Top Lessons for Cooking Your First Brisket

I just bought my first home! Ever since college, I’ve been a renter, and it feels oh so good to finally own my home. I was never able to do any kind of BBQ — it’s almost impossible (often a fire hazard) to BBQ in an apartment. Naturally, the first thing I bought myself after moving into my home was a grill. But not just any grill; I wanted an offset smoker for smoking briskets.

The taste, texture, and smell of brisket are unmatched. It is the King of BBQ.

Brisket is the King of BBQ.

Little did I know I was jumping into a world of unknowns and obstacles. What kind of offset to get? How to trim the brisket? Various techniques and methods to perfect the cook. I was in way over my head.

I ended up buying one of the cheapest off-brand offset smokers they had at Home Depot — I didn’t want to burn several thousand dollars getting a top-of-the-line-smoker. After all, I am just a beginner.

Below are the top 4 lessons I learned from smoking my first brisket.

Check the weather

This seems obvious, but you would be surprised how much a random Florida rain could completely ruin your cook. Unless you are cooking under a covered area or you have some kind of weather tarp, postpone until skies are clear.

A good thermometer goes a long way.

My smoker has a built-in analog thermometer. This is nice, but digital thermometers are the way to go, in my opinion — they give you a significantly faster and more accurate temperature reading. +1 if the digital thermometer can send a wireless signal to another device or app, so you can monitor the cook from indoors as these cooks generally take 10+ hours.

Probing thermometers are also really useful, not just for getting a temperature reading, but for getting a general feel of the insides of the brisket. Tough = needs more time. Silky smooth = ready.

Ensure you have more than enough fuel

Again, this one is pretty obvious, but you would be surprised how fast you’ll burn through wood and charcoal — some of my cooks were ruined because I needed just a few more logs of wood.

Most stores make this easy by bundling a few packs of charcoal and wood together. Don’t be too cheap on the charcoal; the extra dollar or two for Wingsworth is worth it over a generic store brand. From my experience, the generic charcoal is dusty and creates dirtier smoke.

Fire management

This is probably the most difficult thing to learn when cooking on an offset smoker. Every smoker is different, and you’ll have to learn how much fuel to feed your smoker based on its airflow. Adjust vents as needed to maintain, increase, or lower temperature.

I hope these tips help you smoke the perfect brisket; even if it’s not perfect, hopefully, you won’t make the same mistakes I did.

#AMERICAN