Jack and Coke Smoked Brisket

By hcardall

This is a 2 day process, so allow time to do this. The marinade and dry rub is on one day, on a THAWED Brisket. Make sure it is FULLY thawed before starting (in the fridge of course). If it is frozen, it takes about 2-3 days to thaw in the fridge.

It is best to start the marinade the morning of the day before you wish to smoke the brisket, so you can apply the rub at night, then let the brisket ‘rest’ in the morning before you actually put in the smoker. Just be prepared for the timing, if you use this particular recipe.

Ingredients

• Ingredients:
• 6.5 lb Brisket
• Make sure the brisket is cut small enough to fit on your grill or smoker.
• Marinade:
• 1 cup Jack Daniels Whiskey
• 1 cup Coca Cola
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 6 cloves of Garlic crushed and minced (a little Over Kill I know)
• 1/2 cup of Dark Brown Sugar
• Use Brining/ cooking bag for large turkeys to place brisket in for marinating. You can also inject the marinade if you like for more flavor and it may even tenderize it more?
• Dry Rub:
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp powdered ginger
• 1/2 Medium onion minced
• 5 garlic cloves thin sliced
• 1 Tbsp ground coriander seeds
• 1 Tbsp crushed marjoram leaves
• 1 Tbsp Ancho chili powder
• 1 Tbsp kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp coarse black pepper

Details

Servings 6
Preparation time 480mins
Cooking time 960mins

Preparation

Step 1

Marinade:

Combine all ingredients and whisk together till fully blended. Set aside and get the brisket ready.

Leave most of the fat cap intact but trim some of the side and a little of the depth off. The cut I used had about ½ inch of fat so I took very little off. Perforate the brisket on both sides even though the marinade will not penetrate the fat cap well. (Inject the marinade also, if you like at this time, but this is optional). Place the brisket in the brining bag and add the marinade, pressing out as much of the air as possible and made sure that the brisket is covered in marinade. Place the brisket in the refrigerator over night or 12 hours for best results but not less than 6 hours. About halfway through the process, turn the bag over the make sure both sides are getting marinade well.

Misc Directions:
After your satisfied with your marinade time remove the brisket and get the rub on it.
Dark brown sugar is the base of the dry ingredients to impart that sweet flavor and to form the crust that all smoked meats have.

A side note here: when you are smoking meat you are using a indirect heating method, this means that the fire/hot coals are NEVER near enough to the meat to burn it. The dark “crust” that you see is called BARK (as in tree bark not dog bark). It is sought after on certain types of BBQ.

The dark brown sugar is also the medium by which you blend the other spices to aid in their holding together.

Dry Rub:
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. Rub the brisket down with canola oil to give the rub something to stick to. Since the fat cap will NOT allow the rub to penetrate just put it on the exposed meat side. Apply liberal amounts of the rub and “massage” it into the meat, then wrap the brisket in plastic wrap and put back in the refrigerator for the remainder of the time until it is time to put it on the smoker. (over night again, in our case)

Cooking:
The next morning… remove the brisket and take off the plastic wrap. Let the brisket ‘rest’ and come to room temperature. This is important.

Start the smoker and bring to 225 degrees using apple wood chips, which you have soaked. Keep the temp at 225 degrees. You can alternate between apple and oak wood chips.

Cook the Brisket 7 – 8 hours until it reaches an internal temp of 200 degrees with a digital meat thermometer. Remove it from the smoker and wrap it in tin foil and place in a Styrofoam cooler for about 30 min or until you are ready to eat. (you can also place in your microwave after wrapping in foil, then wrap a heavy towel around it. Do not turn the microwave on!)