At least once a year, I try to cook some barbecue for my family and invite everyone over. I've done ribs, burgers and brisket. But I wasn't happy with the brisket last time. It was my second time doing BBQ brisket and I wasn't particularly educated in the ways of brisket. These things take a little time and some attempts. That's why I like something like Competition BBQ Secrets, because the trial and error has already been done so you don't have to.  This guide tells you a great way to cook brisket (among other things) using a method that has done well at the BBQ competitions--so it must be good, right?

So this time, I used the method described in Competition BBQ Secrets and the brisket turned out great! I won't tell you all the secrets, since that wouldn't be fair (Bill has described them in his book), but I will tell you that it involves injecting a marinade into the brisket well before you cook, adding a rub, then cooking that brisket for a loooong time. In fact, I got up at 3:00 am to get the smoker going and up to temperature and put the brisket in the smoker at about 4:00 am. Then it was checking it every hour to hour and a half.  That was for a dinner that was scheduled for 6pm.

I never quite got it to the recommended temperature, but the result was pretty darn tender anyway. And everyone loved it! I think there was only one piece left from a 9.75 lb brisket.  If you look close, you can see a really nice smoke ring in the brisket.  It was probably 3/8" - 1/2" thick.

It ended up being kind of a chilly evening, so I started a fire in my firepit in the backyard and everyone huddled around that to stay warm.

I also cooked some wings (l6 lbs) on the grill. The glaze wasn't quite as good as I would have liked as I messed up the recipe when I was at the store (it was 1 cup of honey per batch, not 1/2 cup), so that is a lesson learned. Don't rely on your mind when you are making the list for the store! Double check it! And to top it all off, I even had the chicken wing glaze recipe here on my website, so I could double checked the recipe while I was at the store! I'll try not to make that mistake again.

I cooked some baked beans in my dutch oven that were also tasty and everyone else brought side dishes to contribute.  We even had home made root beer!

It was a great night; I had about 24 adults and teens, and 6 younger kids and there was plenty of food. I even had fixings for S'Mores, but we never had to use them, everyone was so full.

P.S. If you want to cook delicious brisket, like I did for this BBQ, click here to find out the secrets!