The art of the brisket, as taught in Texas

  • By Jim Shahin Special to The Washington Post
  • Thursday, March 5, 2015 8:02pm
  • Life

A full room of guys — and just a half-dozen women — sit in a tiered classroom at Texas A&M University in College Station, awaiting the start of the day’s activities.

Jeff Savell strolls to the front of the room. “Most of you have mastered pulled pork by now,” says Savell, distinguished professor of animal science at A&M. “Most of you have not mastered brisket. That’s why you’re here.”

Indeed, Camp Brisket, an intensive two-day tutorial for barbecue fanatics, is like rock ‘n’ roll fantasy camp — except instead of guitarists and drummers, the instructors are pitmasters and meat scientists. Why devote all this attention to smoked beef brisket?

One word: Mystique.

Slow smoking breaks down collagen, or connective tissue, transforming the notoriously tough cut into a gelatinous hallelujah of beefy, buttery flavor. The smoke creates a crusty exterior that in barbecue parlance is called bark. And the combination of crunchy surface, soft and juicy interior, and meaty, smoky taste makes for a transcendent eating experience.

When it’s done right, that is. The pleasures of beautifully smoked brisket have taken it from a humble Texas-centric pleasure to the marquee meat on menus from New York to Los Angeles. Home cooks have jumped on the bandwagon, too — but they soon realize that the quest for brisket mastery is a deep rabbit hole of questions, folk wisdom and lore.

That’s why the third annual Camp Brisket sold out in less than five minutes, attracting lawyers, real estate agents, a guy whose wife gave him the weekend as a wedding gift and a chemist who does “advanced cholesterol training.” (He insists he wasn’t recruiting.) On this weekend in January, 60-some backyard hobbyists, professional competitors and restaurateurs have flocked to this small Texas town from all over the state — and from Ohio, Colorado, California, New York, Montreal, even Kazakhstan.

They’re here to improve their game, to land the white whale that is the perfect brisket. They hope to learn secrets imparted by barbecue’s high priests, such as Robb Walsh, the dean of Texas barbecue writers and author of “Legends of Texas Barbecue,” or Daniel Vaughn, Texas Monthly barbecue editor (yes, there is such a position).

Oh, and Aaron Franklin. The owner of tiny Franklin Barbecue restaurant, which regularly attracts two-hour lines of patrons waiting beneath a wilting Texas sun for a taste of what Bon Appetit called the best barbecue in America. He has a PBS show called “BBQ With Franklin” and a book scheduled for April release, “Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto.”

Franklin dons a white apron and blue gloves and approaches a table where an untrimmed raw brisket awaits his surgery. A genial guy who chats throughout his demonstration, Franklin slices the stiff fat, called “hard fat,” off the meat, then begins carefully whittling for well over a half-hour until he has trimmed the remaining fat to a roughly 1/8-inch coat that will melt through the meat as it cooks, tenderizing and flavoring it, and provide a surface for the chemical reaction that creates the bark. “You want to make the brisket aerodynamic,” Franklin says, to optimize both the outside bark and inside tenderness.

Two smoked briskets are brought in and laid on a table. Their fragrance fills the room. They were cooked the night before and have been resting for a couple of hours. “Resting a brisket for a long time is really important,” says Franklin, whose briskets at his restaurant stay in a warmer at 140 degrees for 2 to 3 hours after coming off the pit.

And so it goes throughout the two days. Minutiae and detail. How to build a fire. How to keep it steady. The specific flavors of different woods. The history of brisket. (Fun fact: Brisket wasn’t common, even in Texas, until the 1960s, when beef began being sold to stores by the cut rather than by the side, and when Lyndon B. Johnson’s pitmaster, Walter Jetton, promoted it as a “self-basting cut.”)

Campers ask, well, you name it. What percentage of moisture should be in the wood? (About 20.) Begin with cold or room-temperature meat? (Debatable, but consensus is cold to get the pink color around the perimeter called a smoke ring.) What is the ideal smokestack? (Long conversation follows about tapered chimneys, round vs. rectangular stacks, a balance of intake and exhaust, the restriction of air flow. “Redneck science,” Franklin calls pit design.) How much smoke should be used? (Depends on how smoky you like your brisket.)

Meals are taste tests. At one, campers blind-taste slices of brisket from different aluminum pans and score them as a test of different grades: Select, Certified Angus Beef, Choice, Prime and Wagyu. Not surprisingly, Prime and Wagyu tie for first, while Select places last. But in something of a stunner, the difference is minuscule, only a half-point separating the top score (6) from the bottom (5.5).

Another meal compares briskets cooked over different woods. At a third, there is a contest between foil-wrapped and unwrapped brisket. (I prefer the unwrapped because the slices have a meatier texture, but I like them both.)

As for this camper, although I’m an old salt at this, I learned that I, too, have a lot to learn. I’ll scour the new knowledge, trimming and resting and sweating the details, all in pursuit of nabbing that elusive white whale.

Texas smoked brisket

1 8-to-10-pound whole brisket, with fat cap

3 to 5 tablespoons kosher salt

3 to 5 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper

Notes: Whole briskets weigh between 6 and 15 pounds. In a smoker, plan on about 1 hour to 90 minutes per pound. In a grill, plan on 30 to 45 minutes per pound. … If you’re using a smoker, you’ll need one chimney-full of charcoal, or about 85 standard-size briquettes. Use oak for its mild flavor and slow burn. It is also fine to use a combination of hardwoods, such as oak, hickory and pecan.

Make ahead: The smoked brisket needs to rest for at least 1 hour and up to 3 hours before serving.

If you’re using a smoker, start a charcoal fire in the firebox.

If you’re using a charcoal grill, prepare the grill for indirect grilling: Light the charcoal in a chimney starter and let the briquettes burn until the flames subside and a light layer of ash covers the briquettes (about 20 to 25 minutes). Dump the lighted coals into 2 mounds (or, preferably, into 2 half-moon-shaped briquette baskets) on opposite sides of the grill. Place a drip pan between the piles of coals and fill it a quarter of way with water.

Trim the fat on the brisket to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. Season the brisket liberally with salt and pepper (to taste), so the meat is well coated and textured.

To cook in the smoker: When the coals turn ashen, open the chimney completely and add 2 split logs or 6 hardwood chunks. Let them burn for about 10 minutes or until they start to flame for a couple of minutes; close the firebox door. When the logs or hardwood chunks start smoldering and smoking, about another 10 minutes or so when the thermometer reads 225 degrees, set the brisket on the grate in the cooking chamber, as far from the fire as possible. Close the chamber door; close the chimney one-half to three-quarters of the way; adjust to maintain the temperature inside the smoker between 225 and 275 degrees. Add two logs or 6 hardwood chunks as needed after about 2 hours. Smoke between 1 hour and 90 minutes per pound (timing may depend on brisket thickness, weather conditions), making sure to keep the fire as steady as possible. If the fire gets too hot (325 degrees or higher), close the chimney completely until the temperature falls to about 250 degrees. If the fire falls below 225 degrees, add another log or two, and make sure it catches fire before you close the firebox.

To cook in the grill: When the grill is set up as directed above and the coals are ashen, place 2 or 3 hardwood chunks on the coals, place the grill rack in position and cover the grill. When the hardwood chunks start to smoke, place the brisket on the grill rack above the drip pan. Maintain the temperature inside the grill between 250 and 300 degrees. Cook for 30 to 45 minutes per pound; add charcoal and hardwood chunks as needed.

The brisket is done when a meat thermometer registers between 190 and 195 degrees when inserted into the thick end of the meat.

Lay a large piece of aluminum foil on a clean work surface. Transfer the brisket to the foil; wrap the meat in the foil. Place the wrapped brisket in a room-temperature cooler; cover with a couple of towels (for insulation). Let it rest for at least 1 hour, and up to 3 hours, before slicing against the grain.

Smoking tips from the pros

Little adjustments can take your brisket from terrific to transcendent. Here are some tips for helping you achieve sublimity, drawn from my own experience plus inside skinny passed along in lectures, panel discussions, interviews and hallway discussions at Camp Brisket.

Don’t inject. Neither Aaron Franklin nor fellow Texas pitmaster Wayne Mueller does. Look, a quadrillion Texans know what Lyndon B. Johnson’s pitmaster, Walter Jetton, knew: A brisket is “self-basting.”

Among the worst epithets a brisket can be called is “roast-beefy.” Injecting makes briskets roast-beefy. Concerned about it being succulent enough? Wrap your brisket in foil after about four hours. Even better: butcher paper, because, unlike foil, it breathes.

Keep it simple. “You don’t have to brine it,” says Mueller. “You don’t have to have this super-complex rub.” Brown sugar mates well with pork butt; cayenne is a nice touch on pork ribs. But the best pitmasters in central Texas use nothing more than kosher salt and cracked black pepper. The point is to not mask flavor, but to enhance it.

Coat the meat liberally to create a rough, thickish texture. Use equal parts salt and pepper for balance, or 60 percent of one or the other if you prefer a peppery or a saltier crust.

Know how to position it. Set the brisket on the cooking grate fat side up. You want the fat to melt through the meat to moisten and provide richness.

If cooking in an offset smoker, face the point toward the fire to achieve a better crust and avoid overcooking the flat.

Hold steady. Don’t go nuts trying to maintain a specific temperature. The primary goal is to avoid drastic fluctuations, so try to keep the temperature between 225 and 275 degrees throughout the cooking time.

If using a kettle grill, keep the bottom vents open about halfway and use the lid vents to help maintain temperature. If using an offset smoker, learn the hot and cold spots of your cooking chamber and move the brisket if needed. Mainly, though, keep the top on and resist the temptation to peek.

Keep an eye on it. “Don’t walk off and think the fire will take care of itself,” says pitmaster Franklin. “If you’re going to buy this expensive cut of meat, buy firewood, sit there for 10, 12, 15 hours, let it rest, invite people over, do all this stuff – I mean, that’s a serious commitment. Don’t you want to do a good job?”

Be patient. “It will be done when it’s ready,” says Franklin.

Give it a rest. You know how everybody tells you to rest a steak before cutting into it? Same thing with a brisket. Wrap it in foil after taking it off the grill and let it rest for at least an hour.

Contrary to popular belief, the pros don’t pull off their briskets and slice them when hot. They pull them off and place them in warmers set at 140 degrees for up to three hours. For you to achieve the same result, wrap in foil and cover with towels in a room-temperature cooler and hold for between two and three hours.

Know your brisket: A glossary of terms

Bark: The crusty exterior formed as a result of the Maillard reaction, browning that occurs when meat is roasted or seared.

Brisket: The superficial and deep pectoral muscles from the lower chest of the steer. It is part of the forequarter, or front of the animal.

Burnt ends: Chunks of bark. Once considered scraps, they became a coveted delicacy, first associated with Kansas City, Mo., and now found nationwide. They’re like brisket concentrate: flavor bombs of crunch, tenderness and fat.

Deckle: The fat and muscle attaching the flat to the rib cage. (Also, in common parlance, another term for the point.)

Fat cap: The thick layer of fat atop the brisket.

Fat layer: The line of interior fat that runs the length of the brisket and separates the superficial and deep pectoral muscles.

Flat: The brisket’s flatter, leaner end.

Packer’s cut: A whole brisket, including the point and flat, sold typically in vacuum packaging. Also known as Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications No. 120, a nomenclature system used by the USDA to standardize the descriptions of products.

Point: The thicker, pointy, fattier end.

Stall: The point while cooking a brisket when the internal temperature stops rising, usually around 160 degrees. It eventually will rise again, but it can take up to a couple of hours. Either be patient and let it happen, or be impatient and wrap the brisket in foil. Wrapping will hasten the process of getting past the stall, which will reduce your cooking time, but it may also lessen the crunchiness of the bark and impact the interior texture of the meat.

Texas crutch: The practice of wrapping brisket in foil on the smoker, generally after four to six hours. (It’s primarily done to assure a moist and juicy brisket, but critics deride it as a method used by pitmen not good enough to get a great product without it.)

Trimmed: A brisket whose fat has been whittled about 1/8 to 1/4 inch, so there’s enough to melt into the meat but enough to create bark.

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