Bring bold, smoky flavor to your next backyard BBQ with our Tombstone Brisket recipe, featuring Hi-West Tombstone Mesquite Seasoning. This low-and-slow smoked brisket recipe delivers rich mesquite flavor, a peppery bark, and melt-in-your-mouth tenderness.
Smoked overnight and wrapped in butcher paper with optional homemade beef tallow, this brisket is a labor of love — and totally worth the 18-hour cook. Whether you're feeding a crowd or saving leftovers for next-day tacos, this recipe is a must-try for any serious pitmaster.
Bring bold, smoky flavor to your next backyard BBQ with our Tombstone Brisket recipe, featuring Hi-West Tombstone Mesquite Seasoning. This low-and-slow smoked brisket recipe delivers rich mesquite flavor, a peppery bark, and melt-in-your-mouth tenderness.
Smoked overnight and wrapped in butcher paper with optional homemade beef tallow, this brisket is a labor of love — and totally worth the 18-hour cook. Whether you're feeding a crowd or saving leftovers for next-day tacos, this recipe is a must-try for any serious pitmaster.
Preheat the smoker to 200 °F. For brisket, we like to use mesquite for smoking.
Prepare the brisket: Remove any hard fat from the exterior and all sides of the brisket using a filet or boning knife. Round the edges of the flat (the thinner portion), and remove any silver skin. We love to save all of the fat, add it to a foil pan and smoke it with the brisket to create beef tallow. We use the tallow in the wrapping part of the brisket cook as an additional technique.
Apply a thin layer of oil or tallow as a binder to all sides of the brisket.
Season brisket with Hi-West Tombstone Mesquite Seasoning, then a healthy coating of black pepper. Pat the seasoning into the brisket.
Place brisket fat side up in the center of the smoker. Smoke for 12 hours (overnight). After 6-8 hours, spritz brisket every hour with your apple cider vinegar & water mixture until the 12 hour mark.
By 12 hours, your brisket should read 160 - 170 °F internal in the point (the thicker part of the brisket) and your bark should be set. If it isn't, keep smoking until your brisket has reached at least 160 °F internal temperature and you’re happy with your bark formation.
Remove brisket. Increase smoker temperature to 250 °F.
Lay out about 3ft of butcher paper horizontally and 3ft vertically to create a cross. Place the brisket in the center of the cross. If you decide to make beef tallow, go ahead and pour about a cup of the gold liquid over the brisket. If you didn't make tallow, no worries. Wrap the brisket tightly and place back on the smoker for an additional 3-4 hours at 250 °F.
Remove the brisket when the point reaches 196-200 °F internal temperature and the brisket is probe tender (using your thermometer) throughout. Place wrapped brisket in a cooler or The Meat Swadl resting blanket for at least 2 hours before slicing. The resting stage is one of the most important parts!
Slice the brisket: Once the brisket has rested, remove butcher paper. To properly slice the brisket and save part of it for burnt ends, look closely at the direction of the grain. Identify where the flat portion of the brisket ends – when the grain changes direction and slice the brisket into two pieces there. Slice the flat into thin strips for serving. Continue to slice the point again the grain if wanting to serve the entire brisket.
Recipe Note
Pro Tip: In the rare chance you have leftover brisket, make tacos! Load up tortillas with our pickled onions and jalapenos, cilantro, cotija cheese and Golden Rule Original White Sauce!
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