So you have a Bradley smoker and you are ready to cook a big ol’ brisket. But did you know that to get the most out of your smoker and your brisket, it is important to use the right kind of wood?
Many beginners overlook this crucial piece, but it’s true, and you’ll notice–– each type of wood adds a different flavor to brisket. Let’s dig into the details!
Smoking Brisket
Brisket is a cut of meat that comes from the chest area or breast of a cow – it includes deep pectorals, so naturally, it’s a tough cut of meat to cook. That’s why smoking brisket is ideal.
When smoking brisket, all you need are basic ingredients; garlic, salt, pepper, celery salt, and onion powder. If properly added, these basic ingredients will enhance the taste and aroma of this already flavorful meat. Since you’ll be smoking your brisket, it’s important to use the hardwood for the smoke to get the delicious flavor you want in your brisket.
Wood is an Ingredient too
You’ll need to cook brisket at low temperatures to tenderize tough parts of the meat. It’s not uncommon to cook it for 10-12 hours, depending on the size––and for that entire duration, you’ll be exposing your brisket to the smoke. Give yourself enough time.
The Bradley Bisquettes are specially designed to give you the smoke flavor you want without turning to ash. This is important because when hardwood turns to ash, it releases chemicals that make your meat taste bad. Our bisquettes extinguish themselves before they turn to ash so you get delicious smoked food every time.
What’s the Best Kind of Wood for Smoking Brisket?
Bradley Bisquettes are available in a wide variety of flavors. Here we’ll cover our top picks for the best kinds of wood for smoking brisket and discuss the subtle differences between them.
1. Hickory
Hickory is made up of pure wood chunks, also known as the MVP– works best with any cut when it comes to smoking beef and pork. With the right food smoker, hickory will impart a strong and rich bacon-like aroma and flavor that many of us expect with food smoking. On a practical level, this hardwood produces a lot of smoke, so you should not go overboard.
2. Mesquite
Smoking brisket with mesquite is the gold standard for certain types of smoked meats. Relative to the other types of wood added to this list, mesquite has a more intense flavor profile and gives off a strong, slightly sweet, and hearty flavor. Mesquite has a strong flavor so use in moderation when smoking a brisket for long hours.
3. Oak
The flavor of medium-strong & rich smoke makes oak the number one hardwood for smoking brisket and various proteins and vegetables. First of all, the wood is very easy to manage and burns consistently for a long time in most food smokers––this is truly required for smoking brisket for a day long. Of course, you don’t need to worry about this with Bradley Bisquettes because they are designed to give you the right amount of smoke every time no matter what wood you use.
You can also blend Oak’s flavor with other woods. Whether you choose to blend oak with mesquite (stronger woods), or cherry (lighter ones), oak will add a mouth-watering layer of flavor to your brisket.
4. Maple
Maple has a mild, sweet & earthy flavor and many people use this hardwood as a primary wood for seafood, fish, chicken, pork, turkey, cheese, and vegetables. For this reason, maple is usually not a top choice for brisket – but if you blend it with other wood, brisket and maple can be a great combination. Also, it is important to know that the maple flavor doubles when match with mesquite.
5. Cherry
If you like a mild-medium, sweet and fruity flavor in your smoked brisket, look no further––cherry is a fantastic choice.
Its flavor works great with brisket. It imparts a beautiful, dark red color to your brisket’s surface that makes it look beautiful.
The taste of cheery enhances when paired up with oak, hickory, or even the strongest wood like mesquite. No doubt, this cheery is a great blending candidate, especially when you want that flavor of fruitiness combined with a strong smoke flavor.
Wrap Up
Normally, smoking brisket is hard because it requires a significant amount of time. You need the right amount of heat and smoke to make it turn out tender and juicy.
Fortunately, the Bradley Smoker makes smoking the perfect brisket incredibly easy. Our smoker is designed so you can set it with our automatic temperature controls and timer for no babysitting, no hassle experience. The Bradley Bisquettes ensure you get the right amount of smoke flavor and they don’t turn to ash, so your brisket or any other smoked foods will taste amazing every time.
Test out the different types of Bradley Bisquettes to find the flavor combination that is right for you and take your brisket to the next level of delicious. Check out more of our blog for more Bradley tips and tricks on food smoking to get mouth-watering results every time with your Bradley Smoker.
