Texas-Style Smoked Brisket
Texas-Style Smoked Brisket might be just the Jewish recipe you are searching for. This main course has 439 calories, 59g of protein, and 21g of fat per serving. This recipe covers 27% of your daily requirements of vitamins and minerals. This recipe serves 16. From preparation to the plate, this recipe takes approximately 45 minutes. It will be a hit at your Hanukkah event. Head to the store and pick up beef brisket, kosher salt, pepper), and a few other things to make it today. To use up the kosher salt you could follow this main course with the Low Fat Crumbs Cake (Kosher-Dairy) as a dessert. It is a good option if you're following a gluten free, dairy free, and primal diet.
Instructions
1 Order the brisket You'll have to special-order your brisket ahead of time (the brisket already sold at the meat counter is typically not whole). You should be able to do this at almost any butcher shop or at a grocery store meat counter. Ask for a brisket that is as evenly thick as possible, with the surrounding fat trimmed to 1/4" thick (this protects the meat from drying out while cooking).
2 Season the meat An hour before preparing the grill, place brisket on a rimmed baking sheet.
Mix salt and pepper in a small bowl and season the meat all over (it should look like sand stuck to wet skin but without being cakey).
Let meat sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
3 Prepare your grill Meanwhile, soak 6 cups wood chips in a bowl of water for at least 30 minutes or overnight. Leave in water throughout the cooking process. Keep remaining 2 cups chips dry. Light only 1 grill burner to medium (if using a 3-burner grill, light burner on either end). Make sure drip tray is empty, as a lot of fat will render.
Place smoker box over the lit burner, add 1/2 cup soaked wood chips to box, and close grill. Adjust heat as needed to keep temperature at 225-250°F. We recommend using a stand-alone thermometer, even if your grill has one, to ensure an accurate reading. Stick it through the gap between the lid and base of the grill (or set it on the grill's upper shelf, though this is not ideal, as it requires opening the lid more frequently). The wood chips should begin to smolder and release a steady stream of smoke. How long this takes depends on how wet your chips are and the heat of your grill. To get more smoke without increasing grill heat, add a few dry chips to the soaked ones.
Place brisket, fatty side up, on grill grate as far away from lit burner as possible. Cover grill and smoke meat, resisting the urge to open grill often, as this will cause the temperature to fluctuate. Adjust heat as needed to keep temperature steady at 225-250°F. Check wood chips every 45 minutes or so, and add soaked chips by 1/2-cupfuls as needed to keep smoke level constant.
5 Know when it's done Keep smoking the brisket, rotating every 3 hours and flipping as needed if top or bottom is coloring faster than the other, until meat is very tender but not falling apart and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of meat registers 195-205°F, 10-12 hours total.*
*Need a cheat? If you just don't want to spend your whole day at the grill, here's a fail-safe, Aaron Franklin- endorsed alternate method that will deliver similarly glorious results: Smoke brisket on grill until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of meat registers 150-170°F, 5-6 hours. Wrap brisket in foil, place on a baking sheet, and cook in a 250°F oven until meat reaches the same 195-205°F internal temperature, 4-6 hours longer. What's important is getting that smoky flavor into the meat, and 5-6 hours on the grill should do it. After that point, you're simply getting the meat cooked through.
DO AHEAD: Brisket is best shortly off the grill, but you can still get good results smoking it up to 3 days ahead.
Let cool for an hour before wrapping in foil and chilling. To serve, reheat meat, still wrapped, in a 325°F oven until warmed through.
Transfer brisket to a carving board and let rest at least 30 minutes. Slice brisket against the grain 1/4" thick.
Serve it with: Coleslaw, potato salad, and pinto beans.