Sunday, I woke up early to start smoking a brisket. I got the brisket from the farmer’s market and then found this recipe on the internet and it looked delicious so I decided to give it a try. This brisket recipe called for a coffee-cardamom rub plus a chocolate-cherry barbeque sauce (the sauce had chocolate, cherries, port wine, honey and chipotle). I decided it really didn’t matter what you put that on, it was going to taste great.
I mixed the ingredients for the rub and sprinkled it on the night before so it could marinate overnight. About 7:00 am Sunday, I started the charcoals and set up the grill for indirect grilling and then waited until the temperature got down to about 250 degrees. Everything I read about brisket said you have to cook it low and slow. After putting the brisket in a pan and in the middle of the grill, I put a few hickory wood chips that I had previously soaked and drained directly on the charcoal and closed the lid. About once an hour, I fired up some more charcoal and added it to the grill to maintain the temperature. I only put the wood chips on the coals the first and second hours. After about two hours, I thought that the brisket was cooking too fast despite the low temperature so I wrapped it in aluminum foil (this is also recommended in the last half of cooking to help keep it from drying out).
After about 4 1/2 hours, the brisket had reached an internal temperature of 190 degrees so I pulled it off the grill and let it rest. Also, during the four hour cooking time, Ruth and I prepared the chocolate-cherry barbeque sauce. The recipe calls for canned cherries, but Ruth had picked up some fresh Bing cherries so (after she pitted them) we used the fresh cherries instead. The sauce was great. 
It first hits you with sweetness and chocolate, but then you feel the heat. I think I could just eat the sauce with a spoon.
We all ate the brisket for lunch. It was good. I felt that it was not as tender as I had endeavored to make it, but it was my first attempt at this difficult cut to cook. Fortunately, the coffee-cardamom rub and chocolate-cherry barbeque sauce go a long way in making up for any deficiency in the cooking. The brisket had good flavor and we all enjoyed it.
I still haven’t figured out what I needed to do so that the next one will be more tender. I cooked it low and slow. Sometimes the temperature got lower than recommended about 190 degrees but I don’t know if that would affect the meat. I may have left it on about a half hour longer than I should. My probe was reading 190 degrees, but when I checked other areas with my instant read thermometer, the internal temperature was showing about 8 degrees cooler so I left the brisket on (I’ve since checked the accuracy of the instant read thermometer and it appears to be accurate within 2 degrees). Anyway, I welcome suggestions on grilling a brisket because it is a big time commitment so next time I hope to get it right.
This week I plan to make great American hamburgers and grilled tandoori chicken on separate days.