Smoked Brisket

I’ve spent the last few weeks smoking like a madman;  not marijuana or cane toads, but something much more fun – chicken, brisket, ribs and fish. I have a Bradley smoker set up in my kitchen, the only problem being that my apartment is reasonably ill-ventilated and my extractor fan does a pretty abysmal job of filtering all the smoke out of my apartment. Consequently, long smokes inevitably result in my entire apartment (and me, for that matter) taking on a note of smoked hickory. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing.

Anyway, after a recent trip to Vic’s Meat at the Sydney fish markets for a smoked brisket roll (highly recommended btw), I decided to post up my own recipe for brisket

Basic BBQ Rub:

Paprika (I used sweet paprika

Black pepper

Salt

Caster sugar

Cumin

Cayenne Pepper

Brown sugar

I wish I could give specific measurements for each of the spices, but to be frank, I just eyeballed it. It’s a dry rub, so it’s not super-important that everything be in perfect proportion anyway – as a rough guide, maybe try to use equal amounts of everything, though with probably a bit more paprika than the other spices, and a bit less cayenne, depending on how hot you want it to be. Anyway, mix everything in a bowl and then rub it all over the brisket. Put in the smoker, set the timer and drink a beer. Seriously, it’s critical to the outcome.

I smoked the brisket at 150 degrees for about 4 hours, and it was pretty great – juicy and smoky. Perfect with a drink and a good bbq sauce. In the last 12 months or so I’ve noticed Sweet Baby Ray’s bbq sauce in a lot of different places – notably Thomas Dux; it’s pretty great for a convenient, out-of-the-bottle sauce option.

Sorry, vegetarians..