hot and fast brisket

[BBQFanatic]

We switched to hot n fast for our brisket last year after a conversation with Adam Perry Lang and to free up our smokers during comps. There is less room for manoeuvring as you can quickly overshoot the mark. However, the APL method which we use a variation of is pretty straight forward -

- Seperate point/flat, place in smoker @ 200F and hit with lots of smoke until it hits the plateau or 2.5hrs, whichever comes first
- Foil both with a basting of your choice and crank the temp up to 350F.
- Pull when they hit 190F and rest (make sure you get it asap as the temp rises another 5-10F before it begins cooling, so its still cooking)
- Paint with sauce and back into smoker to help crust for 20-30mins
- Rest for 20mins and server. Total cook time tends to be 4.5hrs

As John points out, you wont get your typical crust here for a number of reasons, firstly, it doesnt have the time to build it up during the cook. The foiling and steam tends to wash the crust and protect it from the smoker. My experience is that the brisket has a different flavour, tasting closer to steak and melting in your mouth. I love it and we will definately be competing again with this method.