Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire KD's BBQ Midland, TX

I have a smoker and I make some pretty stellar BBQ brisket. As others have stated, it's not the sauce, but the wood you use in your smoker. You should also use a smoker with an offset fire box. I don't particularly like mesquite - tastes a bit like turpentine IMO. The key is to mix yer wood. I generally smoke a brisket for 1 hr./lb., so a 12 lb. brisket will be on the smoker for 12 hrs. (low and slow ~ 220°). I start by rinsing the brisket, patting it dry and then using a dry rub - none of this basting crap - cook the brisket fat-side up and it bastes itself. I then make the fire (do not use lighter fluid of any kind or it will ruin the flavor of the meat) with a mixture of hickory and white oak, but a bit heavier on the hickory. After about 3-4 hrs. or slightly more, when I think a good smoke ring has formed, I'll wrap the brisket in foil throwing in 1-2 quartered jalapenos - I do this because if I leave it unwrapped for any longer, the smoke flavor can become overpowering. After wrapping the brisket - I use straight white oak. Mixing white oak and hickory also limits the power of any one wood. White oak is more benign. Mesquite, pecan, hickory, apple wood, will impart a very strong flavor if it's not tempered with another wood. As an example, a Bud of mine once smoked a brisket for 14 hrs. using only pecan wood. I asked him how it was and he said he schidt pecan fire the entire next day. Since I have no desire to schidt pecan fire, I haven't attempted to recreate the feat.

I have also smoked unwrapped using straight white oak for ~12 hrs, with excellent results. And when I don't feel like tending a fire for 12 hrs., I'll sometimes throw it in the oven (in a large roasting pan), after 4 hrs. of smoking, to finish (at 220°).