't want to go much higher than that
[4:14] because again that deflector plate can
[4:16] get really hot gives off radiant heat
[4:18] and it can actually cook the brisket
[4:20] really fast and it can burn it if you're
[4:22] not careful and two if you're cooking on
[4:24] an electric smoker then make sure every
[4:25] few hours you're cracking the door open
[4:28] to let that steam out because if too
[4:29] much steam builds up then it can ruin
[4:31] the bark and cook your brisket way too
[4:33] quickly now whatever temperature you
[4:35] choose the cook is gonna take about 14
[4:37] hours to complete that means six to ten
[4:40] hours of smoking it about two hours
[4:42] after you wrap it and up to two hours of
[4:44] resting so if you wanna serve your
[4:46] brisket for dinner on saturday then that
[4:48] means you're getting up at around four
[4:50] a.m on saturday morning if you're not
[4:53] into that i definitely am not into that
[4:55] i wake up around 8am on saturday so i
[4:57] have a decent sleep i get up i casually
[5:00] cook my brisket all day have a couple
[5:02] beers enjoy it and then i finish
[5:04] sometime late at night before midnight
[5:07] usually and then i just pop it in the
[5:09] fridge i take it out the next day on
[5:10] sunday reheat it for a couple hours and
[5:13] then i just have it for sunday lunch or
[5:15] dinner that's pretty much how i cook all
[5:17] my briskets these days okay make sense
[5:19] probably not but we're gonna cover
[5:20] everything step by step later in this
[5:22] video so don't worry about it i'll cover
[5:24] it all now we're still on step four
[5:26] smoking so i'm putting my brisket on the
[5:28] smoker and i'm maintaining temperatures
[5:30] between 250 and 300. every few hours i'm
[5:34] opening the smoker and spritzing the
[5:36] edges of the brisket to keep them from
[5:38] drying out you'll probably run into
[5:40] issues during this portion of the cook
[5:42] in my case i had to look after my son
[5:44] for most of the day so it was
[5:46] challenging to run to the smoker every
[5:47] 15 minutes to add a split of wood and
[5:49] also look after my son
[5:51] luckily i had an extra baby monitor in
[5:53] the nursery so i installed that next to
[5:55] the smoker that way i could wash the
[5:57] smoker while i was looking after my son
[6:00] and watch my son while i was looking
[6:01] after the smoker
[6:03] now i'm going to keep smoking the
[6:05] brisket like this for six to ten hours
[6:07] until i see four things one the brisket
[6:11] has reached a temperature of 165 to 180
[6:14] internal two there was a bunch of
[6:16] moisture pooling on top of the brisket
[6:18] but now there's not so much anymore that
[6:20] means it's dumped its excess moisture
[6:23] and coming out of what's called the
[6:24] stall
[6:25] three the brisket has a nice dark bark
[6:28] if you're burning charcoal or wood it
[6:30] would be really dark like this if you're
[6:32] using a pellet smoker it might just be a
[6:34] kind of mahogany red because pellet
[6:37] smokers burn really clean without a ton
[6:38] of smoke and that's fine and finally
[6:40] when you scrape your finger along the
[6:42] bark of the brisket it shouldn't come
[6:44] off easily that means the bark is set
[6:46] and you're ready to move to the next
[6:48] step step five is to pull your family
[6:50] into the backyard and mansplain about
[6:52] everything you're doing be sure to make
[6:54] it all really complicated and let a
[6:56] family member do something like spritz
[6:58] the brisket or throw a split on the fire
[7:00] so they feel like they're doing
[7:01] something this will elevate you in the
[7:03] eyes of your family and give them the
[7:05] impression that what you're doing is
[7:06] quasi-magical and they could never
[7:08] replicate it now once everyone is
[7:10] gathered around the smoker you want to
[7:12] take it off the smoker and tell them
[7:14] you're getting ready to wrap it and then
[7:16] pray to barbecue jesus because we're
[7:18] about to wrap our brisket and this is a
[7:20] super important part of the cooking
[7:22] process now for step six we're wrapping
[7:24] our brisket place the brisket on a sheet
[7:27] of butcher's paper now take that tallow
[7:30] you prepared and spread it over the
[7:31] paper so it soaks in and then pour some
[7:34] on top of the brisket as well the tallow
[7:37] is doing a couple things it's soaking
[7:39] the butcher paper in fat so it seals in
[7:42] the moisture it's adding flavor fat is
[7:45] flavor and it's adding moisture without
[7:47] dissolving the bark you can also skip
[7:50] the tallow if you want to you can even
[7:51] wrap it in foil but then you won't get
[7:54] that really crispy sugar cookie bark
[7:56] once the bark is wrapped up tight put it
[7:58] in an aluminum pan or on a deep tray
[8:01] with some foil to hold the drippings in
[8:03] then we're moving on to the next step
[8:04] for step seven the brisket goes into the
[8:07] oven on the middle rack that's right
[8:09] we're using the oven the brisket isn't
[8:11] gonna absorb any more smoke being on the
[8:13] smoker so you don't have to waste your
[8:14] charcoal or your wood splits on your
[8:16] smoker anymore just pop it in the oven
[8:19] and that's how we're gonna finish it off
[8:20] i'm setting my oven to 300 degrees
[8:22] fahrenheit it's in non-convection mode
[8:25] the brisket can take a higher heat at
[8:27] this point because it's protected by
[8:29] that butcher's paper so don't worry too
[8:31] much about burning it or overcooking it
[8:33] this step is going to take between about
[8:36] an hour and a half to three hours so
[8:38] after about an hour and a half we'll
[8:40] move on to step eight step eight is the
[8:43] most important step because we need to
[8:45] do our tests to make sure that the
[8:47] brisket is finished properly a perfect
[8:49] brisket is cooked enough so that it's
[8:52] tender and pulls apart easily but not so
[8:54] cooked that it's dry and crumbly so how
[8:57] do we know when we get it to exactly
[8:59] that point well there's three tests you
[9:02] start doing these tests around an hour
[9:04] and a half after the brisket is wrapped
[9:06] and you keep doing them every 30 minutes
[9:08] until you pass all of the tests
[9:10] test one the brisket should be at least
[9:13] 203 degrees fahrenheit internally you
[9:16] can use an instant read or probe
[9:18] thermometer to monitor this we want that
[9:20] temperature high enough so it can render
[9:22] the connective tissue in the meat
[9:24] otherwise it's going to be tough test
[9:26] two the probe test just because it's 203
[9:29] degrees fahrenheit doesn't mean it's
[9:30] done you need to probe into the thickest
[9:32] part of the flat in the middle of the
[9:34] brisket and make sure it probes tender
[9:36] like butter if you pull your probe out
[9:39] and it gets a lot of resistance and by
[9:41] that i mean it drags the brisket with it
[9:43] as you pull it out then it's not done it
[9:45] should slide in easily and slide out
[9:47] easily as if you were probing a stick of
[9:50] room temperature butter test three is
[9:52] the feel test you'll need cotton gloves
[9:54] underneath waterproof rubber or nitrile
[9:56] gloves for this you should be able to
[9:58] pick up the brisket and it should bend
[10:00] in on itself easily and it feels really
[10:03] floppy like jello if it's stiff keep on
[10:05] cooking once your brisket passes all
[10:07] three finishing tests remove it from the
[10:09] oven and place it on the counter for two
[10:11] hours to rest it needs this time to come
[10:13] down in temperature and reabsorb some of
[10:15] the moisture before you slice into it i
[10:17] like to wait until it comes down to
[10:19] about 150 internal before slicing now if
[10:22] you're three to five hours away from
[10:24] dinner time when you need to serve your
[10:26] brisket and the brisket is done you can
[10:28] put it into a cooler and that will keep
[10:30] warm and food safe for up to five hours
[10:34] just make sure before you put it in the
[10:36] cooler after you take it out of the oven
[10:37] you open up the butcher's paper or the
[10:40] foil whatever you wrapped it in and you
[10:42] let the steam vent out for about 15
[10:45] minutes otherwise
[10:46] when you put that brisket into the
[10:48] cooler right after you take it out of
[10:49] the oven it could continue to cook and
[10:51] it will overcook and if you're like me
[10:53] and you don't eat your brisket until the
[10:55] next day then just pop it right in the
[10:57] fridge i don't even leave it out on the
[10:59] counter or anything i just take it right
[11:01] out of the oven and i put it right into
[11:03] the fridge in the aluminum tray with the
[11:05] butcher's paper i don't touch it at all
[11:07] and then the next day i take it out of
[11:09] the fridge pop it in the oven at about
[11:12] 250 300 degrees fahrenheit leave it in
[11:14] there for about four hours until the
[11:16] internal temperature comes up to
[11:18] around 165 degrees fahrenheit and
[11:21] finally step 10 slice your brisket
[11:23] against the grain in quarter inch slices
[11:26] and serve it up to your family or in my
[11:28] case my neighbor
[11:35] [Music]
[11:42] [Music]
[11:44] so in this case i got to serve up my
[11:46] brisket to my neighbor and he loved it
[11:48] his family loved it and i actually got
[11:50] the opportunity to ask him if i could
[11:52] borrow his weber smokey mountain and he
[11:54] let me so i was really happy
[11:56] because i'm going to be able to do a
[11:58] video on uh the weber smoky mountain now
[12:01] and i'll be posting that in the next few
[12:03] months for you guys and if you end up
[12:05] screwing up your brisket then watch this
[12:06] video on a hundred brisket mistakes that
[12:09] you probably made and also join my
[12:12] patreon i'll link that in the
[12:13] description section below you can ask me
[12:15] any questions you want get access to a
[12:16] private discord channel and i'll give
[12:18] you all the tips you need to nail your
[12:20] next brisket all right guys happy
[12:22] smoking