Brisket in 5.5 hours Texas Style!

[gregbooras]

For years I have been smoking briskets low and slow and they always turned out great. But after traveling through Texas a couple of years ago I discovered there was another way. I had the chance to visit with some of the pit masters and the one that of the best best brisket I had was from John Mueller. John comes from a very famous BBQ family in Texas and many of the great pit masters have worked for the Muellers at one time, including Franklin. Anyways, John does his brisket at temps up to 270 degrees. Blacks BBQ does their briskets at 375 degrees!

Anyways, I have finally settled on 265 degrees for my briskets. For the brisket after trying some of the high end mail order, my brisket of choice is a Prime Brisket from Costco. Cost is around $40-50 for a 11-14lb cut. The Prime is such a good cut of meat I no longer brine the brisket or inject.

Brisket
11 lb. prime brisket from Costco

Wood:
5.5 oz. Pecan

Quick Tender:
Apply and allow to sit for 30 minutes, rinse well and then pat dry & apply rub

Rub:
3 T Pickle Juice/3 T Yellow Mustard
Rub 7 Parts Black Pepper, 3 Parts Kosher Salt, 3 Parts Lawry’s, 1 Part Garlic

Directions:

Apply yellow mustard and then the rub, place in refrigerator overnight

Place in smoker at 265 degrees with the fat side down.

Once it hits 200-202 degrees test to make sure it is tender, remove from smoker. Place the brisket in pan covered with foil (add 1-2 cup Au Jus) place back in the smoker at 160 degrees, until dinner time. Note held in smoker for 4 hours at 160 degrees.

* Took 5.5 hours to come up to 202 degrees, excellent brisket.
Give it a try I think you will enjoy the results.
Best Greg

 

[old sarge]

Greg - Sounds like a great hurry up and get it done" meal.  Thanks!

 

[gregbooras]

Greg - Sounds like a great hurry up and get it done" meal.  Thanks!

Hey David,
It's nice to put the brisket on in the morning and it done for dinner. This way I do not need a flashlight to make sure everything is ready to go
Best Greg

 

[1stlink]

Looks good Greg.  Is this style your new default smoke or is it only for when you need to rush?
given that a quality brisket runs around $50 would you continue the Texas style smoke or revert to low and slow, time permitting?

 

[gregbooras]

Looks good Greg.  Is this style your new default smoke or is it only for when you need to rush?
given that a quality brisket runs around $50 would you continue the Texas style smoke or revert to low and slow, time permitting?

Ralph,
For brisket this is pretty much all I do now (I use prime briskets from Costco). I am really happy with the results and I no longer have to use a flash light to put my brisket in the smoker!
Best Greg

 

[JustChillin]

Greg, I have not tried the high temp/quick method yet but I am definitely a believer in adding the Au Jus to the foiled brisket prior to resting.

 

[1stlink]

OK thank you for the reply and recipe. I love brisket but haven’t smoked one yet as The better half does not eat red meat.  Vac packing & freezing works but it’s a lot for one person.  I suppose that someday I’ll cave and when I do I’ll revert to your recipe. 
Thanks again

 

[EFGM]

No need to fear giving Greg's method a try. You will not be wasting the $50.00 for sure. As many read some time back in my long post, I too used to do mine at 275. They will come out great with a lot less smoke time.
And the great thing about that vacuum packing is that they will keep a long long time and are excellent for a quick fix of goodness!

 

[1stlink]

Thanks for the encouragement Doug. We were just at Costco and they now have choice flats about 6 lbs. very tempting but I would rather get a prime cut if possible.
I’m assuming that the same smoke temp would work on a flat, correct?

 

[EFGM]

Same temp will work. I have cut many packers in half and done the flat and point separate. Don't do that any longer but there is no reason why it will not work. I have more real estate than many so I just do them whole.
BUT, if you check the price on just the flats you will see that the price per pound is very high so you might as well by a whole packer. My memory tells me it's up to $3 a pound higher. They recover their timing and packaging cost I guess. A entire packer seems expensive but if you vacuum pack them and divide the total servings into the total price it puts it in perspective. The way I package them I get about 30-40 servings out of a 15#er.

 

[1stlink]

$6.29 lb for flats but that’s all they had. I’m in no rush so I’ll keep aneye out for a packer.

 

[kayakingphotog]

Hey Greg, I decided to emulate your Brisket in 5.5 hours Texas Style for my first brisket.  I initially purchased a 3D last year to smoke salmon and the occasional pork ribs and just had to try smoking a brisket:

Brisket
10 lb. prime brisket from HEB

Wood:
6.5 oz. Pecan and 1 oz. Cherry Wood

Quick Tender:  Could not find locally so did not use.

Rub:
3 T Pickle Juice/3 T Yellow Mustard

John Lewis’ Brisket Rub
Makes about 1 cup. It takes about 1/2 cup to season a 12-pound brisket.
• 1/2 Cup freshly ground black pepper
• 3 Tbsp. Seasoned salt like Lawry's Seasoned Salt
• 3 Tbsp. Kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp. Granulated garlic


Directions:

Apply yellow mustard and then the rub, place in refrigerator overnight

Place in smoker at 265 degrees with the fat side down.

Once it hits 201 degrees test to make sure it is tender, PID was set for the temp to drop to 160º after that.

* Took 9 hours to come up to 201 degrees. Smoker was set to drop to 160º. Removed from smoker, wrapped it and placed in cooler to let it rest after 30 minutes.  Total time in smoker was 10 hours.  Started at 7:30am.  Finished at 5:30 PM.

PID controller settings:

C01 265º  E01 F  F01 201º

C02 160º  E02 t  t02 4

My BBQ sauce was a recipe from Franklins (he comes into my restaurant occasionally.  Great guy).  I have to say though that the brisket was so good I barely touched the sauce! I am surrounded by some of the best BBQ joints in Texas and am pleased to think I have no need to venture beyond my humble abode to eat good brisket!  I am now totally sold on the Smokin-It smoker.  Whoo Hoo.

 

[1stlink]

Looking good David.. and I'm l luvin Kayaking too...

 

[Lonzinomaker]

Question: Is Quick Tender the same as Morton's Tender Quick?

 

[gregbooras]

Question: Is Quick Tender the same as Morton's Tender Quick?

Yes Morton's is the same!
Best Greg

 

[jpowell]

@greg do you use a water pan?

 

[gregbooras]

@greg do you use a water pan?

Happy New Year!
Yes use a water pan!
Best Greg