Overview
You need patience, time and a little bit of love to get a brisket right. You also need a decent butcher – this is one of many recipes where the quality of the meat really tells. As with most low & slow cooks, you’re bringing a piece of meat up to a temperature where all the tough connecting tissue will be broken down, turning a tough cut into something soft and succulent. Because of the long cooking time, you will benefit greatly from an EGG Genius, which allows you to monitor the cook remotely.
Set up your EGG
Remove your brisket from the fridge an hour or two before you cook to allow it to come to room temperature.
Set up your EGG for indirect cooking with the ConvEGGtor in the legs-up position topped with the Stainless Steel Grid. The target temperature is 110°C.
Mix together the salt and black pepper then rub over the brisket, covering every side.
Soak a handful of woodchunks in water for around 15 minutes then add to the charcoal.
Cook the brisket
Place the meat directly onto the Stainless Steel Grid (or use a Drip Pan and Roasting Rack if you’d like to collect the beef drippings for use in other recipes).
Leave your meat to cook. Depending on its thickness, age and quality, this can take anything up to 20 hours. You need to cook to temperature, not time. You’re looking for an internal temperature of 92°C. When it’s cooked, you should easily be able to push a knife into the meat.
While it cooks, the internal temperature of the meat will slowly rise and then apparently plateau or even fall by a few degrees. This is not the EGG needing more oxygen or fuel. As collagen starts to break down and turn to gelatin, an enormous amount of energy is required, so the temperature of the meat stabilises while the chemical reactions take place. Don’t try to speed up this process with more heat. Once the majority of the tissues have been rendered, the temperature will climb again.
Rest the meat
Take the meat off the EGG and rest it for an hour wrapped in Pink Butcher Paper – it’s essential that you give it time to relax.
Slice the brisket and serve with your favourite salads and sauces.
