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Black Pepper Crusted Texas Brisket

Counter 05 · Low & Slow BBQ

Black Pepper Crusted Texas Brisket

A whole packer brisket rubbed with coarse pepper and salt, smoked over oak for about twelve hours, wrapped in butcher paper with tallow, and rested long enough to slice like butter.

4.9 1043 cooks rated this
Prep
45 min
Cook
12 hr
Serves
12
Level
Hard
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Texas brisket is simple on paper and humbling in practice. The whole packer holds both the lean flat and the fatty point, and getting both tender at once takes patient fire control near 250 F. Expect the stall: somewhere around 160 F the internal temperature freezes for hours as moisture evaporates from the surface. Ride it out until the bark is set and dark, then wrap in butcher paper to push through. The long rest counts as much as the smoke, so hold it in a dry cooler before slicing.

Method

  1. Working with the brisket cold, trim the hard fat on the cap to 1/4 inch, remove the silverskin from the meat side, and round off thin edges that would burn. Render the trimmings slowly if you need tallow.

  2. Mix the pepper, salt and granulated garlic and season every surface evenly. Let the brisket sit 45 minutes while the smoker comes up to temperature.

  3. Fire the offset with the oak splits and hold a steady 250 F. Place the brisket fat side up with the point toward the firebox.

  4. Smoke 6 to 7 hours, spritzing the lean edges with beef broth every hour after the third, until the center reads 165 to 170 F and the bark is nearly black and does not rub off.

  5. Lay out two overlapping sheets of pink butcher paper, pour half the tallow where the brisket will sit, set it on top, drizzle over the rest, and wrap tightly.

  6. Return the package to the smoker at 260 F for 4 to 5 hours, until the flat probes like room-temperature butter, usually around 203 F.

  7. Rest the wrapped brisket in a towel-lined dry cooler for 2 to 4 hours. Separate the point from the flat, slice the flat against the grain into pencil-thick slices, and cut the point a little thicker.

Hands turning pieces of meat on a grill through drifting smoke
Turning meat slowly through a haze of smoke
Charcoal chimney starter with flames rising over the coals
Charcoal chimney roaring before the cook starts

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