Wow, I was just at S&F and looked at the brisket. They also have turkeys now getting ready for turkey day. Almost bought something but decided to wait. To answer Caroll, I soak the wood chips at least for a couple of hrs. and wrap them in foil then place on the heat element. Punch a few holes in the foil. Slow heat is usually better and long times are required. Many cuts that are smoked are some of the tougher cuts and need the longer times to get tender. Also with brisket I put it in a pan to cook in it's juices with open top for smoke flavor. If you can control the temp that helps. Some smokers have better heat controls. Much of the art of smoking is experimental and discovery is a big part of it. There is a forum on THS for outdoor cooking and gobs of info on the web. I am by no means an expert, just a back yard experimenter. Jan, any time. Would love to have you for dinner. Here is a link that might be useful: Cooking Outdoors

Angel, might I suggest you post your question at the Cooking Forum. Lots of knowledgeable, helpful (and opinionated) folks over there. Warning: we're a very friendly community, you might just never leave!

Well, I ended up using the back-up brisket. It was a bit more tender and tastier. I had a wisdom tooth out today! So I didn't personally taste brisket #1 after it rested in the fridge another night all sliced up. My family said that they thought it was brisket #2 when they ate it tonight, so I am assuming that its very good. #1 got very good reviews. I did end up cooking the big one for more than 8 hours. DH would like to try one in the Big Green Egg some day. I see no reason to try and improve a good thing. I use Chipotle sauce and ketchup, or ketchup with a chipotle pepper and brown sugar. Last year, just to be very careful, I had them leave a LOT more fat on the beef, and I had RAVE reviews. What do you all think about that? Do you find more fat helps? I trimmed it off when I sliced it.

For being in Texas, it may seem strange but this is my favorite. 3 lb Beef brisket -- about 16 oz Stewed tomatoes 8 oz Sauerkraut 1 c Applesauce 2 ts Brown sugar 2 tb Cold water 2 tb Cornstarch In 10 inch skillet combine undrained tomatoes, undrained kraut, applesauce, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat. Add brisket, spooning mixture over the meat. Cover and simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours or till meat is tender, spooning sauce occassionally. Transfer meat to serving platter, keep warm. Skim off fat from pan juices. Combine cold water and cornstarch, stir into tomato mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly, cook 2 more minutes. Serve as gravy. Most of the time, I'll cook it in the crock pot all day. I serve it over rice.