The Best Wagyu Smoked Brisket Recipe And A Genius Tip For Re-Heating The Leftovers

• Smoking a wagyu beef brisket at home is easy when you have the right tools and the best cut of meat
• Smoking brisket is even easier when using MEATER Block to precisely monitor the temperature of the wagyu brisket until it’s perfectly cooked

Smoked Brisket is one of the most popular BBQ dishes in American and for good reason, it’s absolutely delicious. Smoking a brisket at home can be time-consuming but it’s relatively easy when you have the proper tools and your disposal. And one of the quickest ways to elevate that smoked brisket experience is by upgrading to an American Wagyu Beef Brisket.

I’m not suggesting you have to go with Wagyu Beef Brisket every single time but this recipe is about American Wagyu which meets all Norther American Meat Institute (NAMI) guidelines. Smoking brisket on the weekends isn’t a cheap hobby and Wagyu is even more expensive than regular brisket but the finished product is worth every penny.

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In terms of equipment, for this recipe, you will need a wood-fire smoker of some sort. I used the Traeger Ironwood 885 Pellet Smoker because that’s the smoker I have at home but there are plenty of other options that can be used.

You will also want a MEATER Block wireless meat thermometer to ensure you’re precisely monitoring the internal temperature. You will also need a sharp knife for trimming the brisket if it doesn’t come pre-trimmed, butcher paper (or tin foil), and a pre-made rub from Traeger or ingredients for your own.

For this recipe, I opted to use two beef rubs from Traeger, the classic Traeger Beef Rub and the Traeger Coffee Rub. I mixed those together in a small bowl and rubbed the Wagyu Beef Brisket on all sides before tightly wrapping in plastic wrap and letting it sit overnight in the fridge before firing up the smoker at 6am.

The cook time of a smoked Wagyu Beef Brisket will vary but the general rule of thumb is 30-60 minutes per pound. This 16-pound American Wagyu Beef Brisket took me just over 11 hours on the smoker and then I let it sit for another 90 minutes wrapped in towels in the YETI cooler.

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We’ll get to some savvy tips and tricks below but you will generally want to pull the brisket off the smoker a few degrees below your desired temperature because it will continue to cook a bit longer even after it’s off the smoker. My desired internal temperature with this 16lb American Wagyu Beef Brisket was 205-degrees Fahrenheit so I pulled it off at 199.

With the MEATER Block Wireless Meat Thermometer, I was able to precisely monitor the internal temperature of the brisket from the moment I inserted the probe. I waited until about six hours in before inserting the probe because I knew this was going to take at least 9 hours and probably closer to 12. But I was able to set the ‘desired temperature’ in the MEATER iPhone app to 199-degrees. With the 24-hour+ battery life of the MEATER Block, I knew it would be exactly what I needed for this brisket!

The iPhone app showed me when I was close to hitting that temperature, it predicted how much time was left based on how quickly the temp was going up, and it alerted me the brisket was ready to come off the smoker.

Sixteen pounds is A LOT of beef. And I had plenty of leftovers for everyone. A clever tip I recently picked up for re-heating smoked brisket is to use sous vide. Set your sous vide cooker to 150 degrees. You can start the brisket from frozen or thawed. It won’t cook your brisket again like the oven or microwave and it will lock in all of that beautiful wagyu brisket juice. This has been an absolute game-changer of a tip.

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The Best Wagyu Smoked Brisket Recipe

 

Step 1: choosing the brisket size

In general, you will want to plan for about 1/2 pound of uncooked brisket per person. I always double that because I love leftovers and I want everyone to have leftovers. In my house, ‘extra’ is always the right amount. But if you’re trying to be precise or cooking for a large crowd then budget 1/2 to 1 pound per person and you’ll be good to go.

Step 2: choosing a rub + rubbing the brisket

Any savvy pitmaster entering a smoked brisket BBQ competition will make a rub from scratch. And many weekend smokers like myself will make their own. But time is a precious commodity in my household and I don’t have the time to track down all the ingredients to make fresh rubs from scratch every time so I opt to use the pre-made Traeger Beef Rubs. You will also want to trim any excess fat from the brisket using a sharp knife before applying the rub.

For this 16-pound American Wagyu Beef Brisket I used the Traeger Beef Rub and the Traeger Coffee Rub, mixed them together in a small bowl, and it came out perfect. You can rub the brisket anywhere from 24 hours before to right before it goes on the smoker. I prefer to rub it the night before and give it a good 8-hours so the flavors have a lot of time to set without altering the texture of the meat.

Once the brisket is rubbed you will wrap it in plastic wrap and you can put it back in the fridge to sit overnight or you can leave it covered on the counter if your dogs won’t get into it.

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Step 3: What temperature to smoke brisket at?

As we said before, smoking a brisket will take anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes per pound. So for a 16-pound brisket, you could be looking at a full 16 hours on the smoker. ‘Low and Slow’ is the mantra. You want to keep the smoker at a low temperature.

Some pitmasters will tell you 250F is the right temperature to smoke at and those jabronis are flat out wrong. In fact, they’re so wrong you should just ignore them forever. 225F is the temperature you want to set your smoker to.

Once your smoker has reached 225F, you will lay the Wagyu Brisket fat-side down on the smoker grates and smoke it for 6 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 160F. There’s some wiggle room here. If you let it go to 164 it won’t ruin the brisket.

I insert the MEATER Block wireless meat thermometer somewhere between hours 4 and 5. This gives me a precise look at the internal temperature as it inches toward 160 and this way. I don’t have to pay too much attention for the first few hours. Once the MEATER Block alerts me that we’ve hit a 160F internal temperature we’re on to the next step.

Step 4: Wrapping the brisket, low and slow

Once the internal temp reads 160F or you’ve had it open on the grates for 6 hours you will pull it off the grill while keeping the smoker temp still at 225. If you want to do it up right, you will wrap the Wagyu Beef Brisket in butcher paper while leaving room for the MEATER Block wireless meat thermometer poking out.

You can also use tinfoil which I’ve done many times. Butcher paper is expensive. Way more expensive than it should be. So don’t feel bad if you choose to save money by using tinfoil.

Double wrap the brisket. Again, leave room for the MEATER Block wireless meat thermometer to poke out of the paper or foil. Then place the Wagyu Brisket back on the smoker at 225F and leave it there until the internal temperature reaches 195. The MEATER Block will automatically tell you when the internal temperature has reached 195 and then it’s good to go.

Step 5: Let the Wagyu Brisket rest before slicing

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This step is crucial. The brisket will continue to cook after it’s removed from the smoker. This is a THICCCCC piece of beef we’re talking about here. If you have a YETI cooler or something similar that retains heat (or cold) really well, I suggest wrapping the brisket in a bath towel and putting it at the bottom of that cooler and then letting it rest for at least 60 minutes and up to two hours.

I’ve left a brisket wrapped in a cooler for 3+ hours and it still came out perfect. Don’t worry about it resting for too long, worry about it resting for not long enough.

Step 6: The Best Way To Reheat Brisket

If you have a sous vide cooker you are in luck. Sous vide is the single best way to reheat brisket and other types of barbecue (ribs, pork, etc) that are at risk of drying out.

Set your sous vice cooker to 150F and throw in the brisket. If it’s a fully cooked brisket that was never sliced and it’s also fully frozen it can take up to six hours. But we’re talking about leftovers here so plan on maybe an hour or two if it’s a large chunk of brisket but reheating it to 150F via sous vide will ensure all of the moisture stays in there, it doesn’t dry out at all, and tastes as fresh as if you just smoked it.

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