Well hello fall weather! That sudden drop in temperatures this past week had us craving comfort food. And so my husband set out to smoke a tasty brisket on our Big Green Egg and I made some mac ‘n’ cheese and kale. The recipes for the smoked brisket and kale side dish came out of the Big Green Egg cookbook by Sara Levy. If you are a Big Green Egg owner we highly recommend purchasing a copy. Hint, it also makes a great gift for the holidays!
Plan ahead for this recipe as the brisket needs to be rubbed with seasoning and refrigerated for 24 hours and smoke time could be from 5 to 7 hours.
Brisket Spice Rub
My husband was very excited as he got to use his mortar and pestle set to make this rub but you can also use a food processor. Feel free to use already ground spices – though the flavor is just that much better if you start with whole seeds. Combine and pulse/grind:
1/4 cup Cavender’s Greek Seasoning
1 TBS anise seed
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp coriander seed
1 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp mustard seed
1 TBS kosher salt
1 TBS black pepper
Generously rub the spice mix all over a 5lbs trimmed brisket. Cover the meat in cling wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Smoking Brisket on The Big Green Egg
Set up your Big Green Egg for direct heat and preheat it to 275F. Place the brisket on the grid and grill it for 30 minutes with the lid closed. Flip it and continue to grill it for another 30 minutes.
Carefully remove the brisket from the grid. Lift the grid up and place the plate setter into the Big Green Egg with its legs facing up. The book recommends using the Grill Gripper and barbecue mitts for these steps and we concur. Adjust the temperature controls and reduce the heat to 225F. Let the smoking begin!
Replace the brisket into the Big Green Egg and cook it until the internal temperature reaches 190F. The book’s brisket took around 6 hours. Ours must have been quite a bit thinner as our instant read thermometer was close to 190F after a good 4 hours. Hence, we recommend taking the temp at 4 hours to see where your brisket is at.
Once done cooking, remove the brisket from the Big Green Egg and cover it with foil to allow for a brief rest. Slice and enjoy an amazingly flavorful smoked beef brisket.
