Never Skip This Important Step When Smoking Brisket

Smoking brisket takes serious commitment. From selecting the right cut and seasoning the meat to setting up your smoker and knowing how long to smoke, the process demands hours and patience. Consequently, it's completely fair to strive to optimize the preparation.

Let's say you have a large frozen brisket on hand. Perhaps you bought one at Costco at a good price and stashed it away for later. It can be tempting to skip the hours-long thawing process and throw the beef straight into the smoker. However, taking the important defrosting step is crucial not just for flavor and texture but also food safety.

Smoking frozen meats can allow dangerous bacteria to proliferate. The cooler temperatures employed in a smoker won't cook frozen brisket quickly enough, exposing the meat to risky conditions. You wouldn't leave a brisket on the countertop for an extended time! Smoking frozen brisket places the beef in a similar dangerous temperature range. So, take the extra time to thaw your brisket and enjoy it without fear.

If possible, avoid cooking brisket from frozen altogether. Exposing the cut to frigid temperatures impacts juiciness, as water suspended throughout the meat will leak during thawing. Subsequently, you increase the odds of mushy or dry beef. Nevertheless, reaching for beef from the freezer is the only option sometimes, and with the right thawing method, tender smoked brisket can still result.

Accordingly, make sure to take the same care with thawing as you would with other preparation steps. It's best to let the beef slowly rise in temperature in the fridge. Thawing in cooler temperatures will cause less harm to the beef's structure while making it food safe. Double check your fridge is at the sweet spot — around 35 to 38 degrees Fahrenheit — before you risk compromising a big slab of beef.

Unfortunately, this defrosting process will take a while. Five pounds of beef require around a day to thaw, and with brisket reaching up to 18 pounds, this could entail a multi-day affair. However, patience will reward you with a bite of beef unlike any other.