First Brisket

[smokeyBandit]

Hey,

Am cooking my first brisket on my Pro Q today, winds are crazy but have the smoker in a fairly sheltered spot, so am hoping for a reasonable result.

I opted to get the brisket from CostCo for the first attempt. I asked my butcher about a rough cost for a brisket, however he would only give me the price per pound and seemed a little evasive about including the flat and the point, was more interested in the cost per pound.

The costco brisket is fairly small, more point than flat, but giving it a whirl anyways just to get my hands dirty with this type of meat.

It went in the smoker at 9:30 with a mix of oak and cherry wood, temp as been around 240 and internal temp is sitting aroun 150 at the moment, I plan on crutching it at 160 with some additional beef stock, then unfoiling around 190 to crisp up the bark a little and pulling off at 200, cutting the point and giving it another couple of hours in the collected juices + a bit of rub and sauce. Fingers crossed!

[ConorD]

Good luck with this one - remember to post pics.

You are lucky to get one wit a good chunk of point, this is the tastiest bit.

[slatts]

Hi

I did a Costco brisket for new years day and had a decent point on it, the whole brisket was 6lb but I foiled it after 6hrs with some beef stock with some of the dry rub mixed in with it.

Turned out great and the burnt ends are so good

Good luck hope it goes well for you

[smokeyBandit]

Thanks guys,

Well I definitely learned a few lessons

So this was the brisket unrolled
http://www.flickr.com/photos/117071012@N04/12432195333/

Rubbed and injected
http://www.flickr.com/photos/117071012@N04/12432038285/

On the smoker with a couple of trays containing beer to catch the juices

http://www.flickr.com/photos/117071012@N04/12432018775/

After being on for a bout 3 hours at 240f, the brisket stalled at 150f, I thought I would leave it too it and foil it at 160, however 3 hours later it was still on 150.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/117071012@N04/12432000735/

I decided to foil it then with some beef broth to braise and cursed my self for not researching brisket stall temps previously - I wouldn't have been concerned if it was a much larger piece of meat, but as the end of the flat was so thing, dryness was a concern
http://www.flickr.com/photos/117071012@N04/12432143063/

The temp started to rise steadily, when it got to 185, I checked the meat and found that it was pretty soggy and there was little bark. Here's where I made my mistake, I took the brisket out of the foil and thought that the temp would continue to rise. Instead it dropped way back down to 150 F and sat there for bloody ages!, I persevered and let it do it's thing, it took another 3 hours to get back up to 185, about an hour after this (with heavy winds and rain driving the smoker temp lower) I took the brisket indoors and finished it off in the oven (where it took a further hour). The result was the flat being quite dry on the thinner parts (although the taste was really nice)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/117071012@N04/12432430324/

I used a couple of separate trays for the burnt ends and used sauce in one and just juice in the other - I put those back in for a couple of hours and they came out amazing - very hard to stop eating!

burnt ends pre sauce
http://www.flickr.com/photos/117071012@N04/12431952015/

Lessons learned,
If using a thinner piece of meat, foil as soon as it stalls and don't take it out of the foil quite so late (either that or ramp the temps up when you do?)
I wouldn't be so concerned about the bark on the flat next time, as long as I have a point to be able to do the burnt ends

Would welcome any tips from you seasoned brisket veterans

[AlanL]

Thanks for posting such a complete article. I've not smoked properly before but will be soon so I found it very interesting to read your experiences. Still looks darned tasty.

[smokeyBandit]

No problems Alan, I am really glad you found it useful. I expect there will be some really useful comments from some of the more experienced guys on how to improve on this.

I think the biggest result for me was knowing that the CostCo brisket contains both the flat and the point and that the results could be really good - the brisket I used was £17 - I would say the burnt ends were worth that alone

[robgunby]

Great report thanks!

I have to say I don't worry about bark when cooking a brisket, I just go for tenderness and keep it simple. Smoker at 225-250, brisket foiled at the start of the stall, as you say, but left that way until it hits around 198-200 depending on how long I can stand to wait, but never less than 195. Then it's rested, still in the foil, wrapped in towels, for half an hour minimum. It continues to colour in the foil and never comes out soggy.

PS on your flickr photos, you can right click the image to go to a page where you can get various sizes - the 500 px wide one you can post directly on here using the "img" button.

Great result on your first brisket! I want to reach into the screen and eat the burnt ends....

[smokeyBandit]

Thanks for the Flickr tip!

I was thinking exactly the same for next time with the foiling - looking forward to the next one!

[Swindon_Ed]

I have to say I don't worry about bark when cooking a brisket,

i never have a problem with getting a good bark on my briskets and i foil every time, but i tend to make sure the bark has set before i foil and this will normally happen about an hour into the stall, also a mustard slather will also help the bark to set more quickly.

[slatts]

Hi Ed

When you slather in mustard do you add a dry rub or just salt and pepper, I don't really like to use dry rubs on beef just seasoned salt and pepper.
I know that's my preference but would like a decent bark, the last one I did had Toby's sample beef dry rub on and although I got the bark and the flavour was great I don't think my rub I make myself is that great on beef its great on pork and chicken though

thanks
Slatts