Texas Barbecue Brisket Recipe

• Rinse the meat under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels.

• Apply a very light coat of olive oil (remember, brisket already has a lot of fat!). Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

• Soak the wood chips for an hour or two in water. Whenever you need more chips, just drain what you want to use before adding it to the charcoal (do not allow the wood chips to dry out - it's the moisture that will give off lots of smoke).

Barbecuing The Brisket

The key to tender brisket is cooking it slowly and at low heat. Due to the amount of time it takes to BBQ it until it's tender, we do it over two days.

• Get up bright and early!

• Set up the BBQ for indirect cooking.

• Fire up the BBQ using a lot of charcoal (you'll be cooking for a long time).

• When the coals are red-hot and covered in a layer of ash, add a few handfuls of wood chips and wait for them to ignite.

• Now turn down the heat to low temperature (we set it at around 190 to 200 degrees F). It's at this temperature that you'll be cooking the brisket.

• Put a layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil on the cooking grate, with the edges slightly turned up.

• Put the brisket on the foil, fat-side up. Keep the BBQ lid down to allow the wood chips to infuse the meat with that great smoky flavor. You can baste with the juices once in a while if you like, though we have found it unnecessary.

• Add wood chips or charcoal as needed.

• After 10 to 12 hours, you can take the brisket off the BBQ. Wrap it in heavy-duty aluminum foil and immediately stick it in the refrigerator. If you don't have heavy-duty foil, wrap it a couple of times with regular foil.

• The next day, about 3 to 5 hours before you want to eat, set up the BBQ once again for indirect cooking, medium-low heat, with some more of those good wood chips.

• Put the brisket (still wrapped in foil, and fat-side up) back onto the BBQ and close the lid. Leave it there until you're ready to eat. Brisket is done when you can easily shred the meat with your fingers.