This is Texas and we take our meat very seriously.

Ingredients and Supplies

USDA Prime Brisket
Brine (step 1)
EVOO
Salt
Pepper
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Sugar
Seasoned Salt or Favorite dry rub
20 lbs of ice

Brine

Brining is the art of locking in moisture and adding deep, complex flavors to your meats. You are welcomed to experiment with brining. Brining is a very simple technique that involves dissolving your seasoning ingredients in a water mixture. Once you get that down you can start adding other spices or flavors. One of the things that brining does keeps the meat tender. Keep in mind that you are dealing with a very tender cut of meat such as filet mingon or chateau briand brining would be counter productive. Lets make the brine

Place 1 cup of salt, 1 cup of pepper, & 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of onion powder, and 1/2 cup of garlic powder in a container.
Bring a gallon of water to a rolling boil.
Pour the water into the dry mixture and mix until it dissolves.
Drop 10 lbs of ice in dissolved mixture to drop the temperature to 40 degrees Fahrenheit
Drop the brisket in the brine and let it sit for at least 1 hour per pound. (Personally I do 24 hours)

Smoking

The key to smoking any meat is to do it low and slow. There are plenty of different mixtures of wood that people use to flavor meats. It's all a matter of preference. I prefer bold flavors so I do mesquite and hickory. I smoke my briskets for 12 hours to allow the intense smoke flavor to penetrate deeply. In this example I will be using a Traeger Pro Series 34 Pellet Grill. The beauty of using the electric pellet smoker is that is holds the temperature perfectly while smoking.

Get the smoker up to temp
rub the brisket down with olive oil and liberally rub your dry seasoning to coat the exterior of the entire brisket. !
Place your brisket on Fat Side up.
wait (rotating every 3 hours)
wait
wait
wait
after 12 hours wrap the brisket in butcher paper.
slightly raise the heat to cook the internal temperature to 200 degrees Fahrenheit
(alternative method is to put the brisket in the oven on 250 degrees Fahrenheit until the desired internal temperature is reached.

Check out the smoke rings

There you have it, we spent 14 hours smoking a brisket. I bought the brisket on Friday evening, and it finished this Sunday afternoon. How is that for commitment?