Burnt ends are among the most notable dishes that may pop from a home BBQ grill. You may serve your burnt ends as a finger food with toothpicks and a side dip in parties or together with other side dishes such as grilled asparagus and mac-n-cheese for a totally satisfying meal.

How to Prepare Burnt Ends Recipe?

Burnt ends are actually an alternative to a smoked brisket. Typically, you follow the same steps for smoking a brisket to prepare burnt ends. The only difference is that instead of lowering the meat temp. to 200F inside the smoker, you take off the meat at 190F, cut it, and smother it on the sauce and smoke it for an extra 45 minutes.

What meat cut are burnt ends made of?

Burnt ends are made of beef brisket. The brisket contains two separate cuts–the flat and the point. The latter is a more circular and tender cut hat has a fatty top. The flat, on the other hand, is leaner and has a more even form.

An alternative option is the one called “packer cut” or “Texas beef brisket” , which combines both the point and flat parts of the brisket bonded to each other.

If you wish to smoke burnt ends without the whole brisket, just use the point part for optimal tenderness and taste. But, if you wish to go all the way, use the packer cut to prepare smoked brisket and simply trim off the meat for making the burnt ends as soon as the meat reaches 190F/95C.

BBQ Brisket Burnt Ends Recipe

Ingredients

• 8-12 lbs. Beef brisket (point or packer cut),
• 1 cup barbeque seasonings (enough to coat the meat completely),
• ½ cup bbq sauce to combine with the meat drippings and cover the burnt ends

Instructions

• Remove extra fat from the brisket. If you are using a point or packer cut, you should trim most of the fat cap. The fat should be trimmed to around ¼’’ until you can see the lean meat through the fat.
• Coat evenly the brisket with the BBQ spice mix.
• Cover and keep in the fridge for 10 to 12 hours.
• Preheat your bbq smoker at 250F.
• Place a meat thermometers into the meat and set in the smoker until the temperature inside rises to 170F (in around 4-5 hours)
• Once it hits 170F, take off the meat and wrap in foil or wrapping paper. Return to the smoker and wait until it reaches 190F (in around 8 hours)
• Take off the smoker and wrapping paper and allow it to rest for 15 minutes.
• Chop the meat into ½” cubes.
• Rub the beef cubes with a combo of ½ cup bbq sauce and the remaining meat drippings (it should cover all the burnt ends–if not, use extra bbq sauce).
• Place the uncoated cubes into the smoker and smoke for 45 minutes. Allow the temperature to reach 250F or 275F (for a darker coating).
• Take off the burnt ends from the smoker. Serve.