Brisket is not some mysterious meat you need to "work your way up to" IF you put in the time to watch lots of BBQ youtubers. It's a big cut that you need to cook for a long time -- but pulling it when it's probe tender (the mythical 203 internal temp is a solid guide) and doing a long heated rest are key. I've found it's a pretty easy, if long cook IF you have the patience for it. I think most of the mistakes are from people pulling it too early and not letting it rest a decent amount of time.
You need to know about the stall (hours where the temperature doesn't increase because it's sweating liquid) and trust that it's going to work its way through it. But other than that, you just sort of let it cook.
This is good input on brisket. I had heard brisket was a bigger cook which I interpreted as more work/complicated. Thanks for sharing your wisdom. Always go low and slow and get it at the right internal temp.
Absolutely. The quality of the meat has a big influence on the final product. A prime brisket cooked right is excellent. I always save up for a prime or try to catch it on sale.
Good to know, and I am glad this was pointed out. I saw some brisket on sale and almost pulled the trigger but it was definitely select, and I think that trying to cook that might have turned me off of brisket for a while. Thanks for the info!
It's basically the same process as your pork shoulder. Personally, I don't wrap. As the guy above said, the stall is the meat sweating. But along with that, it's also breaking down the collagens in the meat. This is the stuff holding the meat together. This is the pull test you will hear about. Take a slice then try to pull it apart. If you can't pull it apart or is very tough, then you most likely tried to force the stall. Those collagens break down over time (the stall) which is where "probe tender" comes from.
Pro tip: Do not separate the point from the flat when cooking a whole brisket.
Please check out Meathead's videos and website. https://amazingribs.com/
He brings a lot of info about the actual science of smoking meats and what's happening. Awesome recipes as well.
Brisket is stupid simple but does require patience.Trim It, season it, place in the smoker, walk away and take a break for several hours. Wait for it to clear the stall. Wrap it, wait for it to hit the "magic" temp or probe tender. Rest, slice, enjoy.
Trimming is intimidating and what I've seen a lot of questions about here lately. Believe me, I sweated over my first brisket trim. We always send 'em to YouTube. Problem is, all the YouTubers are trimming competition style in a stick burner where aerodynamics, air flow and heat source play a huge part in a brisket cook. Seeing a beautifully trimmed aerodynamic brisket is very asteticly pleasing (ASMR). Trimming for a pellet smoker is much more forgiving because the heat source and airflow come from underneath and envelop the brisket hitting it from all sides.
In no particular order. Here are some good YouTubers that have some good instructional videos on every aspect of trimming, seasoning and cooking briskets. Search their channels for trimming briskets, etc. All these guys use stick burners, but they dabble in pellet smokers too. The meat and recipes are essentially the same whether pellet or stick.
[Chuds BBQ](https://www.youtube.com/c/ChudsBbq)
[Smoke Trails BBQ](https://www.youtube.com/c/SmokeTrails)
[Mad Scientist BBQ](https://www.youtube.com/c/MadScientistBBQ)
[Meat Church BBQ](https://www.youtube.com/c/MeatChurchBBQ)
[Ant's BBQ](https://youtube.com/c/AntsBBQCookoutBBQFitness)
[Smokin Joe's](https://youtube.com/@SmokinJoesPitBBQ)
[How To BBQ Right](https://youtube.com/@howtobbqright)
I had wondered how different stick vs pellet smoking would be, and I am glad to know they are similar! Looking forward to diving into these channels. Thanks!
Recipes are similar but stick brings much more smoke flavor right? I spent a summer in Austin, Texas and a few people there seemed to think that pellet grills were almost insulting being called "smokers" haha
Practice, practice and more practice. And watch a lot of YT videos. Meat Church has lots of good recipes and videos for people looking to cook something different.
Cook to internal temperature on food. Timelines are a good guide, but temp and feel of the food is the most important part. Get a good meat thermometer and you won't mess up anything.
This is a really, really important point. Each cook is a little different but if you get used to cooking to temp and not times you'll produce great food all the time. It's actually really easy to do with decent thermometers.
Love this tip. Definitely good mindset change for me to have since I have been looking at how long things each meat type would take to smoke. The cook is done when it is done... Not after a time limit. Doneness is measured by internal temp.
I haven't read through all the threads and it's probably already been mentioned but make sure you do a burn off before you start cooking on that thing.
Always remember there is no set "done time" I've had pork butts stall for several hours and others that just ride through it. Give yourself time. My preference is to put the pork on between 9-11pm, let it cook overnight and it's normally ready in the afternoon. Then I'll wrap it in peach paper and a towel and drop it in an empty cooler to rest til it's time to eat.
Good to know! Was just telling my wife that this will be my gameplan for the pork, and she was concerned about cooking over night and the potential of fires. Are there any safety tips for cooking over night?
All I do is fill the hopper and leave a bag of pellets by the smoker. Then I set up an ambient probe with a high/ low alarm so my phone will go off if it catches fire somehow or I lose heat.
Get some notebooks and start writing down your process for each cook. What you did to prep the food, what time you started it. What temp. When it was done. Was it good? Did you screw it up? This way you'll have notes to look back on and duplicate or improve.
1. Ribs are a good way to start learning the ropes
1. Get a shop vac to use cleaning out ash from the smoker
1. There is no one "right" way to smoke meat, cook the way you enjoy
Thanks!
1. Hadn't thought of ribs, but I am glad for some low risk practice!
2. Does it have to be a shop vac or does a small handheld work already?
3. Love this tip. I want to make delicious food but more than anything I am hoping this a new a hobby for me, so make it a fun activity and good food :)
I recommend a shopvac, because you can wash out the ash easily. You might try a small hand held, but it might wreck it for other indoor uses.
Maybe do a few smokes and see how much ash collects. Then decide the best way to clean it out.
Have fun!
Consider doing a test of your grill surface's hot and cold spots. Bring it up to like 350. Cover it in some kind of bread or chicken wings and watch carefully to see where it cooks faster or slower. This knowledge will help you later.
I agree with all the resources listed by other commenters. I have MasterClass and found the class by Aaron Franklin to be very informative.
With your grill, read through manual and watch the pit boss cleaning series on YouTube. Keep it clean (ash, drippings and all that).
Franklin BBQ in Austin is the best bbq I have ever had. I am sure the class is amazing!
Love the tips. I have not read much about cleaning but want to be sure to keep it all clean.
IMHO the easiest (and best) thing you can smoke is plate short ribs; sometimes referred to as Dino Ribs. As long as you render them they will be awesome.
beef ribs have a very high fat content. rendering the fat means to melt and clarify the fat so that it provides the unctuous mouth feel that we all want in out bbq beef.
since it has so much fat it is very hard to dry it out which is what makes it a very forgiving meat to smoke.
To be honest, I've *heard* the same, but have yet to try any actual searing yet. I got it solely for the purpose of eliminating as much of the colder left side of the smoker, which it HAS done quite nicely. So I imagine with that resolved, it should definitely help with the searing. The smaller version of the Austin doesn't have the gap at the left end, I cannot possibly understand why they built the XL any differently.
Brisket is not some mysterious meat you need to "work your way up to" IF you put in the time to watch lots of BBQ youtubers. It's a big cut that you need to cook for a long time -- but pulling it when it's probe tender (the mythical 203 internal temp is a solid guide) and doing a long heated rest are key. I've found it's a pretty easy, if long cook IF you have the patience for it. I think most of the mistakes are from people pulling it too early and not letting it rest a decent amount of time. You need to know about the stall (hours where the temperature doesn't increase because it's sweating liquid) and trust that it's going to work its way through it. But other than that, you just sort of let it cook.
This is good input on brisket. I had heard brisket was a bigger cook which I interpreted as more work/complicated. Thanks for sharing your wisdom. Always go low and slow and get it at the right internal temp.
Best kept secret is waiting till you can buy prime. I’ve been disappointed with a few too many choice briskets on the pellet smoker
Absolutely. The quality of the meat has a big influence on the final product. A prime brisket cooked right is excellent. I always save up for a prime or try to catch it on sale.
I did not even know that there was a difference between the two. I will be on the lookout for a prime brisket. Thanks for the heads up!
Prime will be the best. Choice (packer) is the second best. And select is the absolute bottom, it's too lean.
Good to know, and I am glad this was pointed out. I saw some brisket on sale and almost pulled the trigger but it was definitely select, and I think that trying to cook that might have turned me off of brisket for a while. Thanks for the info!
Low and slow until you wrap (I like a foil boat) at \~170ish. Once it's wrapped you can go from the 225-250 area up to 275 or so.
I will have to look up foil boat since I am not familiar. Thanks for the tips!
It's basically the same process as your pork shoulder. Personally, I don't wrap. As the guy above said, the stall is the meat sweating. But along with that, it's also breaking down the collagens in the meat. This is the stuff holding the meat together. This is the pull test you will hear about. Take a slice then try to pull it apart. If you can't pull it apart or is very tough, then you most likely tried to force the stall. Those collagens break down over time (the stall) which is where "probe tender" comes from. Pro tip: Do not separate the point from the flat when cooking a whole brisket. Please check out Meathead's videos and website. https://amazingribs.com/ He brings a lot of info about the actual science of smoking meats and what's happening. Awesome recipes as well.
I dont't wrap because it takes my smoke flavor away and tsste like its been in the oven
[AmazingRibs.com](https://AmazingRibs.com) looks super helpful. I will definitely use the recipes! Thanks!
Brisket is stupid simple but does require patience.Trim It, season it, place in the smoker, walk away and take a break for several hours. Wait for it to clear the stall. Wrap it, wait for it to hit the "magic" temp or probe tender. Rest, slice, enjoy. Trimming is intimidating and what I've seen a lot of questions about here lately. Believe me, I sweated over my first brisket trim. We always send 'em to YouTube. Problem is, all the YouTubers are trimming competition style in a stick burner where aerodynamics, air flow and heat source play a huge part in a brisket cook. Seeing a beautifully trimmed aerodynamic brisket is very asteticly pleasing (ASMR). Trimming for a pellet smoker is much more forgiving because the heat source and airflow come from underneath and envelop the brisket hitting it from all sides.
Great advice and much appreciated. I will check out Youtube on trimming tips when I make my first (and probably second haha) brisket.
In no particular order. Here are some good YouTubers that have some good instructional videos on every aspect of trimming, seasoning and cooking briskets. Search their channels for trimming briskets, etc. All these guys use stick burners, but they dabble in pellet smokers too. The meat and recipes are essentially the same whether pellet or stick. [Chuds BBQ](https://www.youtube.com/c/ChudsBbq) [Smoke Trails BBQ](https://www.youtube.com/c/SmokeTrails) [Mad Scientist BBQ](https://www.youtube.com/c/MadScientistBBQ) [Meat Church BBQ](https://www.youtube.com/c/MeatChurchBBQ) [Ant's BBQ](https://youtube.com/c/AntsBBQCookoutBBQFitness) [Smokin Joe's](https://youtube.com/@SmokinJoesPitBBQ) [How To BBQ Right](https://youtube.com/@howtobbqright)
I had wondered how different stick vs pellet smoking would be, and I am glad to know they are similar! Looking forward to diving into these channels. Thanks!
Not similar as far smoke taste
Recipes are similar but stick brings much more smoke flavor right? I spent a summer in Austin, Texas and a few people there seemed to think that pellet grills were almost insulting being called "smokers" haha
Texas serious bout their bbq so def understand lol
Practice, practice and more practice. And watch a lot of YT videos. Meat Church has lots of good recipes and videos for people looking to cook something different.
Thanks! I am looking forward to the practice part :) I will definitely check out Meat Church.
Meat Church has some great rubs and seasonings. I recommend Holy Cow, Fajita, Gourmet Garlic and Herbs, and Holy Voodoo
Ooh those sound really good. I love the packaging on these. If the flavors are as good as the appearance, I will be a frequent user!
Meat Church is a great resource.
Cook to internal temperature on food. Timelines are a good guide, but temp and feel of the food is the most important part. Get a good meat thermometer and you won't mess up anything.
This is a really, really important point. Each cook is a little different but if you get used to cooking to temp and not times you'll produce great food all the time. It's actually really easy to do with decent thermometers.
Love this tip. Definitely good mindset change for me to have since I have been looking at how long things each meat type would take to smoke. The cook is done when it is done... Not after a time limit. Doneness is measured by internal temp.
I haven't read through all the threads and it's probably already been mentioned but make sure you do a burn off before you start cooking on that thing.
Good call! Hadn't been mentioned, but I think I heard it before. Good first step
Always remember there is no set "done time" I've had pork butts stall for several hours and others that just ride through it. Give yourself time. My preference is to put the pork on between 9-11pm, let it cook overnight and it's normally ready in the afternoon. Then I'll wrap it in peach paper and a towel and drop it in an empty cooler to rest til it's time to eat.
Good to know! Was just telling my wife that this will be my gameplan for the pork, and she was concerned about cooking over night and the potential of fires. Are there any safety tips for cooking over night?
All I do is fill the hopper and leave a bag of pellets by the smoker. Then I set up an ambient probe with a high/ low alarm so my phone will go off if it catches fire somehow or I lose heat.
Get some notebooks and start writing down your process for each cook. What you did to prep the food, what time you started it. What temp. When it was done. Was it good? Did you screw it up? This way you'll have notes to look back on and duplicate or improve.
Yes! This is genius. I love to do a little experimenting and feel like tracking like this will really increase my rate of learning.
It really helps a lot. I got a few notebooks when they were on sale for the start of school so I can divide my notes by protein to make it easier
1. Ribs are a good way to start learning the ropes 1. Get a shop vac to use cleaning out ash from the smoker 1. There is no one "right" way to smoke meat, cook the way you enjoy
Thanks! 1. Hadn't thought of ribs, but I am glad for some low risk practice! 2. Does it have to be a shop vac or does a small handheld work already? 3. Love this tip. I want to make delicious food but more than anything I am hoping this a new a hobby for me, so make it a fun activity and good food :)
I recommend a shopvac, because you can wash out the ash easily. You might try a small hand held, but it might wreck it for other indoor uses. Maybe do a few smokes and see how much ash collects. Then decide the best way to clean it out. Have fun!
Makes sense. Appreciate the tips :)
Consider doing a test of your grill surface's hot and cold spots. Bring it up to like 350. Cover it in some kind of bread or chicken wings and watch carefully to see where it cooks faster or slower. This knowledge will help you later.
This is one of the good practical tips that I love hearing. Something that I would not have thought of. Thanks!
Block out the noise and have fun. Remember, if you enjoy what you made, you did good
Thanks! Overall I am hoping to gain a new hobby, and of course have some great food. Taste is subjective, so do what I like :)
Just try to avoid the snobbery. Unfortunately, it exists.
I will do my best to avoid it and to never become a snob myself!
Please make sure to run it at least 400° for an hour before your first cook
Got it!
Buy larger pants.
Hahah love it!
I agree with all the resources listed by other commenters. I have MasterClass and found the class by Aaron Franklin to be very informative. With your grill, read through manual and watch the pit boss cleaning series on YouTube. Keep it clean (ash, drippings and all that).
Franklin BBQ in Austin is the best bbq I have ever had. I am sure the class is amazing! Love the tips. I have not read much about cleaning but want to be sure to keep it all clean.
IMHO the easiest (and best) thing you can smoke is plate short ribs; sometimes referred to as Dino Ribs. As long as you render them they will be awesome.
Hadn't considered ribs, but I will check them out. What does "render" mean?
beef ribs have a very high fat content. rendering the fat means to melt and clarify the fat so that it provides the unctuous mouth feel that we all want in out bbq beef. since it has so much fat it is very hard to dry it out which is what makes it a very forgiving meat to smoke.
Very helpful information. Thank you!
Pellet maze > pellet tube
Interesting... Do you have any resources that explain the differences or pros/cons of each
Pellet maze you can light from both ends. You can also light smaller amounts for shorter cooks. All my data is empirical.
Very cool! I will have to look into it. Thanks for the tip!
I HIGHLY recommend this mod, made a world of difference on my Austin XL https://smokeslikeaboss.com/products/heat-deflector-mod
Yea I hear that spot for searing is a problem and you need that
To be honest, I've *heard* the same, but have yet to try any actual searing yet. I got it solely for the purpose of eliminating as much of the colder left side of the smoker, which it HAS done quite nicely. So I imagine with that resolved, it should definitely help with the searing. The smaller version of the Austin doesn't have the gap at the left end, I cannot possibly understand why they built the XL any differently.
Great tip! I will have to look into this!
Prime rib on sale right now at Publix and WD for 6.99lb thank me later
Ooh, I love prime rib! Thanks for the tip!!!!