Don't let this big, beautiful piece of meat intimidate you. While practice certainly makes perfect, we'll help you skip some of the learning curve and produce some of the best brisket around.
12-15 lb Whole Packer Brisket (Bonus Points if Prime)
Worcestershire Sauce
Uncle Bubby's Cow Rub
Start by removing brisket from the wrapper and rinse under cold water. Pat dry and place on a large cutting board. I hope to make a video about trimming brisket, but for now you can watch this video. He does a good job of explaining how to trim for a backyard cook. Skip to the 5-minute mark if you don't have a lot of time. Make sure you save the fat trimmings to make tallow with. More on that later.
After the meat is trimmed, splash some Worcestershire sauce all over to give the rub something to adhere to. Season liberally with Uncle Bubby's Cow Rub, making sure you get all the sides as well. We like to let it sit and absorb the seasoning for an hour or two, but if you're in a rush you can skip that. Get your smoker going to 225-250 degrees. We use a mix of hickory, cherry and apple, but use whatever smoking wood you prefer. Smoke fat side down for 3 hours. Add your meat trimmings to a pan and place on the smoker as well. After 3 hours, spritz with apple juice, beef broth, beer, water, etc. The goal is just to keep it moist. Repeat this every 30 minutes until you hit the 6-hour mark. At this time, you should have a pretty nice bark set up and the brisket isn't going to take much more smoke. The brisket's internal temp should be in the 150-degree range at this point. We wrap ours in foil with a little bit of the rendered beef trimmings, aka tallow, and place in a large aluminum pan. Then cover the pan with foil to avoid the juices burning. Smoke for another 3-5 hours or until the internal temp reaches 205. At this point you will remove the pan from the smoker and peel back the foil to let it vent for about 2 minutes. Then re-wrap and place in a clean cooler with towels to keep it warm. We suggest you rest it in here for at least an hour and up to 3 hours.
When the time comes to start slicing, unwrap the brisket and retain any juices in the pan. Pour some additional tallow over the top of the brisket and get to slicing. Again, I hope to make a video soon about slicing, but for now you can watch this video. Add slices back to the pan with juice and serve it up. Enjoy!