A whole packer brisket rubbed with salt and black pepper, smoked over post-oak wood for 12 to 16 hours, until the bark is nearly black. Served sliced on butcher paper, no sauce required.

Central Texas brisket developed from the meat-market tradition of Czech and German immigrants who smoked unsold cuts to preserve them. The style was codified in Lockhart and Taylor and spread north to Dallas through pit operators in the 1990s. Pecan Lodge founders Justin and Diane Fourton opened in the Dallas Farmers Market in 2010 and created the queue culture that put Dallas brisket on the national map, attracting Texas Monthly coverage and establishing Deep Ellum as a BBQ corridor alongside the original Central Texas towns.

Where to eat Texas smoked brisket in Dallas

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Make it at home

Serves 1018 hrAdvanced

Ingredients

  • 1 whole packer brisket, 5-7 kg (flat and point intact)
  • Coarse kosher salt, 1 part
  • Coarse black pepper, 1 part
  • Post-oak wood chunks or logs

Method

  1. Trim the fat cap to 6mm all over. Score the point fat in a crosshatch pattern.
  2. Mix equal parts salt and pepper. Season all surfaces generously, at least 2 hours before smoking. Can season the night before and refrigerate uncovered.
  3. Set up a smoker or offset pit for indirect heat at 107-121 C (225-250 F) with post-oak chunks maintaining a thin blue smoke.
  4. Place brisket fat-side up on the grate. Do not wrap for the first 5-6 hours; let the bark develop.
  5. When the internal temperature reaches 74 C (165 F) and the colour is deep mahogany, wrap tightly in unlined butcher paper.
  6. Return to smoker and cook until probe tender: a metal skewer should slide in and out with no resistance, typically at 93-96 C (200-205 F) internal. This usually happens 12-16 hours total.
  7. Rest in the wrapped paper inside a cooler for at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours before slicing.
  8. Slice the flat against the grain in 6mm slices. Separate the point and chop or slice with the grain for a different texture.

Editor tip. Butcher paper lets the bark breathe while retaining moisture; foil steams it soft. Rest time is mandatory: an unrested brisket loses its juice on the first cut.