It's Smoker Season!

Ever since the weather broke, and it really really did finally break, I've been dying to get out my smoker. You may recall that last time I smoked a few times. I did a pork shoulder and ribs. This year I was determined to do a beef brisket. Well that day was finally here on Memorial Day, just this past Monday. I bought a small brisket (about 4 and a quarter pounds) because it was only going to be Nick and I.



I decided to dry rub it and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Unfortunately I cannot be too precise for you with my dry rub because I started with a base that was already mixed for me. It was a pepper kind of seasoning blend that a friend gave me in a bag so I don't know the name of it. At any rate, I started with that, added about 1/4 cup of brown sugar, and then just eyeballed the rest of the things I threw in (probably about 2 Tablespoons each). I added cumin, dry mustard (smaller amount of that), kosher salt, paprika and garlic powder.


I rubbed it all over the brisket, front and back and then put it in the fridge, covered, overnight.



I had read online that brisket takes about an hour per pound on a smoker. I probably will up that figure to an hour and a half per pound. I kept it on for a little over four hours.





When we lift that lid off the smoker, every time it's like a glorious revelation. I always hope to hear a chorus of "ahhh!" from the heavens. The aroma is insane. The meat looks beautiful. And we can't ever wait to get it in the house and dig in. This time was no exception.




The bark on the outside was nice and dark. I let it set for about 15 minutes. 15 minutes of torture mind you, as we circled that brisket like we'd never eaten before in our lives. And when I started slicing it, we couldn't keep out hands off it! Nick even said, "we're just going to end up eating it all before we even sit down at this rate." So we calmed down, I started to slice it on the diagonal and plated it up.





I served it with a pretty standard macaroni salad I make and some baked beans (that I didn't make).






It was juicy, tender and delicious. But I did think it needed a longer cooking time. I put it in a low oven the next day for 2 hours and it was even better!