This stovetop smoked brisket is cooked three ways to give it a unique flavor, moistness, and tenderness. You get the great smoke flavor from smoking on the stovetop, tenderness from the Instant Pot, and a wonderful sauce from the Dutch oven.
As many of you know, I’m a real lover of Penzey’s spices. I had a packet of Tsardust Memories and added that to my own barbecue rub spice mix. You can use your favorite barbecue rub for this and add Tsardust if you wish.
Stovetop Smoker
I have a large stockpot with a pasta insert that I use for stovetop smoking. Yes, I also use it for boiling pasta and hot water bath canning. This is dead easy. Get a bag of regular wood chips in your favorite wood. Soak some chips in water for a half-hour. Then put a large piece of foil on the bottom of the stockpot. It should come up the sides. Then get another large piece of foil and put the drained wood chips in the center. Tent the foil around it and put it on top of the foil in the stockpot. Then put the pasta insert in and whatever food you want to smoke. This means you don’t have to go outside in the rain to smoke your food. Of course, it’s not going to give you the char of a grill, but it does give good smoky flavor. Check Stovetop Smoked Chicken for pictures.
Instant Pot
The Instant Pot or other pressure cooker will make the meat that has been smoked nice and tender in a short amount of time. The meat gets browned then put in the Instant Pot with beef broth, garlic, and a bay leaf. It retains the smoky flavor.
Dutch Oven
The Dutch oven is used to brown the meat before going into the Instant Pot and flavor the smoked meat with a mirepoix. That browning develops a nice fond on the bottom of the pot, which in turn when adding the liquid from the Instant Pot and wine, makes a wonderful sauce for the meat.
Beurre manié
This is translated to kneaded butter. It’s an equal amount of softened unsalted butter and flour that you massage together and form into tablespoon-size balls. I keep them in the refrigerator to thicken sauces at the last moment. Always put it in at the end of cooking, not at the beginning because the flour will lose its thickening abilities. If you want to do this Kosher, then use a non-dairy fat; salt-free margarine is a good choice.
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Smoked Brisket in the Instant Pot
Equipment
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Ingredients
- 2 ½ pound Brisket
~~ -- For the Rub -- ~~
- 1 teaspoon Tsardust Memories
- 2 tablespoon Barbecue Spice
- ½ teaspoon Black pepper, freshly ground
~~ -- For the Dutch Oven -- ~~
- 1 Onion, chopped
- 5 cloves Garlic, chopped
- ½ cup Bell pepper, chopped
- 1 tablespoon *Olive oil
~~ -- For the Instant Pot -- ~~
- 1 cup water, boiling
- 1 teaspoon *Beef Base
- 1 clove Garlic, whole
- 1 Bay leaf
~~ -- For the Dutch Oven Sauce -- ~~
- ½ cup Red wine
- ½ cup Ketchup
- 3 Carrot, cut
- 6 pearl onion
- 12 potatoes, small
- 1 stalk Celery, chopped
- 1 tablespoon Beurre manié, for Kosher, replace the butter with unsalted margarine
Instructions
- Mise En Place
For the Stovetop Smoker
- Mix the rub mixture together and thoroughly cover the brisket, front and back. Set aside. That little bit in the image came with my brisket and I made sure to save it for the dog.
- Soak wood chips in water for 30 minutes. Put a large piece of foil at the bottom of the pasta pot. Put the drained wood chips in another large piece of foil and loosely cover it. Put it on top of the foil and put the pasta insert in. Put the brisket in the pasta insert and cover the pot. Put it on high heat for 5 minutes then reduce to medium and let it smoke for an hour, then let it sit for 10 minutes.
For the Browning
- Mise en Place for Browing
- Heat the Dutch oven and put the olive oil in. When the oil is shimmering, add the onion. Saute the onion until it is translucent, then add the chopped peppers and garlic. Saute it until the peppers are getting a little soft. Push the vegetables aside.
- Remove the brisket from the smoker and brown it on both sides in the Dutch oven.
For the Instant Pot
- Mise En Place for Instant Pot
- While the meat is browning, put a rack in the Instant Pot and mix the water and beef base together. Fit the brisket in the Instant Pot and add the garlic clove, bay leaf, and beef broth mixture. Set the Instant Pot on Pressure Cook for 80 minutes, then natural release for 10 minutes and finally quick release.
- Get fond from the bottom of the Dutch oven with 1/4 cup of red wine and set aside.
For the Final Cooking
- Preheat the oven to 350 F/ 170 C. Remove the brisket from the Instant Pot but do not throw away the liquid!
- Slice the brisket across the grain and put the slices in the Dutch oven.
- Put the liquid from the Instant Pot into a bowl and mix it with the ketchup and remaining wine. Pour this over the sliced brisket.
- Add the vegetables, Cover the Dutch oven and put it in the center of the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
- Get a nice platter and remove the brisket and vegetables from the Dutch oven and put them on the platter. Set aside.
- Add the Beurre manié to the liquid in the pot and whisk it around until it thickens nicely. Spoon the sauce over the brisket on the platter.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Best I’ve had in a long time. Definitely doing this again!
Best brisket I have ever made! I didn’t know you could smoke food without a lot of extra equipment and special wood. Thanks!
Best brisket I have ever had!
The best kitchen for a toddler won’t necessarily be the most expensive kitchen you have ever seen. Your kitchen has to be the place where you spend most of your time in the kitchen. If you entertain guests often you may want to put some fancy appliances in the kitchen for them to enjoy as well. With that said, this was a very good brisket and my entire family enjoyed it. Thank you!
Is this complicated? Yes. Is it really good? Yes. Will I made this again? You better believe it!
The best I have ever had!