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When you’re trying to feed lots of people healthy food on a budget, it can feel like an impossible task. Do you provide lots of cheap, low quality food, or do you cut back on portion sizes and buy higher quality ingredients?

There are clear downsides to both approaches, which is why, throughout human history, cultures have found ways to get the most out of the ingredients they have through innovative cooking practices that make even the toughest cuts of meat appetizing.

Juicy Smoked Brisket that is Perfect for a Long Weekend Cookout

Brisket is probably the greatest example of this. While it is currently one of the trendiest meats around (especially in barbecue circles), this wasn’t always the case.

Traditionally, brisket — which comes from a cow’s tough chest muscles — was seen as being an inferior cut compared to the sirloin or hindquarters. For this reason, it was affordable for low-income families in Eastern Europe and poor parts of the American south.

To overcome the brisket’s natural toughness, techniques like smoking and brining were developed to soften the meat and take advantage of its fat cap. Over time, these techniques yielded the delicious Montreal Smoked Meat and Texas Brisket of today.

If you are looking for an affordable way to feed your family, give this fantastic smoked brisket recipe a try today!

Preparing the Brisket

A big part of brisket is the rub you use to give it flavour. There are a lot of different approaches to brisket preparation: smoked brisket recipes from Eastern Europe tend to brine the brisket in a mix of spices and saltwater to soften it and give it a distinct flavour.

This recipe, however, uses the much more straightforward dry rub approach. But before you can prepare the dry rub, you need to find the right brisket. The best way to have gourmet meat delivered for your next BBQ is by using an online meat delivery service that specializes in high quality local meat.

When you have your brisket, start the preparation process by trimming the fat using the method outlined in this video. 

Once the brisket has been trimmed, mix together the following spices:

• ¼ cup paprika
• 3 tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. kosher salt
• 2 tbsp. garlic powder
• 1 tbsp. black pepper
• 1 tbsp. onion powder
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper

Mix the spices together until even, then pat onto the brisket, covering the entire surface. Tightly wrap the brisket in butcher’s paper, and set aside.

Smoking the Brisket

Heat your smoker up to 225 degrees, and throw in some chunks of a hardwood like maple, oak, or hickory. When it starts to produce smoke, put the brisket in fat-side up.

Let the brisket smoke for at least six hours, then check the internal temperature. If it hasn’t yet reached 190 degrees, continue smoking until it does.

Don’t be concerned if it seems like the brisket is stuck at a certain temperature for a long period of time. This is called “the stall,” and is usually caused by uneven airflow. Increasing the temperature will often bring it to an end.

Once the brisket has reached 190 degrees, set it aside for at least half an hour to let the juices settle, then carve against the grain and serve on a bun or with a salad.

People who care about good food but need to be thrifty when making it can learn a lot from traditional cooking practices like brisket smoking. If you want to feed the whole family a special meal but don’t want to spend an arm and a leg to do it, this smoked brisket might just be the perfect recipe. Thankfully there are tons of awesome smoked brisket recipes you can test out to keep the family happily full.