What You Should Know Before Using The Snake Method To Smoke Brisket

A crucial ingredient required for any good brisket is time — lots of it. The extended low heat helps tenderize the tough meat, which comes from the cow's chest area. In fact, despite how intimidating many barbecue enthusiasts consider attempting to make it at home is, a delicious smoked brisket essentially comes down to cooking it low-and-slow. The cooking process is where most of the flavor and texture, from the bark to the succulent cross section, truly come alive. Speed the process too much and you may end up with tough meat. Overcook it, and those luxurious brisket slices start to fall apart.

While a smoker, designed for extended low-heat cooking, is the ideal appliance for cooking brisket, a grill can also do the job. To make a grill's high-heat environment into a low-heat one, use the snake method of arranging charcoal or briquettes in a "C" shape around the grate. In an exclusive conversation with Chowhound, Christie Vanover, champion pitmaster of Girls Can Grill, discussed using the snake method, saying "it works well on kettle grills, because it allows you to keep the internal temperature of the grill lower because only a portion of the coals are lit at once." 

Vanover has won several awards for her grilling skills and is involved with multiple projects within the barbecue industry at any given time. Her website features hundreds of recipes she's perfected over the years, including classics such as smoked brisket and pulled pork butt, both of which can be made using the snake method.

The snake method involves placing the charcoal or briquettes in a curved row and lighting them from one end so they ignite in a series instead of all at once. Christie Vanover explains why the snake method works: "If you were to fill the grill up with charcoal and light all the coals, it's more challenging to get the temperature low. Plus, the coals burn faster when they're all lit, which means you'll have to remove the food and grate to add more." She also mentions it works best in a kettle-style cooker since its round shape helps distribute heat uniformly.

Since uniform heating is important, briquettes offer a more even and predictable source of heat compared to lump charcoal. To further ensure the temperature stays stable, make the snake an even thickness of three or four briquettes and intersperse them with chips made of good smoking and grilling wood (for flavor). Be careful how much wood is added since it can cause temperature fluctuations. If the same wood chip is laid across multiple coal pieces, it can ignite them all and speed up the burning of the snake.

"It is still important to monitor the internal temperature of your grill and to keep an eye on the coals, so you can add more if you start to reach the end," advises Vanover. For long cooks, such as for a brisket, you may need to add to the snake to keep the temperature constant over several hours. The snake method works well for smoking any type of meat, and our champion pitmaster recommends trying it when making pulled pork or ribs as well.

Those who say a good brisket is wasted on a grill are usually referring to the grill's high-heat, fast-cooking environment. However, with the snake method, one can make a perfectly cooked brisket on their home grill. To minimize temperature fluctuations during the cooking process, especially when you're trying to develop the bark during the initial cooking stage, Christie Vanover suggests adding more coals to the snake when you take the brisket off the grill to wrap it. "At this point, you can push down any ash that has already burned, and you can add onto the C shape with fresh coals so the grill stays lit and at temperature." Since a full snake made of briquettes can last about five hours, this is enough time to develop a bark without having to change coals in between.

Since the snake method can sometimes produce temperatures higher than a conventional smoker, cooking time may be reduced. Therefore, it's still best to gauge your cook by look and feel and to avoid making smoked brisket using the 3-2-1 method, which relies on timing. While using the snake method does require a little bit of practice to perfect, it generally delivers delicious results. Furthermore, the long cooking time for smoked brisket and other meats is worth it even if you're not feeding a large group; leftover brisket can elevate your next mac and cheese and many other meals.