TEXAS-STYLE SMOKED BEEF BRISKET

The earliest mention of smoked briskets was in a Jewish deli in El Paso, Texas around 1910. Briskets are an inexpensive cut of meat and slow cooking makes it tender. Slow smoking on a barbecue grill makes it delicious!

My roots go back to Texas when my 3rd great grandparents, James Samuel Ball and Susannah Posey, moved from Kentucky to Decatur, Wise Co, Texas in about 1852. They are buried there in Ball Knob Cemetery. A few of their grown children moved with them but my 2nd great grandmother, Susan Ball, stayed in Kentucky with her husband, Reverend Solomon Pope.

Serve the brisket with Texas Barbecue Sauce, Texas Tangy Coleslaw, Texas toast, and cowboy style pinto beans. 

Smoking a brisket takes 8 to 9 hours, so start early and check the meat every hour.

1 (4 ½ to 5 lb) beef brisket    

¼ cup barbecue rub

Rub entire brisket with barbecue rub, cover and let sit in refrigerator 24 hours.

Place about 5 cups hickory, apple, or mesquite wood chips in water and soak 24 hours.

Texas Barbecue Mop-Sauce

1 T avocado oil
½ cup apple juice

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

¼ cup cold strong coffee

Place mopping sauce ingredients in a clean spray bottle.

Place about 25-lit charcoals on each side of grill and put some wood chips on the coals. 

Place an aluminum drip pan on bottom of grill. Adjust vents to almost closed.

Pour 1 cup apple juice in the drip pan. 

Place brisket, fat-side up, in the middle directly on grate.

Close lid and smoke for 1 hour.  Open lid and add a few charcoals to keep temperature around 225 degrees F.  Spray brisket with Mop-Sauce and continue to add charcoal and wood chips every hour to maintain the temperature of 225 degrees F.  

Continue this until temperature of meat reaches 160 degrees F, after about 7 hours. 

At this point, smoking is done. Place meat on a baking sheet and completely wrap in parchment paper, and then aluminum foil.

Add a few more charcoals and place wrapped meat back on grill. Grill temperature should stay around 300 to 325 degrees F. 

Cook until temperature of meat reaches 195 to 205 F. This could take another 1 to 2 hours.

Remove parchment and aluminum foil and return to grill or place in a 350-degree oven and barbecue or bake another 15 minutes, to crisp up the outside bark.

Transfer to a cutting board and allow the meat to rest for 15 minutes before carving against the grain into thin slices.  

Place on grilled Texas toast spread with garlic butter.

Drizzle with barbecue sauce and serve with extra hot sauce. 

Texas Barbecue Sauce

½ cup apple cider vinegar
½ cup beef broth
1 cup ketchup                                                 

¼ cup dark brown sugar                                 

3 T unsalted butter
2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice 

1 T Worcestershire sauce

1 T yellow mustard

2 t hot sauce

1 t garlic powder

½ t onion powder

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine the above ingredients in a saucepan and simmer gently, stirring, for 20 minutes.

Pour a couple of tablespoons of the meat drippings from the parchment paper into the sauce, stir and simmer a couple more minutes.

Texas Tangy Coleslaw

1 medium savoy cabbage

½ red onion, cut in half and thinly sliced

2 carrots, peeled and shredded

2 Granny Smith apples, shredded

1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced

½ cup apple cider vinegar

2 T granulated sugar

1 T avocado oil

1 T dry mustard

1 t celery salt

1 t celery seeds

½ t garlic powder

In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, onion, carrots, apples, and jalapeño pepper.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the vinegar, sugar, oil, mustard, celery salt, celery seeds, and garlic powder.

Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar.

Remove off heat and pour over vegetables in bowl.

Toss well, cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Toss again before serving.