This "Mexican" Brisket recipe is the beef version of our wildly popular Mexican Pulled Pork recipe that we launched in 2022. A savory pulled pork recipe that is a stark contrast to the sweet pulled pork that I grew up on in the Deep South. That recipe and YouTube video are so popular that the technique made its way into our BBQ Schools.
The history behind the Mexican pulled pork recipe comes from conversation with my competition BBQ buddy Sean Woodson. Woody came up with this savory recipe years ago. We have joked that just because you use hot sauce and fajita seasoning that the recipe "isn't all the Mexican" since it in no way is any sort of traditional Mexican dish. However, the recipe needs a name, and we can't think of anything better. Plus, it is super good!
We figured that Mexican pulled pork concept had to be tried on brisket, and well the result were phenomenal! The resulting chopped brisket can be used on all sorts of dishes like tacos, nachos or sandwiches.
Meat Church How To YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/ZQLgjqwbzxQ
More Brisket Recipes: https://www.meatchurch.com/blogs/recipes/tagged/brisket
Ingredients
- 1 packer brisket, trimmed (how-to trim brisket video)
- 2 T Meat Church Dia de la Fajita Seasoning
- 1 T coarse black pepper
- Cholula hot sauce
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, sliced into pats
- 1 C beef stock or broth
- Tortillas or buns for serving + fixings of your choice
- 1 full steam pan & foil to cover
- fat separator
- Instant Read Thermometer
Prepare your Smoker
Prepare your smoker at a temperature of 250 degrees. I recommend a heavier smoke wood or pellet for this cook such as oak, mesquite, hickory or pecan. We used mesquite in a Mill Scale offset smoker
Brisket prep
Trim brisket to your liking removing all hard fat from the meat side. Trim the fat side to 1/4" of fat remaining and shape the brisket. My preferred trim can be seen in this How to Trim a Brisket video.
Prepare the brisket
Slather the brisket on all sides thoroughly with hot sauce.
Season all sides of the brisket lightly with coarse black pepper. Black pepper catches smoke and helps build bark. Therefore, we apply it first.
Season all sides of the brisket liberally with Meat Church Dia de la Fajita Seasoning. Allow to adhere at least 30 minutes, preferably longer. Allow to adhere overnight if possible.
Smoke the brisket
Place the brisket directly on the grate, fat side up.
Smoke the brisket until it has developed a great bark and has reached at least 170 degrees internal temperature using your instant read thermometer. This should take around 7-8 hours or so depending on weight. Remove the brisket from the smoker.
Wrap
Place the brisket in a full steam pan. Apply a liberal coating of hot sauce.
Then top it with the sliced butter.
Pour the beef stock in the bottom of the pan.
Cover the pan tightly with foil and return to the smoker. Continue smoking the brisket at the same temperature. You can also increase the temperature to as high as 325 if you are in a time crunch. Smoke the brisket until it is probe tender which will occur over 200 internal temperature. You should not be able to feel any resistance when you probe with your instant read thermometer. We went all the way to 209 in this video.
Finish the brisket
Pull the brisket from the smoker.
Pour the au jus into a fat separator and set aside.
Allow the brisket to rest at least 15 minutes. Fortunately, since we are chopping this brisket, a typical long rest is not required.
Chop the brisket.
Drain the grease free juice, AKA the good jus, from the fat separator over the brisket and mix. This adds incredible moisture back into the brisket.
Taste test the meat. Add hot sauce and more fajita seasoning to your liking.
Build tacos or sandwiches.
Matt's favorite is seen below. Fresh corn tortillas with guacamole, crema, pickled onions & jalapeños and creamy jalapeño hot sauce!
