Here you can learn some simple but effective tips to take your smoking game to the next level. A perfect article on the basics of cooking a great brisket.

Before starting firing up your smoker and getting that perfect brisket ready, you need to get a few things prepped:

- A Smoker:

With many packed full of features to make smoking and controlling your heat easy, there's no better time to find that Smoker for you. Check HERE to see our range of smokers for an idea on what smoker could be for you.

- A Large Cutting Board

- Butcher Paper

- Chef's Knife:

Getting one that is nice and sharp, is required to clean up your brisket and prepare it for the roast.

- Rubs and Sauces

This is optional but will add extra depth and flavour to your cook, tested and tried by the big names of BBQ competitive cooking, making it simple to be a pro.

- Wood Chips / Charcoal / Pellets

This is the fuel to your flame in the smoker! There is a variety of flavours you can get in wood chips and pellets to add to infuse a smokiness and flavour into your meats to give that famous smoky flavour that comes for low n slow cooking.

With all the above you are now ready to get cooking!

1) Selecting the Right Brisket! - It's important to purchase a whole packer brisket complete with the point and the flat. The quality of the meat you choose matters when you are attempting to cook a great brisket, prime beef that has even marbling means more flavour and juiciness! For figuring how much you need for entertaining, a rough estimate is around 226g of brisket per person.

2) Trimming the Brisket! - This is a very key step, you need to spend 20-30mins if required to just hack away all the hard fat and membrane that wont melt away in the smoker, this greatly affects the outcome of your brisket! Check below is how to trim your brisket from a master smoker!

3) Season your Brisket! - This part really comes to personal preferences, test and experiment to see what taste work for you. Click HERE to see a range of flavours you could use to season your brisket! If this is your first time I would recommend using a traditional seasoning of salt and pepper with just a few bits of rosemary. Apply the seasoning in a fine coat, the goal is to cover the brisket without going overboard.

1) Light up your smoker using the fuel type that works for your specific smoker and the flavour you are after. The goal to smoking is to keep a consistent heat and a steady flow of thin blue smoke.

2) Wrapping the Brisket! - This is a very crucial step! Wrapping your brisket in butcher paper holds onto the meat's natural juices and prevents the brisket from drying out. Try to wrap the brisket like a present, folding edge over edge until it is fully sealed. Return the brisket to your smoker with the folded edges down and continue smoking at 107 degrees C until the internal temperature of your brisket reaches 94 degrees C at the thickest part (make sure your thermometer is in the meat, not the fat).

3) Allow the brisket to rest! - DO NOT SKIP THIS! By letting the brisket to rest after cooking allows the flavour you packed in through your cooking to settle and spread itself throughout the brisket.

4) Slicing the Brisket! - You want to slice your smoked brisket against the grain for maximum tenderness. But remember, there are two overlapping muscles and two different grain directions. You can split the point and flat sections and slice each individually against the grain before serving but that sometimes leaves pieces with no bark on top. Traditional Texas joints split the brisket down the middle, as close as possible where to point overlaps the flat, they then turn the point 90 degrees and slice it that way and then finish slicing the flat the opposite way. You will have some pieces where they grain isn’t perfect but if your meat is tender enough it won’t matter too much.

5) The final step, ENJOY your delicious smokey barbecue brisket!

For the initial smoke phase, plan about 8 hours at 107 degrees C for 5-6 kg briskets to reach 73 degrees C. However, your brisket will enter a phase in between 62 degrees C and 73 degrees C where the liquid evaporating from the surface of the brisket will cool it while your grill is trying to cook it.

This is called the stall, and the time frame is different during this phase for every brisket cooked. This is where a good internal thermometer comes in. The Meater + thermometer makes this easy as it comes with a downloadable app that uses Bluetooth for you to check the temperature probe even away from your unit.

The second phase (once it’s wrapped in butcher paper), can take anywhere from 5-8 hours. Plan an extra 2 hours for each brisket cooks because if it is done early, you can always set it in a cooler and allow it to rest for a while.

The bottom line is to plan for anywhere from 12-18 hours to fully cook your brisket (this includes the initial smoke to 73 degrees and the wrapped smoke to get your meat up to 94 degrees C).