BBQ Brisket Meco Smoker Style

OK so Jason and I have always gone for your traditional BBQ ya know baby back's, chicken, and many other varieties of pork. Well yesterday i got the grand idea to do a brisket. Well this was definitely a test.

To start i took a 5lb brisket and cut it in half. My girlfriend is not a huge meat eater and her eccentric mother wont touch beef at all. I know what you are all thinking it is exactly what i thought the first time i met her, " What the hell is wrong with this woman?" Well i don't have a good answer and any i do are totally negative.

Back to the brisket, I gave it a thorough rubbing of Emeril's Essence. For those of you that have no idea what this is I suggest hitting the Food Network web-site. The recipe is there.

The beginning: I used lump charcoal in my Meco smoker BBQ kettle. Mesquite. Again it was a 5lb brisket rubbed with Essence. I made sure that i had achieved the optimum level of smoking per my handy dandy gauge on the outside of the smoker. Dampers were 95% closed as to maintain the temperature and smoking. With thing i should mention is this. The Meco burns quite hot if you don't have the included water pan on the lowest grill closest to the coals. the water pan helps to add moisture to your meat and keep temps just perfect. This was the first time i had actually used the water pan.

Brisket fat side up on grill for about 5 hours. I occasionally checked the coals to insure that they were staying hot. I made sure to add when needed. Not to big of chunks though. Lump charcoal burns allot hotter than your standard briquet's. So i mainly used the little bits that are left in the bag. Remember don't just throw the coal in because it will stir up ash (not a good thing). I simply used some heavy duty tongs to place the coal gently in the grill.

By now the brisket has smoked for about 5 hrs and is looking great. internal temp is at about 160 and by my little meat thermometer is about medium rare. So i did what any die hard BBQ fanatic does i took it off the grill and took a couple of slices for sampling. One phrase can describe my delight "That's some damn good BBQ".

I put the brisket back on the grill, only this time it was covered in tin foil to insure that there was no more browning of the meat.

I left for approximately 3hrs to go and attend the Master gardeners show that was being put on at our local fairgrounds.

Upon my return to my surprise the coals had gotten hotter than hell on the meat was roasting in the foil. Now every time i have had brisket it has been sliced and served. Well today was not my day for the perfect brisket. The meat was tasty don't get me wrong. It was so tender that i you even thought for one minute that it was going to be sliced you are dead wrong. I more or less ended up with shreddable beef. I still ate the entire thing almost by myself.

Lesson learned: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE LEAVE YOUR SMOKER THINKING I WILL BE FINE. IT WONT.