Texas Barbecued Beef Brisket

10 pounds brisket

2 cups All-south barbecue rub -- see

2 cups Basic all-american bbq sauce

Recipe by: The Thrill of the Grill by Chris Schlesinger 1. Rub the brisket= thoroughly on all its sides with the barbecue rub, and allow it to come to= room temperature.

2. In the pit of a covered grill, build a very small fire on one side as=

far up against one wall as possible. Place the brisket on the grill on the= side opposite from the fire so that none of the brisket is directly over= the flame. Put the top on the cooker, pull up a chair, and grab the cooler.

This is where a person learns about the Zen of Barbecue. You gotta keep the= fire going, but very quietly. If you've got a thermometer on your covered= grill, you want to keep the temperature between 180 and 220 F. Remer, "Slow= and low is the way to go." You have to figure out your own personal= refueling policy. The one I like is one handful of coals or wood chunks to= every beer.

This goes on for about 8 to 10 hours or however long you can make it, the= longer the better. Don't be scared by the darkening of the exterior, the= outside of the brisket will be superdark--my personal favorite part.

3. Upon completion, pull the brisket out, trim off any excess fat, and=

slice it thin. Serve with barbecue sauce on the side--no pro would ever= cover properly cooked brisket with sauce, he'd just dab on a touch.

Obviously the key here is a tremendous amount of patience and a day when= you want to do nothing but sit around. But the end product is one of those= great culinary events that results from spending a lot of time doing= something that is relaxing and enjoyable. Make sure you have plenty of tall= boys for eating this.

-Accompanying commentary=20 In my estimation, beef brisket just might be why the barbecue process was= invented. My research, sketchy as it is, shows that there was a strong= German immigrant communitu in Texas around the turn of the century. It has= some of these Germans working in the booming Texas cattle industry, and= others working in butcher shops, what with their strong background in= butchering and charcuterie. It being common knowledge that butchers are= constantly trying to turn tough or inexpensive cuts of meat into a usable= product that brings a higher cost (witness sausages and pates), it has= these German butchers faced with the brisket. This cut of beef is= particularly unwanted because of the huge percentage of fat that runs ont= only on the surface, but throughout the cut. Traditional technique would= braise or pickle this cut to tenderize it, but the brisket also has a lot= of beef flavor. In my personal opinion, a vey smart German butcher who ws= looking for a way to market this cut barbecued it. We're not talking here= about the open-pit roasting that was already popular in this area, but= rather closed-pit cooking, in which the cooking is done by convection= ratherr than conduction. It is similar to braising in theory, with the= smoke replacing the water. It is cooked at very low heat for a long period= of time, and the high fat content protects the meat from drying out but= also disappears through the 10 - 18 hour cooking process. What you are left= with is very tender meat with little or no fat and a tremendous smoky beef= flavor. I think the meat and the process were literally invented for each= other.

Now, I don't think that you will get any disagreement from the professional= barbecue industry when I say that brisket is the hardest to master--but,= hey, learning is half the fun. And, in the words of Remus Powers, famous= barbecue aficianado, "The best barbecue I ever had is the one on the plate= in front of me."=20 These are guidelines for the closed-pit barbecuing of brisket, a basic= technique with many variables which is wide open for personal= interpretations.

Chris Schlesinger