Salt, Pepper and Coriander Brisket
current situation: 30 pounds going on the smoker
Thirty pounds. Two whole packers, because the smoker holds two and lighting it for one is a waste of a day.
There is no rub here worth the name. Salt, cracked pepper, coriander seed. That is the entire list, and the day you stop adding things to brisket is the day yours starts tasting like brisket. The coriander is the only liberty taken and it is the same seed that goes on pastrami — it smells like citrus when it hits the heat.
The picture is the moment before. Fat cap up, scored into a shallow grid, pepper sitting on the white. Everything after this is patience.
- Feeds
- 20 to 25
- Hands-on
- About an hour
- On the smoker
- 12–14 hours
- Start
- The night before
What you need
The beef
- 2 whole packer briskets, 14–16 lb each, point and flat together
- Nothing injected, nothing marinated
The whole seasoning
- 1 cup coarse kosher salt
- 1 cup coarse cracked black pepper — 16 mesh, the size of gravel
- 1/4 cup coriander seed, cracked under a pan
- A little oil or mustard if the surface is dry and nothing will stick
The fire
- Lump charcoal and a bag spare
- Oak splits, and hickory if you have it
- A full water pan
How it goes
1 — Trim the fat cap to a quarter inch
Cold brisket, sharp knife, long strokes. Take the hard waxy fat off entirely and leave an even quarter inch of the soft white everywhere else. Square off any thin corner that would burn before the middle is done.
2 — Score the cap shallow
A grid about an inch across, cut into the fat only. It opens the surface so the fat renders down through the meat instead of sliding off in one sheet, and it is why the pepper sits in the picture instead of rolling away.
3 — Crack the pepper and the coriander yourself
Pre-ground pepper is dust and it burns. You want gravel. Pulse it in a grinder or crush it under the bottom of a pan, and do the coriander seed the same way.
pro tip — Equal parts salt and pepper by volume, and twice as much of it as you think. Most of what you put on falls off in the first hour.
4 — Season heavy, rest overnight uncovered
Salt first and evenly, then the pepper and coriander from high up so it lands in a layer rather than in clumps. Fat side up on a sheet pan in the fridge, uncovered, overnight — the surface dries and smoke sticks to a dry surface.
5 — 225°F, fat cap up, point toward the heat
The point is the fatty end and it can take more fire than the flat. Turn it toward the firebox and the two halves finish nearer each other.
6 — Six hours untouched
Thin blue smoke, lid shut, one eye on the temperature and nothing else. Spritz nothing. Open nothing.
7 — Wrap in butcher paper at the stall
Around 165°F the bark should be set — dark, dry, it does not smear when you touch it. Wrap tight in unwaxed butcher paper and put it back. Paper, not foil: it holds the heat without steaming the crust you just spent six hours making.
8 — Probe-tender, about 203°F
Another four to six hours. Test in the flat, not the point. The probe should meet no resistance at all. Temperature is a guide; the feeling is the answer.
9 — Rest two hours, minimum
Still wrapped, in a dry cooler with towels around it. Two hours is the floor and four is better. Cutting a brisket early is how a twelve-hour cook ends up on the board in a puddle.
pro tip — Slice the flat across the grain in pencil-thick slices; turn the point ninety degrees and cube it. The grain changes direction between the two and so must you.
Thirty pounds disappears faster than you would believe. Invite fewer people than you think. LFG.