Brisket Confidential

Texas born and bred, ROBIN PERRIS is a third generation pitmaster from Taylor, now living in England with her family in Cumbria, running the Kendal smokehouse and restaurant Pappy’s Texas BBQ. Don’t tell her ancestors, but she has exclusively revealed all her brisket secrets – well, nearly all.

At Pappy’s Texas BBQ we cook in an offset smoker. The more robust and insulated the pit, the more constant the temperature and the better the smoke. Our Texas brisket is always smoked with oak logs, with oak easy to manage as it burns consistently for a long time and can be used in most food smokers – perfect for that authentic Texas low ‘n’ slow burn and smoky flavour.

We use grain fed, Black Angus USDA beef, well-known for its marbling. The fat in this breed is distributed thinly and evenly throughout the meat, leading to a consistent, buttery flavour, juicy with a velvety texture.

THE TRIM

While the meat is still cold, use a really sharp knife to trim down your brisket. I use a good quality, flexible blade, boning knife to get that perfect cut. Butchers tend to give you a big piece of meat, almost like a sheet, that then needs to be trimmed down into an aerodynamic shape.

• Trim down to leave a quarter to a half inch of fat cap top

• Slice off the deckle. This will curl and burn during the smoke

• Optional – cut out some of the middle fat that won’t render down fully if it’s too thick.

• Trim the point – the moist end of the brisket – nice and round so the meat is as aerodynamic as possible.

• Trim the flat so that the end is a similar thickness – not thick meat on one end and thin on the other. If you understand the shape of a packer brisket you can feel the actual joint to the end of the point. This is your cutting line.

• Now on to the bottom of the brisket. Cut out the hard fat piece which Texans call the toe. You can feel that this small deep piece of fat is rock hard and will not render. Don’t leave it in. Don’t be afraid to dig your knife deep to remove it. I usually cut a V-shape and carve it out.

• I tend to leave thin layers of fat on the bottom and remove the silver skin with the point of the boning knife.

THE FIRE

Now it’s time to let your brisket get to room temperature before seasoning and putting on the pit. We simply use kindling and some greasy butcher paper to get the fire started. You can start off with a charcoal base, if you want, but do ensure you have a good hot bed to begin and stack your logs with space for air to circulate all around.

The fire master’s job is just as important as the pitmaster. Maintaining a constant temp of 107°C/225°F throughout the smoke. Prime the pit and I like to run it at about 149°C/300°F for an hour before any meat goes on. Then bring the temperature down slowly to maintain 107°C/225°F.

The larger the pit, the longer to warm up and dry it out; the smaller, the less time. My large pit needs no water pan as it has a good moisture level due to our 1880 Old Smokehouse setting in Kendal.

Know your hot spots – every pitmaster must know their pit, where the heat is the coolest and hottest. This will take trial, error and experience. Whether you have a reverse air smoker or not, your hot spots will usually be located nearest the fire and nearest the first smoke inlet.

THE SPICE

This is my Texas secret, but it does involve salt, pepper, oak smoke and love. Use about 60% good quality cracked pepper to 40% kosher flaked sea salt. Dive your room temperature brisket deep into your rub on all sides. Be sure to avoid filling the middle fat cut out to avoid a pepper pocket.

LOVE AND PATIENCE

Now your briskets are ready to go in the pit. With a preheat dry pit to 107°C/225°F, place your brisket fat side up, point (big side) towards your hotspot, protecting the lean end. Make sure your pit probes are not touching your meat and you have good airflow around the probe to watch your pit temperature. 

Close the lid, and remember, if you’re looking, you’re not cooking. Provided you don’t have a huge hotspot on your pit to worry about, leave your brisket alone and keep your fire at a steady 107°C/225°F.

If you fill the pit with cool meat, your pit temperature will go down, but don’t be tempted to fill the fire box with fresh wood, as you don’t want your brisket to touch any potential dirty smoke in the first 30 minutes. Keep your fire to a clear burn, feeding the fire little and often throughout the smoke.

THE BARK

Working on a one hour per pound of brisket cooking time, at the halfway point your brisket should start to have a good crusty dark bark on the outside and possibly a small split on the top.

THE WRAP

When you reach an internal temp of 68°C/155°F – 74°C/165°F and have a good bark, you are ready to wrap your brisket with butcher’s peach paper and get it back on the pit (fat side up).

THE FEEL AND PROBE

Your brisket may be cooked at 88°C/190°F plus internal temperature and tender, but you will know perfection when it feels like butter as you insert the probe into it. This is the sweet spot and it’s how you’ll know when it’s time to come off the pit.

CUTTING

Never cut into a hot brisket. If you can, let it rest for a couple of hours wrapped in the butcher’s peach paper on a tray to soak up all those delicious brisket juices. When you do slice it, be sure to cut against the grain.

There is a saying in BBQ you may have heard before. A good pitmaster will tell  you all their methods but it’s the love, dedication, the gear and experience that make it successful. 

Happy smokin’ y’all.