Life with Bees

For a really good Big Green Egg brisket, get a proper butcher to cut you the meat so you get the full size. We got ours from Barry Hawkes at Fyshwick Markets - it was nearly 3kg for about $17. Rub it down the day before your barbeque with a simple dry rub of salt, paprika, pepper, brown sugar and spices. Opinion is generally divided on the use of brown sugar - some say it offers a perfect, caramelised glaze while others say it does nothing. We hedged our bets and used very little. Also be sparing with the salt, which draws moisture out of the meat. Seal the brisket up in your biggest freezer bag and leave in the fridge overnight.

The next day, soak a few planks of mesquite wood in water for about an hour before you begin cooking. Take the meat out of the fridge - it will be moist because of the salt. Get the Big Green Egg going, keeping the coals between 200-250 C. TK put the brisket on the top tier of the Egg grill plate for indirect heat. He put a ceramic plate on the bottom tier of the plate with a pan to catch brisket drippings. On the middle tier we had a rack of American ribs which were cooking for lunch.



Cooking time is usually estimated at anywhere between 1 and 1.5 hours for each pound (450g) of meat. But it can vary. We put the brisket in the grill at about 10am, using that formula, and expecting it to cook for about 6 to 7 hours, just in time for dinner. But the meat surprised us - when TK took the ribs off the grill for lunch, he found the brisket sitting ready to be served. It had reached 87 C, the optimum cooking temperature.

So check regularly.

If your brisket is done too early, wrap it in a couple of layers of aluminium foil and place it back in the Egg. Shut off both air vents - this kills the fire slowly, allowing the meat to stay warm as long as possible.

Or keep the brisket warm in the oven while making some barbequed side dishes. Arrange handfuls of potato wedges across the top tier of the grill plate - they become crisp and smoky without any need for fat. Cook corn in their sheaths alongside the wedges.

The brisket made a beautiful early dinner with corn on the cob, crisp wedges and a pile of Turkish rolls. TK deglazed the drippings pan with a shot of Scotch and added the juice to a homemade hot barbeque sauce. The slices of meat were completely tender, melting down your throat with a warm, slightly smoky-sweet flavour. The brisket fed four hungry people with plenty of slices for TK to wrap in fresh rolls for lunches the rest of the week.