5 Tried and True Options
Smoking brisket is an all-day affair. You’ll cook this cut of meat low and slow. If you make the effort, though, you’ll be rewarded with a succulent, scrumptious, flavorful piece of meat. It’s perfect for serving sliced with your favorite sauce or on a sandwich. However, you’ll need more than just your smoker and brisket for amazing results. You’ll also need some of the best wood for smoking brisket.
As any long-time pitmaster knows — and as many beginners will quickly find out — the wood you use during your smoking process can greatly impact your food’s final flavor. So, what is the best wood for smoking brisket? Here are five of our favorites.
1. Hickory: A Perfect Complement to Brisket’s Rich Flavor Profile
Brisket has a rich, beef-y, fatty flavor that any carnivore will love. However, because brisket carries such a strong flavor profile, pair it with a wood or pellet variety that can hold its own. Along these lines, hickory is one of the top picks for the best wood for smoking brisket.
That said, though, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. If you’re using hickory pellets or chips for the first time, consider blending them with a milder option (like apple, pecan or cherry), just until you get accustomed to how strong a flavor hickory produces. Then, you can adjust the amount you use from there.
Hickory wood is a favorite option for Kansas City-style barbecue. If that’s the style of ’que you’re aiming for, you’ll be making a good choice with hickory.
2. Oak: A Less-Intense Option for Slow Cooking
If you’ve tried hickory in the past and found it a little too in-your-face, consider oak as an alternative. It’s not as intense as hickory, but still offers a desirable, pervasive flavor profile that can be described as a classically smoky. In other words, it’s the flavor you likely think of, when you think smoked meats. Because of this, it’s one of the most popular options for smoking, hands down.
Additionally, oak burns slow and even, making it ideal for slow cooking processes. It’s exactly what you need for an all-day smoking sess with your brisket.
3. Cherry: Sweet and Light
Cherry is a good option to pair with hickory, but you can also smoke brisket with just cherry, if you’d prefer a sweet, light and slightly fruity flavor profile. Some find that cherry also gives the brisket a slightly tart note. Additionally, as you might expect from this reddish wood, it’ll also give your brisket a nice, attractive, warm color.
Cherry is a popular option for Carolina-style barbecue.
4. Pecan: A Surprising Option with Complex Flavors
Pecan is slightly sweet, slightly nutty and slightly savory. It’s a unique option that provides an alternative to the very popular hickory and oak. As is the case with hickory, though, pecan can also be combined with other options (like oak) for even more complex flavors and a nice balance of sweet and smoky.
5. Maple: A Mildly Sweet Crowd Favorite
No, your brisket isn’t going to come out of the smoker tasting like a stack of pancakes. Instead, maple provides a slightly sweet, but still mild, flavor profile that complements the cut’s fattiness and richness.
While maple may not always be a favorite for long-time grill masters, it is a pretty easy option for beginners. This is because it’s generally mild enough that you don’t have to worry about the wood’s flavor completely overpowering the brisket’s natural flavors — as can be the case with hickory.
Maple is also pretty versatile, so if you plan on doing some other smoking, later on in the season, stock up. Poultry, pork, vegetables and even cheese pair well with this wood.
Beyond the Best Wood for Smoking Brisket: Final Tips and Tricks
Before you embark on your brisket smoking adventure, there are a few things you might also like to know, especially if you’re new to the process, or just new to smoking brisket specifically.
Brisket doesn’t need a lot of the fancy stuff.
Marinades, complex spice rubs, etc. You don’t need them when it comes to brisket. Brisket’s fatty, full flavor can stand on its own. All you need to season your brisket is a simple mix of spice cabinet staples. Think salt, pepper and maybe a little garlic or onion powder. That’s really it. From there, your brisket, along with one of our top picks for the best wood for smoking brisket, will deliver all the flavor you need.
You’re not limited to just one option.
As alluded above, you’re not just limited to one of these picks for the best wood for smoking brisket. Many of these varieties can be paired with others to create unique flavor profiles. Consider pairing a milder wood with a more intense variety. Combine a wood with a more smoky, classic flavor profile with one that trends sweet. You might just discover a combination that becomes part of your own secret recipe.
The journey starts at the butcher shop.
Finally, whether you go to the butcher or just your local grocery store, before you can choose the best wood for smoking brisket, it’s important that you choose a good brisket. Look for a red-pink hue with a stark white fat cap (no discoloration!). Also, even if you’re a beginner, don’t go for a smaller brisket just because it seems safer. A brisket that’s more than 15 pounds is ideal, as it’ll have enough fat to keep the meat tasty and moist during the cooking process.