Low-and-Slow Smoked Beef Brisket
by Makeit_official
Smoke a whole 5.5 kg packer brisket over post oak for 10–12 hours, wrap it in butcher paper, rest it properly and slice it into juicy, bark-edged slabs. Written for a first-time brisket cook who owns a charcoal or offset smoker and is willing to babysit a fire all day.
The beef
Whole packer brisket
1 untrimmed whole brisket, 5.5–6 kg, point and flat still joined, fat cap at least 10 mm thick (the entire dish)
73
Rub and binder
Coarse black pepper
60 g, coarsely cracked (16 mesh / butcher grind) — not fine table pepper (half the bark)
3
Coarse sea salt
60 g, coarse flakes or kosher-style crystals (the other half of the bark)
2
Garlic powder
20 g (included in the 140 g rub batch used by the steps; omit only if you also reduce the stated rub total to 120 g)
2
Yellow mustard
30 ml plain mild mustard (binder only — you will not taste it)
2
Fire and moisture
Lumpwood charcoal
5 kg bag (the base fire)
10
Post oak or beech smoking wood
4 kg of fist-sized chunks or small split logs (you will burn roughly 10–12 chunks; the rest is spare), dry and bark-free
13
Beef stock or water for spritzing, plus 1 L water for the humidity tray
500 ml stock in a clean trigger spray bottle, plus 1 L water and a metal drip/roasting tray that fits beside the fire
2
Unwaxed pink butcher paper
1 roll, 60 cm wide, food-grade, uncoated — never baking parchment or foil (the wrap)
15
Serving
Flaked finishing salt
20 g (you will use only a few pinches — about 2–3 g — on the cut faces; the rest is spare)
3
Step 1 of 8
Buy the brisket, mix the rub, lay out the kit
MATERIALS
TOOLS
Digital kitchen scale→ grams
Large cutting board with juice groove
Instructions
• Buy 1 whole packer brisket, 5.5–6 kg, point and flat joined, fat cap 10 mm or more. • Press the flat end: it should flop over your hand, not stay rigid. • Weigh 60 g coarse black pepper, 60 g coarse sea salt, 20 g garlic powder into a bowl; stir to an even grey. • Set out 5 kg charcoal, 4 kg oak chunks, butcher paper roll, cooler, two towels, both thermometers. • Fill the spray bottle with 500 ml beef stock and refrigerate it until needed.
Time & Waiting
Active work
20 minutes
People
1 person
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