[ Theme music plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today on "Cook's Country," Bryan makes Julia the ultimate Texas barbecue brisket on the grill... and Adam reveals his top pick for coolers.

That's all right here on "Cook's Country."

-Beef has always been a part of Texas barbecue, but it wasn't until the 1960s that brisket began to take center stage.

-Before then, meat markets would typically buy a whole animal and butcher it themselves.

-Now, cuts from the hindquarter -- the round, most of the loin -- They were sold directly to the public.

But butchers had to cook the tough, less-desirable cuts from the forequarter, like short ribs or brisket, and sell it as barbecue.

-In the 1960s, however, beef purveyors began to Cryovac individual beef cuts and ship them in boxes.

-Barbecue joints started to focus on the brisket because it was cheap and available.

Plus, hours over a low and slow fire turned the tough cut tender.

-Now, today, folks all over Texas stand in line for hours just to get a taste of properly barbecued brisket.

But today, we're skipping the line, because Bryan's going to show us how to make one at home.

♪♪ Here at "Cook's Country," it takes us about six weeks to develop a recipe from start to finish, with one exception.

And that exception is Texas-style barbecued brisket, which took us a lot longer.

And today, Bryan's going to tell us all about it.

-This was a big one, yes.

Before I went to Texas a couple years ago for my first eating trip, I called up Daniel Vaughn, who's the Texas Monthly barbecue editor.

He drives around Texas and eats barbecue and reviews it.

-Great life.

-Right.

So, I asked him, "Hey, Daniel, what are some Texas recipes that we could put into 'Cook's Country'?"

He said, "For starters, you guys could do a full-size Texas brisket on a regular charcoal grill."

As you know, when we typically do barbecue recipes, we'll impart the smoke on the grill for a couple hours and then put the meat in the oven to finish cooking 'cause it's a controlled, even temperature.

-That's right.

Or use half a brisket, right, just so it's not such a big piece of meat to be managing on a little barbecue grill.

-Right.

So, I accepted that as a challenge.

And it took us a couple of years, to be honest with you, and over 500 pounds of brisket, but we finally pulled it off.

-That's a lot of meat.

-I'll tell you.

He's even made it, and I think he's impressed.

-Oh, yeah?

And this is a monster piece of meat.

This isn't a half brisket, which a lot of recipes use.

This is the full deal.

-Yes, and that's one of the things we found.

We couldn't use just a half brisket.

There was something mystical and mysterious about using an entire brisket that really helped us in the end.

So, this is a full 12-pound brisket.

And brisket is widely regarded throughout Texas as the holy grail of barbecue.

It's probably the hardest cut of meat to get tender on the barbecue.

And that's because you have two different cuts of meat.

You have the point here, this big, bulbous part up here, and you have the flat.

Now, the grain runs in different directions on both cuts, so they're also going to cook at different rates.

So we had to figure out a way to regulate the temperature and get this whole thing to come up to same temperature at the same time.

So, why don't we start by butchering this?

We want to leave a fair amount of fat on the brisket, 'cause we're going to be cooking in close proximity to the coals, because we're using a regular charcoal grill.

So the fat is going to be our friend here.

So, we want to leave anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 inch of fat all over.

We're going to start off by just shaving down some of the ends here.

You don't want to trim too much of it, because, like I said, it's going to really help keep the meat from drying out and overcooking on the grill.

I don't want to take too much off of this thin, skinny end here.

Up around the point, we want to carve out -- There's a big pocket of fat right over here.

Want to remove that.

Now, I like to use a boning knife for this because it's flexible.

It can get into these tight, little crevices, and you work around the point cut very easily.

A chef's knife would be a little bit more clunky and cumbersome.

You're really just looking for those big pockets of fat.

Now, the point cut has a lot more intramuscular fat than the lean.

In Texas, this is called the lean, and this is called the moist, which denotes the amount of fat that's inside the meat.

So we could trim a little bit more aggressively off the point side, but the flat is really where we're concerned about making it too lean.

Okay, so, underneath this point area here, you're going to see a big hunk of fat.

-Oh, that is a big knob of fat.

-Yeah.

And you want to take this out 'cause it's not going to render off, and it's going to be very chewy.

We had to find the right balance of fat to kind of leave on there and accept for when we ate it.

-How much fat can you handle?

-Yeah.

But it was better to leave a little bit extra on there and then trim it off afterwards if we needed to.

A lot of this renders off during the cooking process.

You don't have to trim too aggressively on the underside here, with the exception of that fat pocket beneath the point.

And then anything that's less than 1 inch thick down here on the flat end, we're going to trim off just so we kind of square this up so it cooks nice and even.

-Well, we started at 12 pounds.

I'd say you're down to nearly 11 pounds.

This is going to serve at least 15 to 20 people.

-Yeah, definitely serves 15 people.

Depends on how many sides you have.

Okay, so, I think we're basically there.

We're ready to rub it down.

And in central Texas, they use a very simple spice mixture of equal parts salt and pepper.

-Sounds easy.

-Also known as a Dalmatian rub.

-[ Laughs ] I like that.

-That's adorable, right?

So, I have 1/4 cup of ground black pepper and 1/4 cup of kosher salt.

It's just about getting the smoke flavor on the meat.

Salt and pepper is really all you need.

Excellent barbecue speaks for itself, so... We're going to begin by just seasoning the sides of the meat.

I like to hold my hand there and kind of shield it into the meat.

So, this is going to be a nice, even coat.

Sprinkle it from on high.

-Plus, it makes you look fancy when you do that.

-Yeah.

Very chef-y.

-But you get a more even coverage of salt and pepper.

-That's right.

-So you not only look cool, it actually is better seasoning.

-But you also look cool, so... -[ Laughs ] So, now with the meat fully seasoned, we're going to transfer it to a sheet tray, and we're going to let it rest overnight in the refrigerator.

And during that time, the salt's going to change the structure of the proteins and allow the brisket to hold onto more moisture as it cooks.

-So, it needs to rest for at least 12 hours, but up to 24.

-That's correct.

[ Grunts ] No problem.

Just a little guy.

And so we're going to cover that with plastic wrap.

-Here.

We'll bring it up here.

That is not a small roast.

-You don't have to cover it very tightly.

Just enough to kind of enclose it.

And then tomorrow, we can throw it on the grill.

-Alright.

Grill time!

-Yes.

-Does a hardworking cooler require serious cold, hard cash?

Well, Adam's here with the answer.

-Oh, man, Bridget.

You know, there are new coolers on the market that are, like, "certified" bear-proof and virtually indestructible.

And fishermen, hunters, outdoorsmen -- They're going wild for these things.

Some of them are really expensive.

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I learned that you can spend $1,300 on a cooler.

-Not a fridge -- An actual cooler?

-On a cooler.

-Wow.

-And, you know, a number like that leave us no choice but to conduct a test to see what justifies that kind of money.

And you know what?

Because I'm a cheapskate at heart, I couldn't bring myself to buy a $1,300 cooler even with "Cook's Country" money.

So, we have this lineup of seven different coolers here.

They range in price from $19.99 -- nice, reasonable cooler price -- up to $379.95.

That was the most I could bring myself to spend.

They were from five really well-known cooler manufacturers, including two of the ones that are getting a lot of attention these days.

-Yes, they are.

-This one is YETI.

This one is Pelican.

Very well-known brands, pretty expensive.

All of these were about 50 quarts, which we consider suitable for a weekend's worth of supplies for four people.

Now, the first way that testers tested these is ease of use, and that was how easy are they to load up, do they latch well, and how do they drain?

Some of them, you can see -- Like, this one has wheels.

The wheels make them a little easier to move around, but it actually made them a little bit tricker to load, because the wheel wells inside the cooler create odd shapes that you have to work around.

-Like luggage.

-Like luggage.

Exactly.

Also, there was one cooler at the end, that red one, that didn't have a drain.

And that meant that as the ice melted and the water accumulated, if you didn't want your food taking a scuba dive, you had to take it all out, strain out the ice, and tip that thing up to pour out the water.

-So it's a very small pool.

-[ Laughing ] It's a kiddie pool.

Exactly.

And that's something that the testers didn't have to suffer with any of these others, 'cause they all had drains.

In terms of portability, there were a couple of different tests, because these things go everywhere.

So, testers either wheeled them or carried them up and down stairs, put them in and out of an SUV, and moved them across different types of surfaces -- concrete, asphalt, grass, and gravel.

-I'm so glad I wasn't part of that testing.

-You're about to be.

Sorry, you don't escape.

This is where weight made a big difference.

A lot of these weigh just 7 to 12 pounds when they're empty.

These two were significantly heavier -- 25 pounds and 38 pounds, empty, before you put any food in them.

-Wow.

-Why don't you try lifting up that one for me?

-This one.

Alright.

-Please.

-Let's see here.

Oh, I can do it, but I don't look good doing it.

-[ Laughs ] Now, the extra weight was a mixed blessing, because when testers tumbled these out of an SUV, all of the lighter-weight ones, the lids opened.

Soda and ice packs went everywhere.

These heavier guys stayed latched.

They got a couple little scratches, but they didn't come undone.

Now, let's talk about cold retention, which is essentially job one for a cooler.

-Literally the job.

-Testers did a couple of different tests.

First, they took 40-degree sodas and ice packs, loaded them into the coolers, and monitored how long it took for the sodas to reach 50 degrees.

-Mm-hmm.

-Most of these kept the sodas and the ice packs at below 50 degrees for only about two days, whereas these guys did it for four or five days.

-Okay.

-There was a second cold-retention test where testers packed them full of 32 pounds of ice and monitored how long that took to melt.

Most of these, that took about four days.

These two were 10 days and 8 days, respectively.

-That's better than my refrigerator, actually.

-That's good 'cause it costs more than your refrigerator.

They were curious as to why, of course, and the only answer to that is to break out the safety goggles and the electric saw, and they sawed them all in half to check out the insulation.

So, they cut all the coolers in half to take a look at the insulation, and they found a couple of surprises.

Number one -- It wasn't the type of insulation that mattered, but more of its location.

Four of these had insulated lids as well as walls, and those were the four that did a better job retaining cold.

Also, some of them had thinner insulation.

Some of them had thicker insulation.

The insulation was about 1.4 to 3 inches thick among all of the coolers.

And you would think that it would be the thickness of the insulation that really was the boon to cold retention.

In fact, it was the density.

That's because air does not conduct heat well.

It's a good insulator.

So, if you have an insulation that is less dense, that means it has more trapped air in it, and it's going to do a better job keeping the temperature of the cooler consistent.

That's why this one with slightly thinner insulation did a better job than this one with the thicker insulation, because the insulation here was 35 milligrams per cubic centimeter.

Here, it was 40 milligrams per cubic centimeter.

-The insulation had more air in it in this one.

-Exactly.

Exactly.

So, this is actually the overall winner.

This is one of the expensive ones.

It's the YETI Tundra 45.

It's $299.99.

So it's not cheap, but it keeps things cold longer than anything else here.

There are two problems -- the hefty price and the hefty weight.

This is that heavy one that you had to lift.

If your cooling needs are somewhat more casual -- just a day at the beach or a quick camping trip -- testers also named a best buy, and that is the Coleman 50 Quart Xtreme Wheeled Cooler, and it's $45.99.

It's easier to move around because it has wheels and a telescoping handle.

It did a pretty good job keeping things cool -- about six days.

That's longer than any of the other ones that cost $100 or less.

What you're going to sacrifice is a little bit of durability, 'cause when they pushed this one out of the SUV, there were some dents, some scratches, and some bangs and some bends.

-So, don't push your beers and sodas out of your SUV.

-Be very careful with those beers and sodas.

Drink them up before you can do any damage.

-Well, there you go.

If you need to keep things cool for a long, long time and maybe there's bears around, well, pick up our winner.

It's the YETI Tundra 45.

It's $299.99.

But if it's a day at the beach you're after, then look no farther than the Coleman 50 Quart Xtreme Wheeled Cooler.

It was our best buy, and it ran $45.99.

♪♪ -Okay, Julia.

So, commercial smokers have a big advantage over a charcoal grill like this.

They have a firebox that's set away from the smoking chamber so the brisket gets long, slow hours of indirect heat, and it cooks nice and evenly.

So, our brisket is nearly the same size as this grill.

-It is!

-So, the main challenge we face with a regular 22-inch grill like this is that we would constantly have to open the grill and reload it with coal.

-That lets all the heat out.

-Lets all the heat out.

So, we tinkered around with something called a charcoal snake, which is simply a row of briquettes that goes all the way around the inner edge of the grill.

And when we did it right and we set it up just perfect, we were able to get a steady stream of heat -- about 275 to 300 degrees -- for a whole six hours.

-Sounds dangerous.

A snake.

-[ Chuckles ] It's dangerously good.

So, to set the snake up, we're going to just place 58 briquettes.

Very specific here.

-58 briquettes.

-58 for the first row.

-That's 'cause we test everything, so 58 it is.

-Right.

And we just want to lay them and shingle them one on the previous row.

-Like scales of a snake.

-And we're going to go all the way around the inner edge of the grill.

It's important that the coals touch one another.

That way, the snake continues to burn as it goes around.

-Ah, so you light one end, and as that end burns, it slowly lights the coals that come after it.

-Exactly.

-Very clever.

Now, question -- Does this snake come around and bite its own tail?

-No.

The snake with 58 briquettes is going to leave us about an 8-inch gap.

So, you don't want the head and the tail to meet.

So, we have about an 8-inch gap there, and now we're going to lay a second row of briquettes -- another 58 right on top of that.

Again, you want to make sure that the coals are shingled on one another, and they all touch.

-This is quite fascinating, Bryan.

I've never seen anything like it.

-It's incredible.

I've started cooking other recipes with this, like ribs.

-Anything that you need a long, gentle heat.

-Yeah, and with this amount of coals, it burns at a constant 275 degrees.

-That's a tough trick to do, especially in a grill like this.

-Okay, so once we've got all 116 briquettes lined up around the inner edge of the grill, we want to open the bottom vent completely.

We want to make sure we get a steady stream of oxygen in there.

So, now we're going to stick a 13x9-inch disposable aluminum pan right in the center there, and we're going to fill it with 6 cups of water.

And that water's going to help regulate the temperature and add a little bit of moisture to the cooking.

-Which is important if you're cooking for this long of a time.

-This pan also helps catch some of the drippings from the brisket.

So, now for our source of smoke, we're going to add five 3-inch wood chunks.

Space them evenly starting about 4 inches from the head of the snake.

They're going to give us a nice burst of smoke throughout the cooking process.

-Alright, now, what kind of wood is that?

Does it matter?

-Well, you know, it does.

It's personal preference.

You know, this is hickory, but if you can find apple or pecan or oak, those all work really well.

So it's really what you like.

-Gotcha.

Alright.

-Okay, so, now we're finally ready to light the snake.

-[ Laughs ] -So, I have 10 lit charcoal briquettes here, and I'm just going to pour them over the head of the snake.

-Ah!

Alright.

-So, once we pour the 10 briquettes -- And we only need 10 briquettes just to really get the snake going -- I want to make sure that the briquettes do not touch the tail of the snake 'cause, again, we want to burn only in one direction.

So, now we can place the grate on top.

And we'll just give this grate a real quick swipe with the grill brush to make sure it's clean.

And then we're going to make sure there's no soot left on there by rubbing it with some oiled paper towels.

-Always a good idea when you grill.

-Now we're ready to put the brisket on the grill.

So, I want to take it and put it fat-side down with the point end directly over the gap in the snake.

Later on, we're going to add more coals, and that point side will get all the heat it needs to finish cooking.

-So, I'm sure you need a thermometer.

-Right.

This is one of those tools that's especially important for this recipe, 'cause, again, we don't want to be opening the grill to take a look at the temperature all the time.

-Right.

-So, we're going to stick it into the thickest part of the point, a little bit more than halfway up so we don't get any false readings from the coals below.

And we're going to shut the grill, and we're going to position the lid vent directly over the point.

And we're going to let this go until the brisket hits 170 degrees.

That'll take about four to five hours.

Now, at a certain point, around 150 degrees, you'll notice that the steady rise in temperature of the brisket will kind of stall out.

This is actually known as "the stall."

And what happens here is the moisture in the brisket evaporates and essentially cools down the meat, so that last little bit between 150 and 170 seems to kind of creep up.

But don't open the grill.

Don't look at it.

-Just trust the snake.

-Trust the snake.

It's a marathon, not a sprint.

And it'll eventually get there.

We have enough coal in here to go for a full six hours, and it shouldn't take more than five.

-Okay.

-Okay, Julia.

It's been about five hours, and you can see that the brisket is at 171, which is one better than we hoped for.

So, we could take a look at it, finally.

-Oh, goodness!

-It's got a lot of nice bark from that spice rub that we put on earlier.

-That is a thing of beauty.

-It's gorgeous.

Okay, so, now to get through this next stage of cooking, we're going to use something called the Texas crutch.

-The Texas crutch.

-Right, and that's simply wrapping the brisket in aluminum foil, sometimes butcher paper.

What this is meant to do is to help it speed through the last bit of cooking to 205.

-Okay.

-It also helps seal in a little bit of the moisture.

-Okay.

-So, I'm going to use these fancy gloves here.

-I was wondering how you were going to get that off in one nice piece.

-If you don't have a couple of oven mitts like this, you could use a couple pairs of tongs.

-Or kitchen towels.

-Exactly.

And go right onto a sheet of aluminum foil.

-Ooh.

It's taking a lot of willpower not to just take a little bit off the top.

-So, we're going to wrap it, and when we wrap it, we want to make sure it's very tight and stuck to the brisket, 'cause you don't want to create any air pockets between the foil and the brisket 'cause that'll create steam, and the steam will wash away some of this beautiful bark that we've worked so hard for.

-Okay.

-Okay, so, that's nice and tight.

And again, when we put it back on the grill, we want to make sure that we're very aware of the orientation.

We just want to mark this side with a little "X" so we know that this is the point and this is the non-fat side.

-Gotcha.

-So, when we put it back on, we're going to put it back on in the same orientation.

-That makes sense.

-Okay, but before we go any further, we need to add a little bit more fuel to this grill, 'cause we're going to cook for another couple of hours.

-So, the snake is almost all the way around, but not quite.

-So, we're going to add another 3 quarts of charcoal briquettes, and these are unlit briquettes.

-Mm-hmm.

-We just want to scatter them all the way around, staring at the still-unlit tail of the snake.

-Makes sense.

Ah, you're filling in the gap.

-Exactly.

-Very clever, Bryan.

-Okay, so, now that we've got that extra bit of fuel on there, so the snake will continue to burn for at least another couple of hours.

And then, again, we're going to put the brisket in the same orientation.

-Mm-hmm.

-The point and the fat side are going to go over where the gap in the snake used to be.

And we can reinsert our temperature probe right through the foil into the thickest part of the point, a little bit more than halfway up.

So, we're going to let this cook until it hits 205 degrees, and that'll take another couple of hours.

-Now, that's pretty high.

-Yeah.

You know, it's the correct temperature.

A lot of recipes online and in cookbooks would encourage you to pull it off at 195, but we made over 500 pounds of brisket, and I tasted every one of them, and trust me, 205 is your target temperature.

-Because that makes the meat the most tender.

-Exactly.

So, we're going to cover it again and place the lid vent overtop of the point.

We'll let that go for another couple of hours until it hits 205.

-Alright.

-Alright, Julia, you can see we got up to a whole 206 degrees.

So now we're ready to take the brisket off the grill for the last stage of cooking.

So, we're just going to remove the probe.

For the last stage of cooking, we're actually going to transfer the brisket to a cooler, an empty cooler, and it's going to sit there for three hours.

And during that time, the brisket's going to come down from 205 to about 160 degrees.

But the majority of the time will be spent between 180 and 200 degrees, which is prime time for breaking down that collagen and making the meat tender.

-So, you're using the cooler, which has great heat retention, to finish the cooking process.

-Right.

And any cooler with a tight seal will work here.

And now, we know that because of this "X" here, we're cooking fat-side down.

When I rest it in the cooler, I want to flip it over so it's resting fat-side up, 'cause that's going to be our presentation side.

And during the resting period, a lot of juice will come out and could wash away some of that bark, and we want to showcase that when we serve the brisket.

-Alright, so, fat-side up in the cooler.

-Right.

So, I'll first flip it over here.

And then, if you have the cooler open -- -Alright.

In the cooler.

Put the lid on tight.

-Right.

And so, that'll come down slowly over the next three hours.

And by the time we're ready to slice and serve it, it'll still be at 160 degrees, still plenty hot.

-I can't wait.

♪♪ -Okay, Julia, so, it's been three hours.

-I've been very patient.

-Okay.

So, we're going to remove this foil.

Okay, you can see how tender the brisket is by the wiggle and jiggle.

-Look at that wiggle.

-That's the sign of a perfectly cooked brisket.

So, do you mind pulling the foil out from underneath me?

Okay.

-There you go.

-Thank you.

Okay, so, now it's time to carve.

And like we spoke about earlier, there's essentially two different cuts of meat here stacked on top of each other, so the grain's going to run in two different directions.

So, we're going to start by slicing the flat.

And we want to go for about 1/4-inch thick slices.

-Oh.

-And that's right across the gain.

-Look at that smoke on the bottom there.

That is red from smoke.

-Okay.

Now, the sign of a perfectly cooked brisket -- Why don't you take this piece... -Alright.

-...and gently pull it apart.

And it should just gently fall apart... -Oh, my goodness!

-...and remain moist.

-Wow.

[ Laughs ] The juice is just pouring out of this thing.

So, that's about the end of the point -- or the flat cut, rather.

-Right.

That's the end of the flat.

And now the grain is going to change directions.

So we're going to rotate the point 90 degrees, and we're going to start slicing a little bit thicker, 'cause it's a little bit more intramuscular fat here, so it'll take a thicker slice.

-Alright.

That end slice looks good with all that bark.

-Right.

-Oh, hello.

-Okay, that looks like it's just about enough for me and you.

-[ Laughs ] Actually, this was such a feat for us.

It took us two years to develop this recipe, over 500 pounds of brisket.

So, to celebrate this achievement, we've invited some of our brisket-loving colleagues to help us eat.

-Can't believe this.

-Hey, guys!

-Hey, guys!

-Hey!

-Oh, my God.

-Brisket.

-Isn't that something else?

-Oh, my -- -Let's start serving.

-Yes!

Got to pass plates down.

-Yes!

I'm going to pass this on down.

-Yeah, I'll take that one.

I'll take that one.

-Alright, everybody gets one of each.

-Bryan and Julia, you outdid yourselves.

-I know.

-I'm actually too full to eat.

[ Laughter ] It's pretty good, right?

-Oh, my gosh.

-Really good.

-So good.

-I've driven a lot longer for worse brisket than this in Texas.

[ Laughter ] -I just can't get over how moist it is.

I mean, tender and moist -- You hit it all.

-And also, that beautiful pink smoke ring all around the outside.

Well done, Bryan.

-Really delicious.

Thank you so much.

-It's hard to get brisket this good outside of Texas.

That's for sure.

-Sure is.

-So, if you want to make the ultimate barbecued beef brisket, start with a whole brisket, season it with salt and pepper, and let it rest overnight.

Create a charcoal snake inside the grill using exactly 116 briquettes, place a pan of water in the center, and carefully orient the brisket with the fat-side down and the thick end placed over the charcoal gap.

Cook the meat for four to five hours, then use a Texas crutch and continue to cook until it registers 205 degrees.

Let it rest in a cooler for two to three hours and serve to a very appreciative crowd.

From "Cook's Country," the ultimate Texas barbecue brisket.

Winner, winner.

-Brisket dinner.

-[ Laughs ] Cheers to brisket.

-Cheers, to brisket.

-Cheers.

-Let us help with dinner tonight.

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