Brisket 101

What is Brisket?

Celebrated for its deep flavour and succulent texture, beef brisket holds a nearmythical place in North American cuisine. Taken from the lower chest of the cow, it’s made up of two muscles: the flat and the point It’s a tough customer with lots of fat, collagen and connective tissue, which is transformed into meltin-your-mouth meat through low-and-slow cooking. Whether it’s prepared as pastrami, corned beef or Montreal smoked meat, brisket is the heart and soul of Jewish delis. And in Texas, pitmasters have elevated brisket to a carnivore’s holy grail. Using simple seasonings and a long sojourn in a smoker, they’ve created a brisket with a heavenly crust (aka the “bark”), while keeping the meat moist and tender. Bonus: A whole brisket feeds a crowd!

Make Jesse’s BBQ Brisket

Perfect Pairings

Whether you prefer beer, wine, cider or cocktails, these picks can handle the robust flavours and rich textures of slow-smoked brisket.

Thornbury Craft Strong Apple Cider

Dragon Stout

Smoky Bourbon Sour

Doppio Passo Primitivo IGT Puglia

How to Prepare Brisket

While you can buy a trimmed brisket, it’s relatively easy to do yourself. Just sharpen your knife and follow these easy steps.

Gather your tools—a sharp boning knife, a large cutting board and paper towels. Remove brisket from packaging and pat dry.

Place brisket fat side up on cutting board. Trim fat cap all over down to roughly ¼-inch (5-mm) thick, being careful not to cut into meat.

Remove any hard pockets of fat—these won’t render as the brisket cooks. Flip brisket and remove any visible silver skin.

Carefully trim around all sides of brisket, removing any oxidized edges and evening to a rectangle-like shape. Your brisket is ready to season and smoke!

How to Serve Brisket

After many hours, your brisket is finally ready. While you can serve it straight up with summery sides, here are two ways to wow your guests further.

Instead of corned beef, pile thinly sliced brisket on rye with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing for a barbecue-style Reuben sandwich

For a classic Texas presentation, serve thick slices on a parchmentlined quarter sheet pan with barbecue sauce, white bread and thinly sliced dills, jalapeños and onions.

Easy Ways to Give Brisket a Flavour Boost

If you don’t have time to make your own rub, sauce or accoutrements, these products will help you serve a better brisket every time.

Club House Roasted Garlic & Peppers Seasoning

With savoury garlic flavours and just the right amount of chili heat, it’s a terrific brisket rub.

Cattleboyz Original Recipe

From Okotoks, Alberta, this fantastic Memphis-style sauce is smoky and tangy with a sweet baseline of blackstrap molasses.

Pickled Canadian Full Sour Spicy Dill Pickles

These fermented pickles deliver a combo of tartness, crunch and heat that’s the perfect foil to the richness of smoked meats.

Kozlik's Honey Mustard

Made with raw Ontario honey, this punchy local mustard balances the salt and smoke of barbecue.