Texas-style brisket is whole packer brisket smoked low and slow over oak for 12 to 16 hours with a salt and pepper rub, sliced against the grain with a thick smoke ring.

Central Texas barbecue tradition arrived in Central Florida through chef John Rivers, who opened the first 4 Rivers Smokehouse in Winter Park in 2009 after years of catering brisket out of a Lake Mary garage. Within a decade the chain expanded across Florida and beyond, anchoring Orlando's craft-barbecue scene. The Florida heat and humidity require longer rests and water-pan smoking, but the canonical Central Texas brisket form holds: oak fire, simple rub, slow smoke and slicing pencil-thick across the grain. Pig Floyd's added a Latin spin in Mills 50.

Where to eat Texas-style smoked brisket in Orlando

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Make it at home

Serves 1216 hrAdvanced

Ingredients

  • 1 whole packer brisket, 5-6kg, with point and flat
  • 100g coarse kosher salt
  • 100g coarse ground black pepper
  • 10g granulated garlic (optional)
  • Oak wood for smoking

Method

  1. Trim the brisket fat cap to 6mm thick. Trim the hard fat between point and flat. Square the edges.
  2. Mix salt and pepper (and garlic if using) and apply liberally to all sides of the brisket. Let sit 1 hour at room temperature.
  3. Heat a smoker to 105C / 225F using oak wood.
  4. Place brisket fat-side up in the smoker. Smoke unwrapped for 8 hours, maintaining temperature.
  5. When the bark is set and the internal temperature reaches 75C / 165F, wrap in butcher paper.
  6. Continue smoking until internal temperature reaches 93C / 200F and a probe slides into the flat like butter, another 4 to 6 hours.
  7. Rest the wrapped brisket in a dry cooler 2 hours minimum.
  8. Unwrap, slice the flat against the grain pencil-thick. Cube the point fat for burnt ends or serve sliced.

Editor tip. Patience is the recipe. If you pull the brisket before the probe-tender mark, the flat is tough. The 2-hour rest is mandatory; it lets the meat reabsorb its juices.