The Common BBQ Mistake That Dries Out Your Brisket (And The Rule To Prevent It)

For a lot of aspiring pitmasters, brisket is the ultimate challenge, and the one thing you don't want to do is dry it out. The difficulty of cooking brisket comes from its anatomy. Cut from the pectoral area of the cow, brisket muscles do a lot of work, and that makes them lean while developing a lot of connective tissue. That means brisket is both tough to begin with and lacking in moisture, so cooking it perfectly requires a lot of precision in temperature, and any big mistakes will lead to a dry, chewy slice of meat. As such, we reached out to an expert, Matt Abdoo, the executive chef and co-founder of Pig Beach BBQ, to ask about the biggest mistake to avoid to prevent dry brisket.

According to Abdoo, the cardinal sin is cooking for too long. "It is absolutely possible to overcook brisket," he warned. "If you cook brisket low and slow and the final internal temperature exceeds 205 degrees [Fahrenheit] your brisket will become very delicate (Meaning it will fall apart when you try to slice it) and dry." Adboo says the only thing to do at that point is slather your brisket in barbecue sauce, but he also admits that "if we just spent the last 14-16 hours cooking a brisket, that's the last thing we want to do." Thankfully, there are a lot of ways to avoid this brisket pitfall.

Abdoo gave us a good rule of thumb for making sure you time out your brisket perfectly. According to him, "Generally speaking, when cooking between 225 and 250 [degrees Fahrenheit], you can plan on the cook time being equivalent to an hour per pound. So if you have a 15-pound brisket, you should plan on having at least a 15-hour cook with a minimum of an hour rest before slicing it." But even with that guidance, it's best to be precise, and Abdoo says, "The BEST way to tell when any BBQ is done is by using a digital thermometer." That's because brisket needs to be cooked above 160 degrees for an extended period of time to melt the connective tissue and collagen, making it tender, but the long cook makes it easy to go overboard. A digital meat thermometer is the only way you can be really sure you won't overcook your brisket.

Abdoo also has a few more brisket tips. To protect it from overcooking, he says, "When it gets to an internal temperature of 155-160 [degrees, it's] time to wrap (using the Texas Crutch technique) in either butcher paper or foil and continue cooking until it gets to an internal temperature of around 195-200 degrees then pull it off your smoker." Finally, Abdoo tells us to let it rest until it falls to 155 degrees, which should take about an hour. That's when you'll finally be rewarded with perfectly juicy, tender BBQ brisket.