Texas Barbecued Beef Brisket

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

From: Gerald Edgerton <jerrye@wizard.com>
Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 12:36:03 -0700
Recipe by: The Thrill of the Grill by Chris Schlesinger 1. Rub the brisket
thoroughly on all its sides with the barbecue rub, and allow it to come to
room temperature. 2. In the pit of a covered grill, build a very small fire
on one side as far up against one wall as possible. Place the brisket on
the grill on the side opposite from the fire so that none of the brisket is
directly over the flame. Put the top on the cooker, pull up a chair, and
grab the cooler. This is where a person learns about the Zen of Barbecue.
You gotta keep the fire going, but very quietly. If you've got a
thermometer on your covered grill, you want to keep the temperature between
180 and 220 F. Remer, "Slow and low is the way to go." You have to figure
out your own personal refueling policy. The one I like is one handful of
coals or wood chunks to every beer.  This goes on for about 8 to 10 hours
or however long you can make it, the longer the better. Don't be scared by
the darkening of the exterior, the outside of the brisket will be
superdark--my personal favorite part. 3. Upon completion, pull the brisket
out, trim off any excess fat, and slice it thin. Serve with barbecue sauce
on the side--no pro would ever cover properly cooked brisket with sauce,
he'd just dab on a touch. Obviously the key here is a tremendous amount of
patience and a day when you want to do nothing but sit around. But the end
product is one of those great culinary events that results from spending a
lot of time doing something that is relaxing and enjoyable. Make sure you
have plenty of tall boys for eating this.
the barbecue process was invented. My research, sketchy as it is, shows
that there was a strong German immigrant communitu in Texas around the turn
of the century. It has some of these Germans working in the booming Texas
cattle industry, and others working in butcher shops, what with their
strong background in butchering and charcuterie. It being common knowledge
that butchers are constantly trying to turn tough or inexpensive cuts of
meat into a usable product that brings a higher cost (witness sausages and
pates), it has these German butchers faced with the brisket. This cut of
beef is particularly unwanted because of the huge percentage of fat that
runs ont only on the surface, but throughout the cut. Traditional technique
would braise or pickle this cut to tenderize it, but the brisket also has a
lot of beef flavor. In my personal opinion, a vey smart German butcher who
ws looking for a way to market this cut barbecued it. We're not talking
here about the that was already popular in this area, but rather closed-pit
cooking, in which the cooking is done by convection ratherr than
conduction. It is similar to braising in theory, with the smoke replacing
the water. It is cooked at very low heat for a long period of time, and the
high fat content protects the meat from drying out but also disappears
through the 10 - 18 hour cooking process. What you are left with is very
tender meat with little or no fat and a tremendous smoky beef flavor. I
think the meat and the process were literally invented for each other.
Now, I don't think that you will get any disagreement from the professional
barbecue industry when I say that brisket is the hardest to master--but,
hey, learning is half the fun. And, in the words of Remus Powers, famous
barbecue aficianado, "The best barbecue I ever had is the one on the plate
in front of me."  These are guidelines for the closed-pit barbecuing of
brisket, a basic technique with many variables which is wide open for
personal interpretations.
Chris Schlesinger
Posted to Master Cook Recipes List, Digest #96

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