In a couple weeks I will be smoking for others for the first time. This is a big step. Other people will eating my smoked food. Other people will be watching me smoke stuff. Other people will know if I have to secretly finish the meat in the oven because I couldn’t keep the heat up in the smoker. And these other people, they are super judgmental like that… (ok, I made that up. They’re good people.)

I decided that in preparation for these other people I needed to hop on my bike with no training wheels, jump in the lake without a life jacket, and other relevant metaphors. As I’ve mentioned before, I had some trouble maintaining the heat in the smoker for more than about an hour or so. It hasn’t been a huge problem yet, but it has meant than anything that requires more than about two hours of smoking time has been out of the question. Ribs were easy because they were going to taste good no matter what. They weren’t as tender as they should have been, but they were mighty tasty. The chicken could be finished in the oven when the coals burned out. Fish was SUPER easy because it cooks for less than an hour.

There was one thing that was taunting me… brisket. “Try me, fancy smoker lady! I cook for like 5 hours at LEAST! What, you scared? Hahahahahaha!” Damn brisket is always so mean to me. Not this time, brisket! I have people coming over! I am going to MASTER this thing! Smoking a brisket meant achieving that which I was not confident I could achieve. The result wasn’t just a deliciously smoked hunk of beef, it was a badge of honor. A source of confidence that I could not get anywhere else. I’m doing this.

I bought a small brisket… just under 3 lbs. My smoking book says that the general rule of thumb for brisket is that you smoke it for 1.5 hours per pound. I could handle 4.5-5 hours. I think.

I made my mop (the thin sauce that you use as a marinade and to slather on the meat while it smokes to keep it moist and give it flavor. This isn’t a bbq sauce.) using a recipe from my book, but obviously I changed it up a bit based on what I had in my kitchen. It consisted of some vinegar, lime soda (I needed something sweet but didn’t have fruit juice), maple syrup, whiskey (ooooh yes), Worcestershire sauce, and some spices (garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and chili powder). But I didn’t have any chili powder. So I thought I’d skip the hot sauce that the recipe called for and just use a mix of hot smoked paprika and some chipotle powder. Holy scalded mouth… that was a mistake. I tried to tone it down, but there was no turning back. To balance it out (and to keep my husband from forbidding me from using anything chili related again), we used a sweet bbq sauce when it was done.

Ok, mop is done. I would’ve marinated it for the six hours that the book recommended, but the spice was so strong that I opted for just 30 minutes. Next was the rub. I pulled out a rub that I had in my spice cabinet; it was most likely the one that I made for the ribs, but I am not totally sure. Whatever… it tasted good.

Brisket is ready to go. Now the hard part… getting the heat going. I thumbed through my book looking for any insight and…wait… a whole page devoted to building the fire in a way that keeps it going?! Are you kidding me?! I had the answer to my own problem all along. (I told you I suck at reading directions.) Here is what it recommended — and it TOTALLY worked:

1. Line the pan with unlit coals
2. Heat a chimney full of coals until they are almost all white-hot
3. Put your soaked wood chunks on top of the unlit coals
4. Pour your hot coals on top of that
5. Pour another chimney full of coals (unlit!) on top of that

Those hot coals in the middle will slowly heat the unlit coals thus keeping the heat at a constant temperature for hours. I didn’t need to add anything to the pan for at least 3.5 hours and at that point I just threw a few unlit chunks of coal on the fire and it was just fine. I did need to refill the water pan, though. That’s how long the heat was going! The entire pan of water evaportated. (Yes, I realize I should not have let that happen. I learned my lesson.)

Brisket on the fire. Hours pass. Wonderful.

After about 2-3 hours a nice bark had formed on the meat, I started to mop every hour. So I mopped twice, I think. Per the book’s instructions, once the meat reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees, I wrapped the whole brisket in foil and let it smoke until it reached the ideal temperature of 195. My trusty book says that it keeps the juices in as it gets hotter and risks drying-out.

About 4 hours and 45 minutes later, smoked barbeque brisket! Again per the books suggestion, I left it in the foil and covered it with a towel until it was cool.

Before I tell you about the finished product, I need to tell you that keeping those coals hot for that long was DEFINITELY my proudest moment that day. I didn’t really care how the brisket tasted! Well I did, but THE FIRE STAYED HOT! I could toy around with the flavors of the meats that I smoke, but the key to smoking is keeping a constant low-temperature heat for a long period of time. Without that, I’m just prepping stuff for the oven. Now that I have figured out the trick to the heat, I’m good to go!

So the brisket… it was spicy as hell but smoky and delicious. As I mentioned, we used a sweet bbq sauce to balance out the heat. Still really freaking spicy, though. The meat was also a little dry. I’m not totally sure what happened there — quite possibly the dried out water pan — but I’ll figure it out. It was my first time, afterall. And lets not forget that a bad barbeque brisket is still pretty darn good… plus, THE FIRE STAYED HOT!