Yesterday afternoon I was working in one of our fields, and I got the craving for some good BBQ. Covid has ruined my restaurant cravings for the past 9 months, and good, fresh BBQ is hard to come by unless I make it myself. My father-in-law typically smokes the brisket that I get from my Muenster Grass Fed beef each year, and they have always tasted amazing even after he freezes the meat to bring to my family. Now I’m barely an amateur smoker, and I really don’t have much experience, but I enjoy good BBQ just like any self respecting Texan does. So when the craving hit, I had to take out one of my Muenster Grass Fed briskets from my freezer.
When you get your brisket from Fischer’s Meat Market, it will be shrink-wrapped in plastic and look like this.
In a good deep freezer, this beef will keep for a minimum of a year. This particular brisket I got in June 2019, so it’s a little over a year old now.
Hopefully, you are a little better planner than I am because it will take a couple days for this to thaw properly in your refrigerator. I had to do a quick thaw on the counter which sped things up, and it thawed in about 8 hours. As you can see below, this brisket, despite being finished on 100% grass, has a good fat layer and quite a bit of intramuscular fat which will render down nicely as it cooks.
Good brisket needs a good rub, and that was something I didn’t have on hand. Luckily, I was able to put together something that seemed like it would work pretty good with what was in our spice cabinet. I used close to equal portions of the following spices at a rate of about 1.5-2 TBSP each:
-Brown Sugar -White Sugar -Kosher Salt -Fresh Ground Black Pepper -Paprika -Cumin -Cayenne Pepper -Chile Powder -Garlic Powder -Onion Powder
Mixing that up in a bowl, it makes a pretty looking rub which should impart a good flavor. I went ahead rubbed a generous portion around the entire brisket and ended up with a good looking piece of meat ready for the smoker.
For wood, I have a bunch of mesquite that my father-in-law brought me from west Texas. I went ahead and cut a few chunks to go in my electric smoker. Mesquite makes a strong smoke which is fine by me because I like that smoky flavor. I would probably use pecan if I didn’t have the mesquite.
Like I said, I don’t have a lot of smoking experience, but my little electric smoker is pretty easy to use. I don’t have to sit there and baby it all day because it maintains a constant temperature.
At 10 am, I put the brisket on the smoker at about 225 degrees. I put the fat on the top so it could render down and moisten the meat underneath. I went ahead and held it at that temperature for 3.5-4.5 hours, and it got up to about 155-165 degrees.
At that point, I triple wrapped it in foil and put it back in, fat side up, for another 3 hours or so to bring it up to around 198-200 degrees. Once it hit that temp, I took it out and put the wrapped brisket in a pan and let it rest in my warm oven for 30 min or so before slicing into it as shown below.
I paired my smoked Muenster Grass Fed brisket with some shells and cheese, baked beans, and some fresh chard from the garden. It made a pretty plate, and it was as delicious as it looks. As far as smoked brisket goes, it was better than a lot of BBQ restaurants out there. I'm sure someone who really knows how to run a pit could make it taste absolutely amazing.
For my second attempt at smoking brisket, I was really pleased with the results. The brisket was really tender and had a great, smoky flavor. My only disappointment was the seasoning was not as strong as I wanted. I held back on using all the seasoning I made, and what I did use, I put on right before the brisket went in my smoker. Next time, I’m going to use more seasoning and coat the brisket the night before, so that the seasonings can work their way into the beef prior to smoking. Other than that, it was a big hit with my family. Helen Faustina, my 10 month old baby-girl, ate her fair share of this tender Muenster Grass Fed beef, and even though she only has two teeth, she was able to eat it easily.
Two of the best aspects about beef from Muenster Grass Fed is the convenience of having the beef right there in your deep freezer and how easy it is to turn this beef into a delicious meal for your family. While the brisket cooked for most of the day, I only spent about 30 minutes on it total to include sawing the wood, mixing up the rub, and cleaning the smoker when I was done. It was great for an easy and delicious Sunday meal. We also have plenty of left-over beef in the refrigerator for tomorrow night, so that solves the dreaded Monday night dinner. For families where both mom and dad work and the kids are at school or practice late, this can be a real life-saver.
If you want to make the plunge and fill your freezer full of Muenster Grass Fed beef or if you have any questions about our beef, send me an email, muenstergrassfed@outlook.com, and I will be happy to help you out. We are currently taking reservations on our 30 month old grass-finished heifers. This is the same beef showcased in this meal, and it is my personal favorite and the favorite of most of my customers.
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