48 Hour Smoked Beef Brisket

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You’ve never had a Smoked Beef Brisket so soft and buttery like this before. This 48 hour smoked brisket is so melt-in-your-mouth tender, incredibly juicy and immensely rich in flavor and rendered fat. This might be the BEST BRISKET you’ve ever had!

This is my MOST AMBITIOUS brisket recipe to date. This 48 Hour Smoked Beef Brisket is the longest I’ve ever smoked a brisket, or any kind of meat for that matter.

And I’ve done plenty of brisket and other smoked barbecue recipes before, including my 12 hour hold brisket, Tender Smoked Baby Back Ribs, Fall-Off-The-Bone Smoked Beef Ribs and my normal Texas Style brisket. Check out those recipes above – if you want a nice, tender and juicy smoked meat recipe with a moderate level of effort.

But for those of you that are adventurous and for all of you meat scientists out there – read on for one of my longest smoked briskets ever!

Why Long Smoke A Brisket?

It’s no secret that the longer you smoke a piece of meat, the more tender it gets. In fact, that’s what brisket is ultimately founded on – long smoking a tough contiguous piece of beef muscle and transforming it into one of the most tender, smokey and fall-apart juicy morsels of meat you’ve ever had.

The way this works is that when you hold a brisket under constant heat (particularly low smoking heat), a prolonged period of cooking occurs, in which the collagen and connective tissue of the meat starts to melt away. Not only does this make the meat of the brisket incredibly juicy and tender, but it also renders the connective tissue and fat down to a thin, melt-in-your mouth consistency that just adds to the flavor & softness of the finished brisket meat.

Which Grade of Brisket Is Best – Choice, Select or Prime?

In the US, beef quality is graded on a scale of 3 levels: Choice, Select or Prime. And these gradings measure for tenderness, juiciness & flavor and how much usable lean meat is on the carcass.

• Prime Beef (Best): Produced from young, well-fed cattle, this grade has abundant marbling (fat interspersed within the lean meat), and is generally used in high-end restaurants.
• Choice Beef (Intermediate): Less marbling than Prime, but still high quality. This grade can be tender if well braised, roasted or simmered with a small amount of liquid.
• Select Beef (Value): More uniform in quality and normally leaner than the higher grades. It is fairly tender, but due to less marbling, it may lack some of the juiciness and flavor of the higher grades. Also most affordable.

For long smoking beef brisket, using a prime grade meat is the best option.

Smoke A Brisket at 225°F or 275°F?

There are many schools of thought when it comes to low smoking a brisket. Some claim that 225°F is the perfect temperature for a nicely done brisket. Others swear by 275°F for that righteous bark. But the secret to this low & slow 48 Hour Smoked Beef Brisket, is that it’s done at 190°F!

How To Smoke A Brisket at 190°F

In order to smoke for 48 hours straight and achieve that slow and gradual cook of the brisket where the connective tissue and fat just melt away – you have to keep the heat at a constant 190°F.

You might think this is too low, but actually, this temperature still actively cooks the brisket, but does it slowly enough to provide enough time for the connective fat in the muscle to fully break down and flavorize the meat.

And only at the end, after about 45 hours of smoke, do you wrap the brisket & take it up to 225°F to finish off the cook. It’s a method that takes immense patience and discipline, but is well worth the wait.

Remember To “Hot Hold” Your Brisket

The last step in any good long smoked brisket is to “hot hold” for at least 12 hours before you slice into your meat.

In addition to long smoking at a constant 190°F, hot holding is equally important to imparting that melt-in-your mouth texture and flavor in your brisket.

“Hot Hold” means to keep your smoked meat in a warm holding state after it’s been fully cooked. Most famous Texas barbecue joints will take their fully cooked briskets and place them into food warmers set at 140°F overnight, before serving them to their customers.

Hot holding allows the smoked briskets to simmer at that warming temperature so that the fat and connective tissue can further render down and make the protein in the meat extra, extra soft. The longer you hot hold, the more tender the meat becomes. And since you’re holding at a low 140°F, you won’t risk overcooking your meat.

In order to hot hold, you need a food warmer, an air-tight cooler or an oven that can warm at low temperatures, or a smoker capable of consistent temperatures between 140°F-165°F.

The Ingredients for 48 Hour Smoked Beef Brisket

• 12 lbs Whole Brisket, (prime grade)
• 1.5 cups Umamiology Dry Rub
• 2.5 cups Coarse Black Pepper
• 1/4 cup French’s Yellow Mustard, (optional, as binder)
• 2 cups Wagyu Beef Tallow

The Equipment Needed

• Traeger Ironwood XL Wood Pellet Grill, (or any other quality smoker grill)
• Cutluxe Quality Carving Knife
• Butcher Paper

How To Long Smoke A Brisket

48 Hour Smoked Beef Brisket takes some patience, effort & precision – but with my guide, you’ll master this technique in no time! There are 3 things you need to keep in mind.

• Steady hold of your smoking temperature at 190°F
• Heavy, heavy coating of black pepper & Umamiology Dry Rub
• Hot holding at 140°F – for a minimum of 12 hours

Trim Your Brisket

Trimming your brisket is the first step to this amazing long smoke recipe. Luckily, I have the perfect post that shows you exactly how to do this. Follow my steps on How To Trim A Texas-Style Brisket and then come back to this page to finish the rest of this brisket recipe.

How To Season Your Brisket

Once you’ve trimmed your brisket, it’s important to apply a heavy coat of seasoning.

Start by making my homemade Umamiology Dry Rub and then mixing it well into a large bowl with 2.5 cups of coarse black pepper.

Once your black pepper & dry rub mix is ready – heavily, heavily coat your brisket with this seasoning rub until every inch of the raw brisket is covered. (You can use mustard as a binder in this step – optional.)

This thick coating will help create a nice, strong bark on your brisket and also help to lock in the moisture of the meat, as it long smokes.

Smoking Your Brisket

Fire up your Traeger Ironwood XL (or any other pellet grill/smoker) by loading in your choice of smoking pellets (I prefer hickory wood pellets). Then set your smoker to 190°F. Remember, we’re going to be smoking this brisket low-and-slow, so make sure the grill gets no higher than 190°F.

When you smoker is ready, place your brisket on the rack, away from the source of heat. (Place the point of the brisket towards the heat source, as there is more fat in that area of the meat and can take the brunt of the heat.)

If you have a meat thermometer, this would be a great time to plug it into the thickest portion of the brisket. (I use the wired thermometer that comes with my grill, but there are many new and advanced wireless thermometers out there like this MEATER Plus.)

Now, the smoking begins. Leave your brisket on your smoker for about 45 HOURS, untouched.

Butcher Paper Wrap Your Smoked Brisket

When you’ve hit the 45 hour mark (and your brisket internal temperature has hit at least 170°F – ok if higher), remove your brisket from the smoker and place it on top of a wide piece of butcher paper.

Add in 6-7 spoonfuls (or dollops) of Wagyu Beef Tallow on top of the brisket and then wrap the entire meat tightly. Don’t skip this step! It provides an immensely moist and buttery environment in which your brisket can simmer – and is crucial for the connective tissue to break down further.

Finish Smoking Your Brisket

Increase your smoker temperature to 225°F.

Return the wrapped brisket back to the smoker and continue smoking until the meat hits an internal temperature of 203°F (some call this “probe tender” as the meat probe should easily slide in and out of the meat at this temperature).

Cooling Down Your Smoked Brisket

Once the brisket has hit an internal temperature of 203°F, pull the meat off of the smoker and let it rest in an empty oven (turned off) for about 2-3 hours for the brisket’s juices to redistribute throughout the meat.

Let it rest until the internal temperature of your brisket drops to 140°F.

Hot Holding Your Smoked Brisket

Once the brisket has cooled to about 140°F, the hot holding period begins.

Pre-warm your oven/food warmer/smoker to 140°F. (If your warmer does not get that low in temperature, any level between 140°F-165°F is acceptable.)

Place your brisket (still wrapped in butcher paper) into your warming device and keep it there, untouched for 12 hours.

During this 12 hour hot hold period, the fat and connective tissue in the brisket will continue to break down and render – yielding an incredibly moist and tender result, if you have the patience and will power to let it hot hold that long.

How To Slice Your Beef Brisket

If you’ve managed to wait the 12 hour hold period – great job! You are now ready to pull out your brisket, to slice and serve. (Do not remove your brisket until you are ready to slice and serve immediately.)

When you are ready to slice the brisket, first find the middle of the brisket where the point and the flat meet (does not have to be exactly the mid point, just close approximation is fine.)

Start by slicing the brisket in half and then slicing the flat portion of the brisket into 1/2 inch cuts, along the same direction as the original slice to divide the brisket in half. Serve the flat slices, as is, afterwards.

For the point section, rotate the meat 90°, and then cut about a 1-2 inch slice on both the right and the left edge of the point – these are your burnt ends. You can cube them up and make burnt ends out of them by following my Smoked Brisket Burnt Ends recipe.

Then for the remaining point section, slice across the length of the brisket and create 1/2 inch slices – serve immediately and enjoy!

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