06/14/2025
THE PRODIGAL POST RETURNS! SMOKED BRISKET
Hey, ZAG Fans!
As promised, I am reposting the information for smoking brisket that disappeared with my January 1, 2021 post. This is a long post, but I’m plugging in some science to help make sense of why low and slow smoking for meats is important. Let’s start with some science!
For those of us who have spent an almost unhealthy amount of our lives around smoking meats, the art of the low and slow is simply a way of life. Most of us have a really good idea of why low and slow makes a difference – if we cook the meat too fast and at too high a temperature we run the risk of creating really expensive leather, rather than a scrumptiously tender and flavorful meal. But why is this?
SCIENCE STUFF
First of all, it is important to understand that the types of meats that are used for big smokes and BBQ tend to be very tough cuts of beef. For example, the brisket comes from the breast or lower chest area of a cow, specifically the muscles below the first five ribs. It's a hardworking muscle responsible for supporting a significant portion of the animal's weight, packed with dense muscle fibers and connective tissue, which makes it a tough but flavorful cut.
Another smoker favorite is the pork shoulder and pork butt. Both pork butt and pork shoulder come from the front shoulder of the pig. The "pork butt" (also known as Boston butt) is the upper part of the shoulder, closer to the neck and backbone. The "pork shoulder" (also known as picnic shoulder) is the lower part of the shoulder, extending down the leg towards the foot. These are also hardworking and weight bearing muscles, making them very tough but flavorful cut.
Because of the types of muscles these cuts are, brisket and pork shoulder/ butts contain significant amounts of collagen, a tough protein that makes the meat chewy. If we cook these cuts too fast and at too high a temperature, the connective tissue, primarily collagen, doesn't have enough time to break down into tender gelatin – which is the key to moisturizing the meat and making it tender. Low and slow cooking allows for a gradual increase in temperature, which slowly dissolves the tough collagen into a more palatable gelatin, resulting in a tender and juicy brisket.
Let’s get a bit science nerdy, shall we? What actually happens with the collagen breakdown that makes for mouthfuls of tender, juicy and delicious meats?
COLLAGEN BREAKDOWN
Before we get started, we need to understand that Collagen, the primary structural protein found in the connective tissue of meat, is heavily present in heavily worked muscle meat such as briskets, pork shoulders, pork buts and short ribs. Here’s what happens to the collagen during a low and slow cook:
INITIAL HEATING (below 140°F): The proteins begin a process known as denaturing, which is the unraveling of their complex structures. Myosin, one of the key muscle proteins, denatures around 122–140°F, causing the muscle fibers to firm up. At this point, the collagen is still largely intact.
COLLAGEN TRANSITION (160–180°F): Between these temps, the collagen begins to dissolve into gelatin. This is a hydrolysis reaction, meaning water breaks down collagen’s structure into gelatin strands. This process takes time and moisture. Long exposure to these temps is the key – hence the need for low temp and slow cooking processes. We’ll talk more on this shortly, but this is the stage at which your meat will go into what pitmasters call the stall.
GELATENIZATION (180–200°F): This is where the magic truly happens. During this stage, the collagen breaks down more rapidly into gelatin. The gelatin provides the succulent texture, tenderness and mouthfeel of slow-cooked meat. The fat renders and muscle fibers relax as a result of the infusion of moisture from the rendered collagen and fat making the meat juicy and tender.
THE STALL
For those who live in the world of rolling smoke, the stall is just a “known”. For those who are newer to the craft, the stall seems to be somewhat of a mystery. Let’s take a peek behind the curtain and discover what the stall actually is, and why it matters>
When smoking large cuts like brisket or pork shoulder at low temperatures (225–275°F), you often see the internal temperature rise steadily—until it stalls somewhere around 150–170°F. This can last for hours. Here's the science:
WHAT CAUSES THE STALL?
It really isn’t magic. Your meat has not stopped cooking. It’s a little science concept known as ev***rative cooling.
Here is what that means:
As internal temps rise, moisture from the meat’s surface begins to ev***rate. This ev***ration has a cooling effect, just like sweat ev***rating off your skin. The heat energy from the smoker goes into the ev***rating water, not raising the internal temp of the meat.
Think of it like a pot of boiling water. As long as the water is boiling, the temp of the water stays at 212°F until the water has all ev***rated.
So how does this happen? There is a continuous transfer of heat as heat goes into the meat, then levels at an equal temperature from the meat through ev***ration. This latent heat of ev***ration (which is the energy that turns liquid into v***r) keeps the meat at a temperature plateau.
Let’s tie this into what we talked about regarding collagen breakdown. As the collagen and fat render within the meat, we develop enough moisture to create this ev***rative cooling effect. This is why the stall happens at the same stage of cooking as collagen transition!
This process will continue until we either lose enough moisture (which means we have dried out the meat), a crust (bark) forms to reduce the ev***ration, or until we take action ourselves to stop the stall.
PUSHING THROUGH THE STALL
The first method, (preferred by many pitmasters) is to wrap the meat. Some refer to wrapping the meat as the Texas Crutch. It involves wrapping the meat in either foil or food safe butcher paper to stop the ev***ration. This happens by encapsulating the meat in an enclosed wrapping that holds the heat and moisture in.
The second method is to increase the smoker temp to overpower the ev***rative cooling by increasing the “heat-in” ratio.
Lastly, you can simply wait it out. The stall will eventually break on its own as collagen continues to breakdown and the water content decreases.
WRAPPING MEATS
Many pitmasters, myself included, choose to wrap meats at the stall. I have experimented with wrapping and not wrapping, and with multiple types of wrapping, and I have found that I prefer wrapping, and using food safe butcher paper to wrap with.
Wrapping helps to break the ev***rative cooling cycle by trapping both heat and moisture close to the meat. The steam can’t escape, so the surface moisture cannot ev***rate. Now the heat energy goes entirely into cooking the meat.
There are two primary methods typically used for wrapping. Foil or butcher paper. Every pit mast has his or her own preference.
There are pros and cons to both:
Foil: PRO -faster temp rise and max moisture retention. CON- Can steam your bark off and makes it soft.
Paper: PRO – Preserves bark texture, allows some breathability. CON – slightly slower cook, less moisture retention.
Unwrapped (Nake): PRO – Bark is thicker and crusty. CON – Risk of prolonged stall and drier meat
I prefer the breathability of the paper, as it still allows the meat to get some smoke during the wrapped portion of the cook. It also allows for better heat control, thus cooking of the meat. Remember, these are tough pieces of meat, so the low and slow is crucial to getting the tender, juicy, flavorful outcome you spent hours working toward!
So, when do you wrap? There are two key indicators that it is time to wrap:
1. The internal temp of the meat reaches ~165°F
2. The bark that has formed is darkened, and set; meaning it no longer wipes off easily.
LET’S SMOKE A BRISKET!
Now that we all have a better understanding of the science of smoking meats, let’s talk about how I made these last two briskets that I have shared with you all.
Since prime beef has much better marbling, which means the ratio of fat ingrained in the meat, than Choice or Select, I always go for prime cuts. Fat marbling equals moisture and flavor! That being said, I have made some great briskets with both choice and select. You just have to approach the heat and moisture management a bit differently to get a great result.
Here’s how I made my most recent brisket:
Ingredients:
-19 lbs full packer brisket (point and flat connected)
-Meat Church Holy Cow beef seasoning (You can use your favorite rub, or seasoning mix)
-Meat Church Brisket Injection Mix
-Spritz (mix of 1:1 Apple Juice and Apple Cider Vinegar)
Here’s how I made it:
The night before, I trimmed the brisket (There a ton of great videos online that help to illustrate this). Once the brisket was trimmed, I injected it using a mix of 1/3 cup MC Brisket Injection mix and 1 cup of good beef bone broth.
(Let me pause here for a moment: I don’t normally inject my brisket. I’ve made enough briskets that I know how to maximize the juiciness of the meat during a long cook. This brisket was going to have to rest for about 6 hours before we sliced and ate it. I wanted to ensure the moisture level of the brisket stayed high during such a long rest.
That being said, brisket injections are a great way to inject some additional flavor and moisture into a brisket. This can be really important when using choice and select cuts that are not as well marbled as prime cuts.)
To inject, I added used a meat inject to inject some of the mixture at intervals of about every inch. They key once you inject is to let the meat rest to allow the injected mixture to spread throughout the meat.
I let mine rest over night, and I left it uncovered to develop a pellicle, which is an organic layer that forms on the uncovered meat while it is in the fridge for long periods of time. I did this because I planned to use my Pitboss Competition vertical pellet smoker for this cook.
Pellet smokers do not have the same punch with injecting smoke into meat as offset (stick-burners) do, so I wanted to set this brisket up for maximum smoke pe*******on. The pellicle helps the smoke better adhere to the meat.
When I was ready to smoke the brisket, I fired up the Pitboss and set it for a temperature of 210 degrees. This is lower than I would normally smoke a brisket if I was smoking in my offset. Again, I wanted to maximize the smoke pe*******on, so I was willing to sacrifice time to get that hallowed smoke ring!
While the ‘Boss was heating up, I gave the brisket a liberal coating of yellow mustard to act as a binder, then gave then entire brisket a solid coating of the Meat Church Holy cow. Traditional Texas style brisket is just coated with kosher salt and course ground black pepper. I wanted a bit more flavor, and the Holy Cow is a great SPG (salt, pepper, garlic powder) with some paprika added for coloring.
I let the meat rest while the ‘Boss came up to temps. This allows the meat to sweat a bit, and soak in some of that great seasoning.
Once the smoker was at temp, I placed the brisket into the smoker in the upper third area, closed the door, and walked away for about 3 hours. I use Typhur remote temp probes, so I was able to monitor both internal and external temps during this entire cook.
When I checked on the brisket, the bark was almost set, so I let it sit for another two hours to allow the bark to form. You don’t want to start spritzing the meat until the bark has formed.
PRO TIP: If you spray before the bark is formed, you may not get a good crusty bark. Once the bark is formed, you spritz to prevent the surface from becoming too dried out. I spritzed about every 90 minutes after the bark formed.
The brisket went into the stall about 12 hours into the smoke. At that point, I pulled the brisket and wrapped it in butcher paper.
PRO TIP: Here’s a little secret to add some amazing flavor and moisture to your brisket: I sliced up a stick of butter and added it to the wrap. Trust me on this…. you’ll thank me when you take that first bite!
At the 18-hour mark, this heifer finally reached a temp of 202°F and the temp probe on my digital thermometer pushed into the meat at both the flat and the point with no resistance. This cow was done cooking!
PRO TIP: Once the brisket comes to temp and tenderness, it is vital to let it rest. I recommend resting the brisket for no less that 1 hour. Resting for 2 hours is much better. The rest allows the juices to redistribute throughout the meat, ensuring every bite is juicy and full of flavor.
Now, for the final important step - Slicing your brisket:
It is important to slice across the grain of the meat. This allows each bite to be a cross section of the meat grains, which will allow for a much more tender bite, and the meat will not be stringy (thin corned beef).
PRO TIP: when you unwrap your meat, wring all the juices out of the butcher paper on top of the meat. Don’t waste that amazingly flavorful Au Ju!
DISCLAIMER: For the pics in this post, you’ll see pics of the last two briskets I posted. In one pic, you’ll see a finished brisket sitting in foil. I didn’t use foil for the wrap. I brought this brisket to work for a team lunch. I placed the finished brisket (still wrapped in paper) into the foil as a double insulation layer to maintain the heat level of the meat while it transported and rested.
Well, that’s it for this cook, ZAG fans! I hope this post helps all of you who are budding pitmasters as you embark upon the golden standard of smoking: the mighty brisket!
Until our next cook, remember to eat, drink and beware tough, dried out zombies!
DISCLAIMER: I mentioned Meat Church, Pitboss, and Typhur in this post. I was not paid to mention any of these products. They just happen to be products I prefer to use while cooking.
