Hot and Fast Beef Brisket

Hot and Fast Beef Brisket Technique: (5 hours total)

(feel free to skip all the juicy details, and go straight to the basic recipe near the bottom)

Often a topic of some controversy, especially among the more old school smoker crowd, I have shied away from this method myself for some time; however, now that I have started catering, a 12-16 hour cook is just not gonna fly while I'm still working weekdays! In my competition experience, I can say that many competition teams employ hot and fast methods.

I spent a few days researching different techniques and time/temp options, and for some, they seem to think an 8 hour brisket is "hot and fast" and though that is pretty fast relative to a traditional cook, I was looking for something sub-6 hours, and wanted to find others that have done it to make sure I'm not just gonna waste a 16 pounder. Once I found a few, including Myron Mixon, who do it in the 6 hour range, I set to work!

Started out with a beautiful 16.5lb USDA Prime packer brisket. You will want to take extra precautions to retain moisture, since the high temperatures will want to suck all the moisture out. For me this included injecting the brisket with an injection including phosphates, keeping the brisket in a pan throughout the whole cook, trimming less fat than I typically do, cooking with the fat cap down, and spraying the meat periodically while in-wrapped.

I trimmed all of the fat and silver skin off of the top side of the brisket, and also trimmed out much of the fat between the point and flat, but still left them well attached, and left a good layer on each muscle. I did not touch the fat cap at all.

I injected this brisket with Butcher BBQ's "Prime Brisket Injection", but like I said, any phosphate inclusive injection should do the trick. This brisket was rubbed down with a pretty basic "SPOG" (Salt, Pepper, Onion, Garlic) mixture, as well as the addition of chipotle chili powder, and some food-grade Activated Coconut Charcoal which is purely for color, since this method will not produce as much of a "bark" as other methods.

Set my Yoder YS640 to 350 degrees, filled with Lumberjack "Char-Hickory" pellets, and let it preheat while I injected and rubbed down the brisket. You may want to let the injection do its thing for longer, and the Butcher BBQ label recommends 6 hours; however, I prefer more of the natural beef flavor, so I only injected about an hour before I put the brisket on the grill.

Left the brisket in an aluminum pan for the first 3 hours, and sprayed the meat every 30 minutes with a mixture of apple juice, a tiny bit of maple syrup, and a few dashes of chipotle hot sauce. You can go by time here, and I think you'll be fine, but other recipes I've seen recommend waiting until you hit about 160 degrees. In my case, it was 162 in the point, and 154 in the flat when I proceeded to the next step.

There was plenty of juices in the pan at the 3 hour mark, but I still added about a half cup of the remaining basting mixture, a quarter cup of turbinado (or you could use brown) sugar, and a third of a cup of Parkay (butter/margarine). For the wrap here, I just left the brisket in the pan and did not drain anything off, I threw a probe in the thickets part of the flat, and covered the whole thing tightly with foil.

After 2 hours in the wrap, my brisket was up to the high 190's so I began the "probe test" (once the probe goes into the meat like warm butter, you're done). This guy ended up passing the test at 206 IT, so I pulled it right away.

It is important to let you brisket rest for a time in order for the juices to re-absorb into the meat, so be sure to allot for at least an hour after completion. For this cook, I was heading to a family party, so after pulling, I unwrapped, and took my time transferring the brisket into some clear wrap, where I also dumped about a cup of the juices before wrapping it up. Threw the wrapped brisket along with the rest of the juices (in a big Ziploc) into a foil pan, and into my Cambro, or you can use a good cooler if you don't have a Cambro.

We sliced this guy up about 2.5 hours after pulling off the grill, and it was oh-so tender and very juicy. This brisket lost only a fraction of the normal size and weight as compared to the countless others I've cooked low and slow, and it may have been the most tender, and juicy brisket I can remember cooking. I can say for certain that I will not be going back to low and slow. This was easily the easiest brisket I've ever made, and possibly the best!


Please see below for the streamlined recipe:

Smoker Temp: 350 degrees
Time (approximate): 5 hours total. 3 on smoke, and 2 wrapped
Important factors: Phosphate injection, cooked in pan, baste regularly, leave most fat on, cook fat-cap down.
Finishing internal temp: approximately 205

Inject your brisket with a phosphate inclusive brisket injection. Rub her down with your favorite rub, or see the details of my rub in the body above. Cook the brisket at 350 for 3 hours, basting every 30 minutes. Wrap the brisket with some juice, beef stock, and/or butter (or your favorite wrapping liquid). Cook wrapped for about 2 more hours or until your IT reaches approximately 205 or until a toothpick/probe goes in like warm butter. Let the meat rest for at least one our, or up to 4 hours in a well insulated cooler. ENJOY!