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Properly smoked Texas brisket is a delicacy, one that’s made all the more irresistible when you stop to consider the method of cooking that’s required to prepare it. Just uttering the words “low and slow” can oftentimes activate a barbecue fanatic’s saliva glands.
Sure, it seems simple enough. A quick glance at the recipe and you think, how hard can it be? But there’s nuance baked into that simplicity. The team at Omni PGA Frisco, led by Pitmaster Rick Adamo, has total command over the finer points of the process. It makes sense, after all, since the resort’s Ice House restaurant — essentially a BBQ hotspot — sells between 1,200 and 1,500 pounds of smoked brisket each week.
To do it right at home, you need to start with a cut of certified Angus beef brisket that’s covered by a fat cap from end to end. You’ll be able to gauge the quality of the meat by analyzing how you can maneuver it in your hands. “If it bends real good,” Adamo says, “it’s good brisket.”
If you’re going to trim the meat yourself, first place it in the freezer for a half hour or so. “Your brisket needs to be really cold when you cut it,” the pitmaster explains. “That will help you to get into it.”
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From there, you’re looking to trim the vast majority of the fat cap off the meat, leaving between a quarter of an inch to three-eighths of an inch of it attached. If you’re using a traditional smoker, you’ll be rewarded by trimming the meat so it retains an aerodynamic shape. This is a technique that Adamo picked up from Pitmaster Aaron Franklin, the proprietor of the famous Franklin BBQ in Austin, Texas, since the shape of the meat encourages the smoke to run over the top of it. “Aaron Franklin is like the God of cooking brisket,” he says.
In other words, it’s good advice.
You don’t have to do all the trimming yourself, though. Adamo acknowledges that a good butcher will be able to clean the brisket to the exact specifications that you’re seeking. “It might cost you a little bit more per pound,” he says, “but it saves you the hassle.”
Adamo likes to joke that the Ice House utilizes a secret recipe for its rub. In the next breath, however, he’ll tell you that it’s a 50/50 mixture of salt and pepper. When he does rub the meat with this seasoning mixture, he doesn’t actually rub it in. Instead, he sprinkles it on the meat, starting with the edges and then working over the entire piece. He makes sure that the meat is at room temperature when he does this, and he gently pats the meat afterward so the salt and pepper adheres to the brisket.
Don’t be stingy with the seasoning. But at the same time, you also want to exercise some restraint. “You don’t want to overdo it,” he says. “You still want to see the meat through the coating.”
If you’re smoking the meat the old fashioned way, Adamo says that you can use any type of wood that you like. Hickory and cherry wood work great, but the Ice House only smokes its meat using Post Oak from central Texas. “It’s a mild smoke,” he acknowledges, “but it’s a good penetrating smoke. It adheres to the meat.”
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If you don’t have a traditional smoker, don’t worry. You can still make crave-worthy smoked brisket at home. Start by setting the oven to 200 degrees, then dilute some liquid smoke with a bit of water. After you’ve slathered the meat with that liquid concoction and seasoned it appropriately, put the entire piece of meat directly on a middle-positioned oven rack. Place a sheet pan underneath and fill it with some water for moisture. Then simply let the brisket cook, uncovered, for about 15 hours or until the point of the brisket registers between 198 and 200 degrees.
Once it’s to temp, remove the brisket, immediately wrap it tightly in butcher paper, and let it rest in the oven at 140 degrees for a while. “With brisket,” Adamo says, “it needs to have a good rest. We like to rest ours three to four hours before service.”
When it’s finally ready and you’re ready to dig in, slice it up and serve it with a generous portion of the Ice House’s specialty — Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce (see recipe below).
If, after reading all of this, you’re still unsure if you can successfully smoke a brisket at home, consider this advice from Aaron Franklin: “You only learn how to make good BBQ by making bad BBQ.” In other words, you’ll be one step closer to pitmaster quality, no matter how it turns out.
Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce
Courtesy of Omni PGA Frisco
Ingredients:
2 cups Dr. Pepper
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 oz. smoked paprika
1/4 oz. mustard powder
1/2 tsp. Tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
Preparation:
In a medium sauce pot over medium-high heat, add Dr. Pepper and bring to a boil. Continue cooking until the liquid has reduced by half. Add the remaining ingredients, then reduce the heat to medium-low and bring to a simmer for one hour.
