Find Out What the Champions Do With Beef Brisket Injection

Have you ever seen a recipe or a technique that suggested injecting your brisket and wondered why?

Or maybe you’ve always wondered why award-winning barbecue competition teams keep their injection recipes so close to their breast.

In the barbecue industry, injecting is a tried and true method of adding flavor and moisture to low and slow smoked meats.

Injecting your brisket allows you to marinate it from the inside out, improving not only the flavor but also the texture of the meat.

Let’s look at why this approach is particularly excellent for entire beef briskets and how to get the greatest taste out of them.

Should you inject brisket?

Beef brisket is best cooked slowly. The meat, particularly the flat, will lose a lot of moisture during this procedure.

Injecting not only provides moisture but also taste.

A marinade or dry rub will only flavor the top of the meat, leaving the majority of the brisket flavorless.

Most experts believe that injecting beef brisket is one of the quickest and simplest methods to increase moisture and flavor throughout the whole brisket.

The extra taste and moisture are injected deep under the surface of the meat. You can make more tender brisket with a more nuanced taste profile with simply an injection instrument and a few basic ingredients.

Do you want to learn more about injecting different kinds of meat? Check out our guide on smoking meat injections.

Brisket injection recipes

There are several recipes available for you to try. Let’s go over the fundamentals before diving into the finest alternatives for store-bought and homemade injections.

Injection recipes may range from a thin liquid to a thick concoction packed with spices and herbs.

Some of the most common ingredients include:

• Water
• Butter
• Brown Sugar
• Beef Stock or Broth
• Brine
• Tallow
• Apple Juice
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Soy Sauce
• Garlic and Herbs

The key here is to keep things simple. You don’t want to overshadow the meat’s taste, but rather to complement it.

Commercial brisket injections

You may purchase powder-based injectable formulae if you don’t want to follow a recipe or experiment with some of the substances listed above.

Simply whisk the powder with water in a shaker bottle before injecting it into the meat.

This video by Harry Soo provides an excellent summary of some of the most common brisket injections.

These should be available at your local BBQ supply shop or on Amazon.

Here are a few popular alternatives available on Amazon.

• Kosmos Q Reserve Blend Barbecue Brisket Injection
• Kosmos Q Original Barbecue Beef Brisket Injection
• Butcher BBQ Prime Barbuece Brisket Injection

Homemade brisket injection recipes

You do not have to spend money on store-bought injections. Here are some of our favorite recipes for you to try.

1. Malcolm Reeds Beef Brisket Injection

We’ve tried several of Maclom’s recipes, and they’re always delicious. This is a simple injection that you can prepare using things you probably already have in your cupboard.

Ingredients:

• Beef Base
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Soy Sauce
• Accent
• Water

You can check out the full recipe here.

2. Amazing Ribs Beef Injection

It doesn’t get much easier than this brine injection for meat or venison.

Ingredients:

• Kosher salt
• Sugar
• Worchestershire
• Beef stock

Amazingribs.com has the whole recipe and many of additional injection ideas.

Tools required

1. Meat injector

There are three kinds of meat injectors to select from:

• Injector made of plastic The least expensive alternative might absorb flavor over time.
• Injector made of stainless steel Slightly more costly and simpler to clean
• Injector Pistol The most costly option, with additional capabilities such as the ability to dispensing a specified volume of liquid with each draw.

A nice stainless steel injector will be the finest solution for the majority of individuals. Look for one that comes with a variety of injector tips and additional seals.

The thickness of the injecting liquid determines the size of the tip you should use.

If you plan on injecting often, the SpitJack Magnum Injector Gun is a must-have.

It’s overkill if you’re merely injecting brisket or pig butt, but if you prefer to have the greatest tool for the job or need to deal with volume, it’s the best alternative.

2. Deep pan or cooking tray

To catch the surplus liquid after injecting the liquid into the meat, use a deep pan.

I like to use an oven tray since it is large enough to fit a whole packer brisket.

3. Tall glass or mixing bowl

Because most injecting tips have perforations along the side of the needle, a tall glass facilitates drawing the liquid into the injector simpler.

Should you inject the night before?

Some people believe that injecting brisket the night before smoking it helps the taste develop.

However, there does not seem to be much agreement on this point, since many people prefer to inject one hour before cooking.

Most likely, time isn’t a major element to be concerned about.

Step by step guide to injecting brisket

1. Prepare your brisket

• Trim the brisket as usual, removing part of the fat from both sides of the meat to your satisfaction.
• If you don’t have a deep pan, tray, or sink, place the brisket in the sink.

2. Prepare the Injection Liquid

• In a large glass or mixing dish, combine your injectable liquid formula (approximately 1 ounce per pound).
• If you’re using an injector with a trigger and tensioner, configure the tensioner so that each trigger pull injects around 5 CCs of liquid.
• Fill the syringe with liquid by placing the tip of the syringe into the glass and drawing back on the plunger.
• When filling the syringe, make sure all of the holes along the side of the needle are completely buried in the liquid to prevent spraying.

3. Choose a direction

• It’s up to you which way you inject the meat. Some experts advise injecting beef with the grain of the meat since injecting against the grain will result in more punctures and may result in visible rings of your injection liquid in the beef.
• Others argue that it doesn’t matter as long as you inject it equally throughout.
• Only the look of the brisket will be affected by the direction.

4. Inject the beef

• Once you’ve determined which way to go, enter the needle into the steak and draw it out while pressing the plunger (or pulling the trigger) to release the liquid.
• To capture any spray, it’s a good idea to cover the top of the needle as you inject.
• Repeat the procedure, inserting the needle every 1-2 inches in a grid pattern, until the meat can no longer absorb any more liquid. The final few times, you may need to fill the syringe with the surplus liquid in the pan.

5. Cleanup

• Gather and dispose of any residual liquid in the pan. If using a rub, it’s also a good idea to soak up any leftover liquid on top of the meat.
• Congratulations, your beef brisket is now flavorful and moist!

What do the experts recommend?

Injecting the brisket is not required. There is a lot of dispute among barbecue gurus, as there is with everything else.

Meathead Goldwyn, author of Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling, is a big proponent of injecting.

I virtually always inject beef broth into briskets. Because this meat takes so long to cook, the additional moisture keeps it from drying out, and the salt helps the meat retain moisture and adds taste. Only use broth. There’s no need to add any spices, liquids, or other flavorings. All we need is precipitation here. We don’t want the liquid to overpower the taste of the meat.

Injecting is also supported by Steven Raichlen of the Barbecue Bible.

Injecting is the most effective approach to add flavor and moisture to smoked, barbecued, or grilled food, as many barbecue experts know.

However, not everyone uses the injection method.

Franklin Barbecue’s Aaron Franklin utilizes an offset smoker with a water pan and spritzes the brisket with a liquid.

He claims that this maintains the cooking area wet and humid, which enhances the taste of the smoke in the meat.

So should you shoot up your brisket?

Now that you know why and how to inject beef brisket, the best choice is to give it a go and see for yourself.

You can start improving the flavor and texture of your brisket from the inside out with only a few more tools.

Simply try to make the injecting liquid as basic as possible by following a recipe, experimenting with some of the most common additives, or purchasing a ready-to-mix powder. Remember, the goal is to complement, not overshadow, the taste of the meat.

Let us know what you think of injecting beef brisket in the comments; have you tried it? If so, what is your preferred injection recipe? And, as usual, if you like this story, please share it.