How To Season a Brisket For The Smoker

You can season a brisket with a heady mixture of herbs and spices, or you can marinate your brisket in flavorful liquid...or you can do both! A whole beef brisket is a large hunk of meat, and it's difficult to get too much flavor in it with dry rubs and marinades. You're more likely to over-smoke a brisket than over-season it.

With this particular brisket I opted to use only a dry rub, and rubbed it in well before bagging the meat for an overnight stay in the fridge. During this time the seasonings soaked into the meat a bit. Not deeply, but far enough to make a difference in the final flavor.

Season Brisket Perfectly Every Time

The best way I've found when it comes to applying brisket dry rub is to do it twice. Apply one coating all the way around, rubbing it in well.

Then wait a few minutes for the surface to moisten up and apply another coating. The second coating doesn't need to be rubbed in vigorously. Just push it on so it sticks.

This picture shows the flat of the whole brisket after it's gotten its second coating of dry rub. You can see some dried herbs here and there. I used some oregano and thyme in this rub.

Now for the other side. The scores in the fat cap can hold a lot of the rub. I purposely hold the brisket like this when I pour on the rub so it can get in the crevices. Looks like my hand is seasoned pretty good, too! But it's not going into the smoker!

I used an oversized freezer storage bag here, and it was barely large enough to contain this piece of meat. The thinner end of the brisket had to be folded over onto itself in order for it to fit. After a night or two in the refrigerator, the brisket is ready to put on the smoker.

After placing that bad boy in your smoker, fat side up, you can sit around the smoker all night long with some good friends and tend the coals. Watch the sun rise, then when the sun is high in the sky, you'll discover that you can season a brisket to perfection!