About this Dish
Texas barbecue's greatest achievement — a whole beef brisket smoked over post oak wood for 12-18 hours at low temperature until the tough collagen converts to gelatin and the meat becomes tender enough to pull apart. The bark — the dark, almost burnt exterior crust — is the most flavourful part. Franklin Barbecue in Austin has a queue that starts before dawn.
IngredientsServes 8
🥩Whole beef brisket (packer cut with flat and point), 5-6kg
🧂Coarse kosher salt, 4 tablespoons
🫙Coarse black pepper, 4 tablespoons
🧄Garlic powder, 1 tablespoon
🌶️Cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon
🪵Post oak or hickory wood chunks, about 6-8 large pieces
🍎Apple cider vinegar, 120ml (for spritzing)
💧Water, 120ml (mixed with vinegar for spritz)
Method
1
The night before, trim the brisket leaving a 6mm fat cap on top — this protects the meat during the long smoke. Mix the salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne together and coat the entire brisket generously on all sides, then leave it uncovered in the fridge overnight to dry brine.2
Set up your smoker or kettle grill for indirect cooking, targeting a steady temperature of 110-120°C (225-250°F). Add your wood chunks and let it run for 30 minutes until you have clean, thin blue smoke rather than thick white billowing smoke.3
Place the brisket fat-side up on the smoker, away from direct heat. Close the lid and resist the urge to peek too often — every hour, mix the apple cider vinegar and water in a spray bottle and lightly spritz the brisket to keep the surface moist and help build the bark.4
After about 6 hours you'll notice the 'stall' — the internal temperature gets stuck around 70-75°C and stops rising for hours. This is normal; the moisture evaporating from the meat is cooling it down. At this point, wrap the brisket tightly in two layers of unwaxed butcher paper (or foil if that's what you have) and return it to the smoker.5
Continue cooking until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the flat reads 93-96°C, and more importantly, the probe slides in with zero resistance — like pushing into soft butter. This typically takes 12-16 hours total, and feel is more important than temperature here.6
Remove the wrapped brisket and place it in a cooler lined with towels, or into a low oven at 70°C, and rest it for at least 1-2 hours — this step is non-negotiable and lets the juices redistribute back through the meat.7
Unwrap the brisket and admire that dark, peppery bark. Slice against the grain: the flat end into 6mm pencil-thick slices, and separate the point to cube it or pull it apart for the fattier, more gelatinous burnt ends. Serve immediately on butcher paper with white bread, pickles, and onion.User Reviews
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