BBQ Beef Brisket – Smoked on the Grill

Looking for smoky, moist, tender, flavorful beef brisket on the grill? Give this recipe a shot. Remember the key – low and slow!

How to buy beef brisket: When you’re buying brisket, you have a few different options. You can get a whole brisket (or “packer cut”), which is boneless and cut from the breast section of a side of beef. Since each cow produces two whole briskets, this is a huge piece of meat. It consists of a “flat” section, and a “point” section, and you can also purchase those separately. The flat section is basically just a lean, flat cut of beef. This is what you usually see sliced when you order beef brisket. The point section is a much fattier, so it has a lot of flavor and moisture, but it also falls apart easily, so it’s usually chopped or used for burnt ends.

If you go with the whole brisket, be prepared to smoke it for a good 15 hours. That’s an awesome way to spend the day, but you probably won’t be able to find a whole brisket at your local grocery store. They probably won’t have the point section either, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find a flat cut, which is what this recipe calls for. Look to buy a flat cut that has a layer of between a quarter-inch and a half-inch. If it’s more than a half-inch, trim it a little bit. If it’s less than a quarter inch, keep looking for a better cut!

Ingredients:

One beef brisket, flat cut, 5-6 pounds
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

Dry rub ingredients:

½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup salt
¼ black pepper
¼ paprika
2 tablespoons onion salt
 2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons chili powder

Directions:

1.    Combine all dry rub ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Set aside two tablespoons of the dry rub mix.
2.    Brush brisket with the olive oil, then coat generously with the dry rub. Refrigerate at least two hours; overnight is preferable.

 
3.    One hour before you’re ready to cook, take the brisket out of the fridge. Start soaking your wood chunks in water so they’ll be ready to go.
4.    Fill a chimney starter about halfway with charcoal and heat. Once the coals are gray, pour them onto one side of the grill, so you’re set up for indirect heat. Place a drip pan on the other side of the grill.
5.    Use a thermometer to monitor the grill temperature carefully. You want to keep the temperature between 225 degrees and 250 degrees.
6.    When the grill has reached the target temperature, place the wood chunks on top of the coals. Place the brisket, fat-side up, above the drip pan.

7.    Grill, covered, For the first two hours, add more wood chunks approximately every 30 minutes to keep the smoke going.
8.    Mix the cider vinegar, oil, Worcestershire sauce, and reserved two tablespoons of the dry rub mix together.
9.    After two hours, pour the cider vinegar mixture into a grill-safe pan. Remove the brisket carefully from the grill, and place it in the pan, like so:

 
10.     Cover immediately with foil, and continue cooking over indirect heat.
11.    Cook for about 3-4 more hours, continuing to monitor the temperature of the grill carefully. Add more charcoal as needed. Be sure to only add hot coals in order to maintain a steady temperature. TIP: I found it works best to add about 8 hot coals (heated in the chimney starter) approximately every hour.
12.    When the meat reaches an internal temperature of 200 degrees, it’s ready to go. Remove the pan from the grill, then remove the brisket from the pan and the vinegar mixture. Place on a cutting board and cover with foil.
13.    Let the brisket rest for 15-20 minutes. Then slice across the grain – this is important for breaking apart the fibers that run through the brisket. You don’t want to spend all day slowly smoking this brisket only to render it tough and hard to eat because you sliced it the wrong way.

(See that pink ring around the edge of the brisket? That's how you know the smoke has penetrated just enough to give it great smoke flavor, without adding so much smoke that the meat gets bitter.)

 
14.    Serve it with your favorite barbecue sauce – on a bun or straight up – and enjoy!

(Served here with gooey, cheesy grilled macaroni and cheese)

Try it with You Can Grill That’s Dr. Pepper Sauce, Ketchup and Molasses Sauce, or even let your worlds collide with Texas-style beef brisket and Carolina-Style Mustard Sauce!

If you like this recipe, please be sure to click on the links below to share it! And don’t forget to follow @youcangrillthat on Twitter!

BBQ Pork – In 15 Minutes!

There’s nothing better than barbecue pork that’s been smoked, low and slow, for 10-12 hours, until it just falls off the bone and melts in your mouth. And if you’d like to smoke a pork shoulder (also known as a pork butt or a Boston butt) on your grill, click here to find out how.

But some days you’re craving delicious barbecue pork, and you don’t have 12 hours. You may not even have one hour. It may be 105 degrees outside, like it was in DC last weekend, and you just don’t want to spend that much time outside over a hot grill. So how do you satisfy that BBQ pork craving?

With this recipe, you can grill tender, juicy pork that’s packed with savory barbecue flavor, and you can have it in less than 15 minutes. Instead of using a whole pork shoulder, you can use bone-in pork shoulder steaks – it’s the same cut, just sliced. You use the same dry rub as you would for smoking a shoulder, grill the steaks for 6-7 minutes on each side, slice the meat, and serve it on a bun topped with your favorite barbecue sauce.

Of course, it’s not the same as “real” barbecue, but on those days when you have the craving but not the time, it’s a very worthy stand-in. So give it a try!

Ingredients (serves 6-8):

4 pork shoulder steaks, about 12 oz each

Dry rub ingredients:

½  cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons salt salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
½ tablespoon chili powder
½ tablespoon garlic powder
½ tablespoon onion salt

Directions:

1.    Mix all dry rub ingredients together. Rub generously over meat. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

 
2.    Soak some wood chips in water while your coals are getting hot. When the coals are ready to go, add the wood chips, then place the pork shoulder steaks over direct heat.
3.    Grill the steaks, covered, for 12-14 minutes, turning once.
4.    Remove the steaks from the grill and let rest for 5-10 minutes.

 
5.    Cut the pork into thin slices. Serve on a bun with your favorite sauce.

Give it a try with my ketchup and molasses sauce, Carolina-style mustard sauce, mango BBQ sauce, or my new personal favorite, Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce!

If you like this recipe, please be sure to click on the links below to share it! And don’t forget to follow @youcangrillthat on Twitter! 

Fall-off-the-Bone Smoked Ribs on the Grill

Looking to make tender, juicy, fall-off-the-bone smoked baby back ribs on the grill?  Give this recipe a try - you won't regret it!

 
Ingredients (serves 4):

1 rack baby back ribs
Ketchup and molasses BBQ sauce (or whatever sauce you prefer)

Dry rub:
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion salt
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions:

1.    At least one hour (and up to 24 hours) before you’re ready to cook, apply the dry rub.  First you’ll need to remove the membrane (a thin layer of skin on the bone side of the ribs). The easiest way to do this is to insert a dull kitchen knife between the membrane and the bone, then move it around to loosen the membrane away from the ribs. Once its loose, pull it off using your hands in one large piece.  Removing the membrane will help more of the dry rub and the smoke flavors get into the meat.
2.    Combine all dry rub ingredients and rub generously over ribs.  Keep in refrigerator until 30 minutes before cooking time. Remove from fridge and let sit for 30 minutes to reach room temperature.
3.    While ribs are sitting, heat about 16-20 pieces of charcoal in a chimney starter (here's the one I use) and soak some wood chunks in water.  Place the coals on one side of the grill.  Add the wood chunks to the coals a few minutes before you’re ready to start cooking. Place a drip pan on the other side of the grill, below where you'll put the ribs.
4.    Place the ribs on the opposite side of the grill from the coals and wood chunks in a rib rack (like this one) or bone-side down. Cover the grill, with the holes in the lid open and directly above the ribs to get a good smoke flow.
5.    Cook for three and a half hours, adding about 8-10 coals and another pre-soaked wood chunk every hour of grilling time.
6.    After three and a half hours, brush the meat with the BBQ sauce. Close lid and cook another 10 minutes, then remove ribs from grill.
7.    Let ribs rest for 10 minutes.
8.    Using a sharp knife, cut through the ribs between the bones.

 
9.    Toss the ribs in the sauce, serve and enjoy.

If you like this recipe, please be sure to click on the links below to share it! And don’t forget to follow @youcangrillthat on Twitter!