It’s no secret that at Provenir we love to celebrate lesser known beef cuts – particularly those that require a little more care in their preparation or slow cooker beef cuts that benefit from low and slow heat to create moist, succulent and tender beef. Beef brisket is one such cut and there are few things more satisfying than a piece of full-flavoured and smoky brisket between two slices of fresh bread, paired with a flavoursome sauce. We’ve trialled more than a few beef brisket recipes and this one is up there with the best for a (relatively) quick and simple preparation.

Above: BBQ Beef Brisket, image from Jen Carr.

When it comes to how to cook beef brisket, there are a range of different options which produce different results. While you may choose to go with a beef brisket in slow cooker recipe, we love a BBQ preparation for the lovely subtle smoky effect that it delivers. Our favourite of the many beef brisket recipes that we have tried is this Texas-style brisket, marinated in a simple BBQ rub and cooked over coals (although you can use gas if required). Key to this recipe and the beautiful smokiness is the inclusion of around six cups of woodchips in the cooking process. The result is well worth the extra effort, we promise.

About the Cut – Beef Brisket

Brisket is a cut of beef from the lower chest of the beef carcase. These muscles support a large proportion of the animal’s body weight and consequently this cut of beef is normally reasonably tough. Therefore, it requires low, slow cooking to tenderise the meat. The advantage of this cut is that the nature of these weight-bearing muscles being very strong means that the meat maintains its structure even after slow cooking and is still able to be sliced while also being beautifully tender.

If you don’t have any brisket on hand the meat in this recipe could be substituted for beef ribs, however the end result will be a little different. As with most beef recipes, we recommend bringing the meat to room temperature prior to cooking. Read more slow cooking including a few additional tips at our previous article – The Best Beef Cuts for Slow Cooking. However, ignore the comment about trimming extra fat for this preparation.

BEEF BRISKET RECIPE

Beef Brisket Ingredients

• 1.5kg untrimmed beef brisket (the fattier the better)
• 150ml beer or water – we definitely recommend the beer!

BBQ Rub Ingredients

• ½ tablespoon of rock salt
• 1 ½ tablespoons of soft brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon of crushed, dried chillies
• ½ teaspoon of Chinese Five Spice

Method – How to Cook BBQ Brisket

• Combine the BBQ rub ingredients in a bowl.
• Trim the brisket of any dry parts of meat (if applicable) then score the fat with a sharp knife in a criss-cross fashion to allow the fat to render down. This also allows the BBQ spice rub to penetrate into the meat underneath.
• Rub the brisket with the sugar and spice mix, then leave to marinate in the refrigerator overnight. We recommend at least 12 hours marinating time, however the longer the better.
• Remove the brisket from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature.
• The next part is all about getting the fire right. Whether you’re using coals or gas, make sure you have enough fuel for five hours of cooking time.
• If using coals, prepare the BBQ for indirect cooking over a medium–low heat. As a general rule, you can add a handful of coals every hour to maintain the heat.
• Place the brisket in a roasting tray, fat side up. This should sit in the centre of the barbecue, away from any direct heat. If the fi­re is initially too hot, pour on a little beer or water into the tray to prevent any burning. This also helps to maintain the moisture in the brisket.
• Add ½ cup of pre-soaked hickory (or similar) wood chips to each side of the coals and pull down the hood on the barbecue. As mentioned above, continue to add coals at regular intervals to maintain the heat, adding some more woodchips each time you replenish the coals.
• If you are using a gas barbecue, light the outer gas burners. Heat some pre-soaked woodchips in a smoke box prior with the gas on high to adding the brisket. When the woodchips start to smoke, turn the heat down, place the brisket on the grill racks between the gas burners and cook on a medium–low heat.
• Cook the brisket for about 5 hours. We recommending basting with the tray juices during the cooking process until the meat is nice and tender and flakes under a fork. Once cooked, you can pull the meat or thinly slice it.
• Pour the tray juices over the meat and serve in a fresh bread roll with homemade coleslaw and a homemade BBQ sauce (or good quality store-bought version).

Our Suggested Cut for this BBQ Beef Brisket Recipe

We recommend utilising the 1.5kg Beef Brisket, also available as part of our BBQ & Smoking Pack or Beef Slow Cook Pack.

How to Purchase Provenir

If you do care about animal welfare, and of course great tasting, high quality meat, visit the Provenir online butcher shop now and find out for yourself why people are trusting Provenir. Provenir enables a connection between you and the farmer, via a unique QR code on each meat pack, that tells you the entire paddock to plate story behind each cut of meat online.

You can also keep up to date with Provenir news by signing up to the Provenir newsletter.