With Brisket, the Key Ingredient Is Patience

Smoked BBQ Brisket

SMOKED_BBQ_BRISKET

©2012 Food Network

2012 Food Network

Brisket, that slowly cooked, soft-to-slice, sometimes stringy staple of your grandmother's holiday table, humble and homey as it is, has been known to capture occasional media attention. President Obama serves it every Passover at the White House Seder, after all. Now barbecued brisket, of which the POTUS is also an apparent fan, is enjoying a moment in the spotlight.

New York Times food writer Julia Moskin recently observed that New York food obsessives, currently in the throes of a love affair with barbecued meats like "brisket, beef ribs and spicy beef sausage … turned out in authentic fashion," are zeroing in "on brisket alone," and giving it their own city twist by serving it "in untraditional sandwiches or with more up-to-date side dishes."

If you're barbecuing the notoriously tough cut of beef at home, hoping to achieve dreamy perfection, you'll want to make sure you ask your butcher for a cut that includes both the lean "flat" and the fatty "point" cut. You should also plan to cook it long, slow and steady over a charcoal grill kept to a low heat (as low as 225 to 250 degrees F, but there's no need for precision) with some charcoal and a few wood chips (just a handful). If you prefer, and you have one, you may use a backyard smoker. The key ingredient, as Moskin points out, is patience.

And, of course, you'll also want a few good recipes — like these:

Wood Chick's BBQ Smoked Beef Brisket: "Unreal, spectacular, delicious, stupendous," one commenter gushed. "The flavors are just so rich and the depth is amazing."

Bobby Flay's Smoked BBQ Brisket: Here's an all-day BBQ project using smoked maple wood chips that reaps big dividends.

Texas BBQ Braised Beef Brisket: This recipe starts with a rub made from sweet Hungarian paprika, salt, black pepper, brown sugar and cayenne.

Jeff's BBQ Brisket: Baste it with your fave BBQ sauce during the final 15 minutes of cooking to give it a sweet glaze.

Oklahoma Joe's Smoked Brisket Flat: This one calls for special equipment: a spray bottle for the apple juice you'll spritz on the brisket every time you add new coals.

And here are a few helpful tips about getting a hearty, smoky flavor in your own backyard. Remember: Tips and tools will come in handy, but, more than anything, you'll want to approach your brisket recipe armed with time and patience.

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