The main advantage of smoking in our wood-fired brick ovens is the temperature stability. This is what makes the brisket so flavorful and easy to make. This is also something that is difficult to achieve with a regular Italian pizza oven, and not always easy with a smoker, which requires you to check the temperature often, adding charcoal and wood, etc.
Preparation:
The day before smoking, season your brisket well with salt, pepper, garlic, paprika, and olive oil. Wrap it in foil and place it in the fridge overnight. You will also need to soak some wood chips in water overnight. My favorites are applewood and hickory.
When the residual temperature in your oven is about 250° F, start a small fire and wait for it to burn down. Meanwhile, drain your wood chips.
Once your fire has died down to nice embers, push the embers to the side and place the brisket, fatty side up, elevated on a grate, into the oven with a drip pan underneath it. Place the drained wood chips over the embers, close the insulated door, shut the damper, and close the cast iron door. This will allow a minimal amount of air to come in and keep the embers going slowly, while some smoke is allowed to escape.
Depending on the size of your brisket, let it smoke about 6 to 10 hours. For the one we made which was about 4 lbs., we left it for 8 hours.
The brick oven’s temperature is so stable, it will remain right around 200° to 250° F for the next 10 to 12 hours. It’s tempting to, but you don’t need to check on it, just like the Beatles said, “Let it be.” Let the smoking process be.
Once you open the oven, your brisket will be smoked to perfection and ready to enjoy with sides, as sandwich, as tacos, or anything you’d like – the possibilities are endless, but best of all, the oven did all the cooking for you!
