Cold smoked brisket

You can take any bacon for smoking, but it is better if it is with layers of meat and fat at least a couple of centimeters thick. Next, we cut the selected brisket into pieces about 7 cm thick .

We clean the garlic cloves and pass them through a special press. The bay leaves, pre-washed and dried, are crushed.

The next step is to rub the pieces of brisket with salt. You need to rub it in from all sides. When the process comes to an end, there will still be a lot of salt left. We also rub the meat with the specified amount of sugar, crushed bay leaves and garlic.

Next, we take a glass, ceramic or enameled vessel. We put the meat in layers in this container and sprinkle each layer with the remains of salt. So that it was more or less evenly. Now the meat needs to stand for 12 hours, and not in the refrigerator, but in the kitchen.

Immediately prepare the brine by pouring water into a saucepan. Put the pan on high heat, bring the liquid to a boil. When the water boils, pour salt, granulated sugar and ground red pepper into it. Stir, wait for the liquid to boil again and remove the pan from the heat. Cover with a lid and leave to infuse for 12 hours as well.

Time has passed - fill the meat with brine. We move the meat a little with a fork or a spatula so that the brine penetrates everywhere. We put the meat in brine in the refrigerator for a week and a half. And then pour clean water into a large container, put the brisket in it and leave it again for 12 hours, only now to soak.

Next, we wash the brisket from salt and put it on the grill in a draft in the cool to dry - again for 12 hours. After that, the brisket will be ready for smoking. We will smoke it in a cold-smoked smokehouse. If it is not available, such a device can be built independently. The point is that with this method, the product is smoked at a low temperature (25-30 degrees Celsius) for a long time. During cooking, the product is dehydrated, it becomes harder.

Preparing the smokehouse. Slightly dried meat is hung in the smokehouse. We constantly maintain the desired temperature. We smoke the brisket for 2 days.

Such brisket is stored for a very long time in cool conditions, but, as a rule, it is eaten faster than the shelf life expires. After all, it turns out to be incredibly fragrant and delicious!