There’s a lot of information out there on how to smoke a brisket. Most end with the advice to keep trying if it doesn’t work out the first time. We were lucky. Our first attempt worked out just fine in spite of the winter-like temps.
We prepped for the event by reading a variety of websites and viewing a lot of YouTube videos on how to smoke a brisket. The tutorial we decided to go by was BBQ with Franklin, and step one was buying the brisket. We went big at our home, and bought a twenty-two pound hunk of meat. The plan was to invite the neighbors for a pre-Thanksgiving celebration with friends.
We trimmed the fat and used Franklin’s recommended salt-and-pepper rub. We followed the advice to shake the container to keep the salt from sinking to the bottom. We must have put the rub on a little too thick because the bark ended up just a bit salty.
The seasoned brisket was placed on the grill with a pan of water close to the wood box. The flat of the brisket was set at the opposite end of the burning mesquite that would flavor the meat.
Because it was late fall and because we are WAY east of Texas, the mesquite logs we wanted were hard to come by. We actually couldn’t find any. What we were able to find were bagged mesquite chunks. Later, after the mesquite purchase, we watched Franklin’s advice on wood selection. — Oops — Mesquite is not recommended for long smoking times because it burns hot and fast, and the smokey flavor it imparts is intense.
In the end, the smokey flavor of our brisket was perfect. Two circumstances kept the mesquite from overheating the smoker and kept the smoke from giving the meat a bitter flavor. First, it was cold outside. The cold kept the smoker from going above the 250-degree sweet spot. In fact, we worked hard to keep the temp from falling below 250-degrees.
The second circumstance was that at about one in the morning the outdoor temperature was 27-degrees. The bark on the brisket was beautiful but the meat needed another 12 hours of cooking. Keeping the smoker at 250-degrees was close to impossible (we hadn’t followed one single tip for smoking brisket in cold weather). So, we wrapped the brisket in butcher paper and put it in the oven. It cooked low and slow at 250-degrees while we slept in warm beds. At sunrise, the paper-wrapped brisket went back into the smoker. The oven time kept the brisket flavor from getting too intense from the mesquite.
Franklin’s The Payoff smoking instructions mention The Texas Crutch. But Franklin doesn’t mention an oven. The oven is the Winter Crutch.
So, what did we learn? Well, something we already knew but ignored was read instructions before beginning. We half-read them and viewed videos either just-in-time or just-after-the-fact. Had we watched all of Franklin’s tutorials before beginning, we would have selected oak instead of mesquite (then again, the mesquite smoke was strong enough to make up for time spent out of the smoker and in the oven). If we had first read instructions, we would have insulated the smoker (but then we would have been awake stoking the fire all night instead of sleeping in a warm bed).
We learned that feeding the fire was more intense than what we had expected. We imagined sitting indoors, relaxing, and checking the thermostat on the smoker every now and then as we drank dark beers. But the winter-like temps kept us checking the smoker, managing the heat. This was enjoyable for the first four hours. But the longer we stood there and the colder it got, the more we second-guessed our decision to smoke such a huge piece of meat when temps were predicted to drop below freezing. Still, we will keep smoking brisket in cold weather; maybe not 27-degree temps but 40-degrees will work for us. And we will save the larger cuts of meat for early spring smoking.
Another change we will make is that we will put the smoker further from the door to the house. The upside of where we placed it was that we didn’t have far to walk in the cold when it was time to put more wood on the fire. The downside was that the smoke blew into the house every time we opened the door.
The party planning went just fine because we told our friends that we had a general idea of when the brisket would be done but they should be ready for us to say ‘not yet’ at the designated done time. We have great friends. They were flexible. We ate when we ate.
The brisket was beautiful and tasty. The weather was good to us. Our gathering was a success. Not bad for a first try.
Beautiful smoke ring and succulent meat 
Lean and moist cuts 
simple feast 
Casual atmosphere