🍖 BBQ brisket
BBQ brisket is beef brisket rubbed with a dry mix of salt, pepper and spices and smoked low and slow for many hours until it is tender enough to slice with little pressure, with a dark peppery crust known as bark. It is sliced across the grain and served with barbecue sauce, pickles and raw onion. Smoky, rich and juicy, it is the signature meat of Texas barbecue.
Diets
Allergens
None of the 14 major allergens in a typical recipe.
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 whole beef brisket, about 5 kg
- Dry rub: 3 tbsp coarse black pepper, 3 tbsp coarse salt, 1 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp paprika
- 250 ml barbecue sauce
- Dill pickles, sliced
- 1 white onion, thinly sliced
Method
- Trim the hard fat, leaving about 5 mm on the fat side. Coat all over with the rub and leave for 1 hour.
- Smoke at 110–125 °C over hardwood, fat side up, until the internal temperature reaches about 75 °C and a dark crust forms (6–8 hours).
- Wrap tightly in butcher paper or foil and continue until it reaches 93–95 °C and a probe slides in easily (3–4 more hours).
- Rest wrapped for at least 1 hour, then slice across the grain about 6 mm thick.
- Serve with barbecue sauce, pickles and onion.
How to make it lighter
- Ask for slices from the flat (lean) end rather than the fatty point.
- Barbecue sauce is mostly sugar — keep it on the side and use a spoonful rather than pouring it over.
- Pair the meat with pickles, onion and a vinegar slaw instead of heavy sides.
History
Smoked brisket is most closely tied to Central Texas, where barbecue grew out of meat markets run by German and Czech immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Brisket, a tough and cheap cut, later became a barbecue staple as pitmasters learned to cook it slowly over wood. It is now served in barbecue restaurants across the United States and well beyond.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →