Swedish Brisket is hard to find, but I got my hands on one from Dalsjöfors and I’ll try my best to turn this into a great brisket cook.
The brisket I bought weighs 5.3 kilos, or 11.7 lbs. However, I didn’t cook the full brisket. Read on to understand why.
When buying Swedish briskets they aren’t butchered the same way as the American ones. They have no fat cap, and the deckle of fat between the point and the flat is much thinner. Also, the flat is very flat, meaning it is bigger in size (area wise), and thinner, than the US version. See photos below.
Brisket in the cryovac
Brisket unfolded
I know from experience that it is hard to smoke a brisket where the flat is too thin, so I decided to trim those off and grind it into burgers instead. The point (top left in the photo below) was what I ended up smoking. This one weighed in at 2.8 kilos or 6.2 lbs.
Brisket separated
Instructions
- Start by trimming off any excess fat or silver skin off the brisket. In my case there was hardly any trimming to be done.
- Apply a dry brine with the salt on all sides of the meat and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours.
- Apply the rub evenly on all sides.
- Get your grill started, prepare it for indirect heat, have it running at 120-130° C / 250-265° F.
- Add a few chunks of wood and smoke the meat for roughly 5-6 hours or until the inner temperature hits 78-80°C / 172-175° F.
- When the meat hits 78-80°C / 172-175° F and the bark looks good it is time to wrap it for the remainder of the cook.
- Now use two large sheets of aluminum grill and wrap the meat in both for dual layers. Leave the thermometer in the meat so you can keep track of temperature. Put the meat back on the grill and keep cooking until inner temperature hits 95°C / 203° F. For this size meat it usually takes 1-1.5 hours.
- Remove from the grill and let it rest for 2 hours covered in aluminum foil and a towel. If you have a cooler or faux cambro use that, they hold temp even better.
- Take the foil covered brisket out and place it on a cutting board placed in an oven pan. Remove the foil and slice it in thin slices. Remember to slice against the grain. The oven pan helps collect the meat juices.
