One of the most cherished attributes of a barbecued brisket is the deep red smoke ring that forms on the outer quarter inch of the meat. Many people have trouble getting the perfect smoke ring to form and hopefully the following tips will help.
The most important thing to remember about smoke rings is that in order for them to form you have to have nitrite come into contact with meat. Nitrite is a trace byproduct produced by burning wood and charcoal.
In order to facilitate the interaction of the nitrite and the meat there are two approaches commonly utilized. The first approach is to light coat the brisket with salt a few minutes before it is placed in the smoker. The salt will draw moisture out of the meat and create a tacky surface which readily adsorbs the nitrite from the smoke. It is important when using this approach to use a very light dusting of salt and other seasonings. If a heavy coat of dry rub seasoning is applied the nitrite will not be able to work its way through the seasoning layer to interact with the meat.
A second approach to helping the nitrite and meat interact is to dramatically increase the surface area of the meat by tenderizing with a jacquard. This device will punch hundreds of small holes into the surface of the meat allowing the smoke to penetrate even through a thick layer of dry rub.
A different approach to generating a smoke ring is to supplement the nitrite from the smoke with nitrite from a dry rub. There are several commercial products such as Morton Tender Quick that are sold for use in meat preservation. These products contain nitrite which serves to inhibit botulism in cured meat products such as dry aged country hams and salami. By incorporating some Morton Tender Quick into a brisket dry rub you cal directly apply nitrite to the surface of the brisket.
Some people consider the use of curing agents such as Morton Tender Quick to be cheating as they feel a smoke ring should only be generated by smoke. It has been proposed that it is possible to tell which smoke rings have been faked with dry cure agents as the ring will be streaky and uneven.
The basic point to remember in getting a better smoke ring is that you want to increase the amount of contact between the meat and nitrite. You can accomplish this by helping the nitrite stick to the brisket, by increasing the surface area of the brisket or by directly rubbing nitrite onto the meat.