Meaty Monday: Smoked Beef Brisket

My Sunday lunch. Sunday supper. And [hopefully] Monday supper.

Holy cow, my Sunday meals were out of this park. Brisket for lunch. Brisket for supper and I will probably have brisket for Monday supper.

I scored a beef brisket at Dillon’s on sale – it was originally $8.99/lb but I got it on sale for $5.97/lb so my total 3.4 pound brisket was $20. I’m pretty stoked about the sale on its own but add in the delicious factor of this meal and it’s a full on win!

The Ninja is the meat-smoker in the family. I prefer to stick to grilling, frying, baking, broiling but smoking is his major forte. He got a smoker for Christmas in 2013 and hadn’t gotten much use of it so it was time to fire that puppy up. But first, let’s take a selfie the marinade.

We got this recipe and marinade from the Backyard BBQ: The Art of Smokology cookbook. We used the In Your Mouth recipe, the Brisket Rub II, and the Spiced Brisket Mop. While this recipe is not as simple as many of the others I post, it was scrumptious and juicy and absolutely delectable. I am hoping to have it for supper on Monday night as well. Trust me, take the plunge and do it!

“In Your Mouth” Brisket p. 142
– 1 beef brisket (ours was 3.4 lbs but this recipe will work for a 6-8 lb brisket)
– Brisket Rub II
– Spiced Brisket Mop

Brisket Rub II p. 114
– 3 tbsp. kosher salt
– 3 tbsp. black pepper
– 2 tbsp. paprika
– 1 1/2 tbsp. dry mustard
– 1 tbsp. thyme
– 1 tbsp. celery seed
– 1 tbsp. onion powder
– 1 tbsp. garlic powder
– 1/2 tbsp. cayenne pepper
– 1 bay leaf

Spiced Brisket Mop p.190
– 3 cup beef stock
– 3/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
– 1/2 cup ketchup
– 1/2 cup lemon juice
– 2 tbsp. yellow mustard
– 1 tbsp. Asian chili paste
– 1 tbsp. chili powder
– 1 tsp. celery seed
– 2 tsp. seasoning salt
– 1 tsp. cumin
– 1 tsp. onion powder/salt

Combine the ingredients together in a nonreactive pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes and remove from heat to cool slight. When using as a mop, keep wamr. Heat flavor can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the chili paste.

Brisket prep instructions
Trim the brisket of any excess fat. Do not remove all the fat since it helps keep the brisket moist during cooking. Once the fat is trimmed, place the brisket in a large Ziploc bag or plastic container and pour Brisket Mop over the meat. Let marinate for six hours.

After the six hours is up, pat dry and put on the brisket rub. Rub well on both sides and then place brisket at room temp while your smoker comes to temperature.

Bring smoker to about 300 degrees. Place brisket in the smoker and smoke at 225F for 3 hours. Once the brisket has smoked for three hours and formed the bark, start to mop with the Spiced Brisket Mop. Mop the brisket every hour. Cook brisket until internal temp is 165F.* Wrap in foil and continue cooking until the internal temperature reaches 195F.*
 
*This part didn’t take as long for our three-lb brisket. Regardless of the size your brisket, monitor the temp throughout to make sure you are on track.
 

Look at the beautiful crust on this meat masterpiece!

The finished product, hot out of the smoker.

I did a poor job of taking photos during this whole process but all anyone cares about for recipe photos is what the end product looks like, right?! I even included a video of the Ninja cutting the brisket.