Yep, figured I'd get in on the fun here.... Now, I'm a southern fella myself, so as expected, I'm a bit proud of my ability with a grill and/or smoker. Also worth noting is my rather heavy addiction to MEAT! I LOVE MEAT! Especially beef <3 So, here to showcase my talent with a smoker and my love of bovine protein, is my recipe for a Smoked Beef Brisket, with a home made spice rub.

Ingredients:
1- Beef Brisket (The one I used here was roughly 5 lbs. Size is up to you, everything else more or less stays the same)
1/8 C Garlic Powder
1 TBSP Chili Powder
2 TSP Ground Black Pepper
1 TSP Thyme
1/2 TSP Paprika
Buns, whatever variety you so choose.

Equipment & Cooking Supplies
Smoker
Hickory/Mesquite wood chips
Charcoal Briquettes
Lighter Fluid
Lighter
Oven Mitt <!!!

Directions
Stoke the Smoker with charcoal and wood, lighting as per usual. If you're cooking <u>solely</u> with wood, dampen them before lighting, using some other material to get them going. Trust me, all that annoying thick white smoke is what ya want, and the water gets it out. Having lit the smoker, you need to give it time to get going, assuming you used charcoal. In the mean time, we got Rub to make!

Rub
Combine all the spice ingredients listed in a small bowl, mixing thoroughly and evenly. Feel free to taste and alter the rub. The mix I have listed here is a bit sharp, but can be tolarated by most people... If you want it a little milder, use less chili powder. Want it to melt your face off? Rub the brisket down generously with some pepper juice before applying the rub. When you have your Rub mixed up, you'll want to give a side of the brisket a good coat of it. Easiest way to do this is to sift it straight form the bowl to the meat, rubbing it across evenly afterwards (RUB it in evenly...Get it? RUB the RUB in?! Heh...heh...ok).

Cooking
With your brisket seasoned, and your fire ready to rock, its time to cook the beast! Insert the brisket in the smoker as required. Now, the BIGGEST mistake you can make here is getting impatient, and getting hot. A good, tender brisket will take you AT LEAST 6-8 hours to smoke. I prefer to start mine friday morning, and eat it Saturday night, in a side-box style smoker. If you need it done tonight, count on at least 4 hours for the 5lb brisket mentioned here, and thats to get it medium-rare or so. It will take longer in a side-box/indirect heat smoker. On that subject, something else to avoid is getting hot. In a side-box/indirect heat smoker, you got little to worry about. In a "cube" smoker, you'll have to pay attention to you fuel applications. You want it to cook slow. Calm down, keep the fire mild and snack. If you rush it, you'll trash it. You'll want a good smoke plume to be billowing out of your smoker more or less the whole time you're cooking. For the 5lb brisket I listed here, I slow-smoked it for 4 hours, then stepped my charcoal amount up by about 30% or so in the last half hour, which is what really cooked it through. I can not stress enough how important it is to slow down and take the time to let the smoke in.

Dinner!
I prefer to dine on this sliced and on a bun, topped with BBQ sauce. I usually make my own, but as you can tell from the picture, I also like Sweet Baby Ray's. Convient product placement, eh? Honestly, thats about it. Time, and a little bit of balancing in the rub. Like I said, feel free to remix the rub to suit your taste. Experiment with differnt amounts of different spices, and always try again. Something else, is don't cut your meat right away. Give it 10-15 minutes to cool before slicing and serving; It'll be a ton juicier and more flavorful if you wait. I can't stress enough how important it is to make this with plenty of TIME. Slow down, keep your fire mellow, and snack if your hungry. The wait is worth it!

Some other things worth mentioning: If you have a regular type charcoal or gas BBQ grill, you CAN still smoke things, just not as easily. To do so: Tear off a sheet of aluminum foil, about the size of a sheet of paper. Dampen two handfuls of wood chips and place in the center of the sheet. Fold the foil up on either side, and roll the edges closed all the way around, making a small sachet. Pierce the foil in several places with a fork or knife, and place it on the charcoal. Wherever you place it will develop a cool spot, so I'd suggest more towards an edge some place, where less heat is needed to cook the meat properly. Alternately, you can also sprinkle wood chips directly onto the charcoal bed; If you use this method, do not wet them, you'll kill the charcoal beneath them if you do. If you have a LP fueled grill, place the sachet on the cooking grate, towards an edge where it will catch alot of heat. Its a bit tougher to use chips on a gas grill, and you may need to light them directly to get them going. When you get the wood going, KEEP THAT LID CLOSED!! If you run out every five minutes to flap the lid and check it, you're not getting anything done... All the smoke, an the flavor with it, gets let out. Again, kick back, relax, and hold tight.

Wood choices vary widely. Any nut or fruit tree is good to use...Pcean, Hickory, Apple, Walnut, Oak, Apple, Cherry, Etc... DO NOT USE RESINOUS WOOD, like pine. The resin burning off impregnates the meat, and tastes like utter ass. I mean it, the dog wont touch it, its that bad.

When you do open the smoker, or when adding charcoal, inserting/removing the smoker basket, etc, use common sense and an over mitt. Smokers get damn hot usually, and you'll likely only run out and grab the handle bare handed once. USE A MITT. If you don't, let the burn be a reminder next time.

That about sums it up, folks. Like I said, biggest thing is slow down, keep your fire low, and snack. Don't rush it. If you got any more questions, feel free to let me know! Comments or suggestions are appreciated!