Texas – Known For Its World Famous Brisket

Karen Ekstrom

4 years ago

This is it!

David Ekstrom’s Brisket.

The Greatest Texas Ranch Recipe Ever!

This recipe looks long and complicated, but I’ve included every detail I can think of. (It’s really pretty simple.)

Buying The Brisket
Get a whole beef brisket, don’t buy the market trimmed. The trimmed are leaner but less fat means a less flavorful finished product.
Take the brisket and try to fold it in half. It should bend to a ninety degree angle or less. That tells you the meat has the right fat content.
Unlike most things in Texas, the size doesn’t really matter. I usually smoke a 10-15 lb brisket.

The Smoker
I use a smoker with the fire chamber separate from the cooking chamber. I build the fire with charcoal to get things started. I measure the temperature with a digital thermometer placed near the chimney of the smoker, furthest from the fire. When that temperature gets to 275 – 300, I add two or three small mesquite logs (or big chunks) on top of the coals and put the brisket on. The mesquite will smoke a lot at first, and get that flavor into the meat.

Preparing The Brisket
I’m a purist. I season with garlic salt, lemon pepper, and fresh pepper. I don’t use a rub. Go light on the garlic salt, that can dry the meat out. Season both sides. Cook with the fat side up.

Cooking
When the temperature gets to 275-300, put the brisket on, thicker end angled slightly towards the fire. You can shift the position a time or two while it’s cooking.

Once you put the brisket on, leave it alone. Check the temperature every half hour to hour, but do not open the cooking chamber.

Open the fire chamber only to add mesquite. Use the fire vent and the chimney damper to maintain the temperature between 250 and 300. Don’t worry if the temperature gets out of that range, it’s no big deal. Just try and bring it back into range.

Cook for about 4 hours on the smoker, longer if you can keep the temperature right.

Put the brisket into a pan about 3 inches deep, and pour a beer over it. I like corona or shiner bock. The beer choice will give a slightly different flavor, pick a beer you like. Add 12 oz of beer, and another half bottle (6 oz) of water.

Cover the pan with foil, and crimp the foil to the top. Put the brisket in the oven, at 225-250. If your smoker temperature stayed above 275, use 225 in the oven. Cook about 4 hours, for eight hours total cooking time. Again, leave the brisket alone. Check it once or twice, maybe slice a piece off the end to test the flavor and tenderness. When it tastes tender and perfect ~ dig in!