I’m having a get together this coming Saturday with between 5-7 guest. I was thinking of buying a big 'ole brisket and putting it on the 'ole gas grill. But I’ve never done that before so I was wondering how I can do it without ruining the meat. Any ideas?
Marc
I’m not sure you can do brisket on a gas grill, Gibson. It’s a pretty tough cut of meat and takes long, slow, low-heat cooking. I notice the Epicurious recipe calls for 10 hours in a smoker, and yeah, that sounds about right. Can you turn a gas grill down that low? And it dries out fast. Texas BBQ works in a smoker because it doesn’t get hot enough for all the fat to run out of the meat.
Otherwise, I’d suggest you pot roast it. Bake it in a 350 oven for about 4 hours. Brown it first. Onion soup mix optional.
What level of cuisine are these folks expecting? Haute, or bas? 
DDG is right–Brisket is a tough cut of meat that doesn’t work well with just regular grilling. If you’ve got a good old Weber Kettle, you can easily convert it to a smoker, and do it that way. You’ll need to babysit it, basting it often with sauce to keep it from drying out. Otherwise, I’d do it in the oven as per DDG’s suggestion.
I’ve aways found that a hard kitchen chair, a 150w light bulb, a chilly, windowless room, and a rubber hose is the best method of grilling.
(I’d skip the Weber and go for a slow roaster/crock pot/covered-dish-in-the-oven. The amount of effort required to keep it moist in a smoker will prevent you from even glimpsing your guests before it has finished cooking.)
The methods of grilling a brisket I’ve seen typically involve wrapping the cut in many layers of foil to avoid the loss of liquids a bare piece of meat would undergo. Extremely long cooking times and relatively low temperatures were also involved (as mentioned above).
Thanks for all your helpful hints. A brisket will just be to much of a pain in the rear to cook. Uh, not that that is where I do my cooking mind you. I’ll just buy some steaks and cook 'em.
Marc
I do a lot of briskets on the gas grill. Two ways to do it. If you have a top “warmer” rack, put the brisket, wrapped in foil, on the top rack to one side, a pan of water or beer underneath it on the main rack, and turn the opposite side of the grill on low. Close the cover and let it go, filling the pan with liquid as needed. Takes about three to four hours but it is quite tender and very good.
The other way, if you don’t have a top rack or don’t want to tend the grill for that long is to simply boil it for an hour or so in water or beer until tender, then pull it out and dry it. Season it up with a lot of black pepper, whatever other spices you like, and then pack a thin layer of brown sugar over the top and sides. Drizzle the top and sides with a little bit of either maple syrup or molasses, and slap it on the main rack of a medium grill and close the cover. The sugars will melt down and make a nice crust and pick up a smokey flavor very nicely after about a half hour to an hour. Keep an eye out for the flaming and you’ll never do a brisket in the oven again 
Have you considered a flank steak instead? They are absolutely awesome from the gas grill. Mmmm…
I’ll second the flank steak!
Oddly enough flank steak isn’t easy to get around here. The supermarket sells it on occasion but they charge an outrageous price for it. The local butcher doesn’t ever get flanksteak because he says nobody ever buys it. Maybe there’s just something about Arkansas that makes people hate flank steak.
By the way my flank steak recipe is a bit different. I mix some onion soup mix and beer and then put in and the flank steak in one of those aluminam foil bags for a few hours in the oven. Yum.
Marc
