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Tips on cooking first brisket.

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blazinfire

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Hello everyone! just ordered my first brisket I'm cooking on my Brinkman trailmaster offset smoker. I've read several methods of cooking the brisket. I'm open to all suggestions, all tips, Not exactly a cheap piece of meat for my pocket.

I have a few questions tho. I've seen people describe the flat and the point. some use the point for burnt ends. is the point really fatty? can the whole brisket be sliced or is that for the flat only? do you cook/serve the flat and point differently? Which side of the meat do you use to check for doneness?

How do you guys handle seasoning? Do/Can you marinade it over night in marinade? do you apply rub over night?

Can i get suggestions on seasonings/rubs to use? Homemade spice mixture's would be better because i don't have full access to quality rubs where i live. With beef i prefer the beef flavor so when i cook beef products i normally just stick with salt, pepper garlic.

What makes butcher paper better to use as a wrap compared to foil? I haven't seen many people on this site use foil instead of butcher paper.

Just looking for all tips and advice I can get before I pick it up in the morning. had to special order it (downfall to living in the middle of no where) I cant ever recall eating brisket, and I've never cooked it. Hopefully I can make this into something special.
 
Yes, the point is really fatty. Don't worry about burnt ends on your 1st brisket cook. Brisket quality does matter if you want a top notch brisket. The more marbling the better. However any brisket can be made good if it's cooked just right. This means, just the right amount of basic seasoning (not too much), kissed not drenched with smoke, and cooked to the right tenderness. An easy way to check for tenderness is to get a wooden skewer and do the "butta" test right from the top where the flat meets the point.

Butcher paper allows the brisket to breath and helps with a nice bark, foil can make your bark mushy. If you wrap DO NOT add anything to the brisket, if you do you can kiss your bark good bye and end up with a pot roast tasting brisket.

Keep a small hot fire and maintain temp at 250-300*. You can do a light spritz every couple hours or so if want. I like watered down worchestire sauce or ACV. Save the fruit juices for your pork! Do a search for BBQ with Franklin video, he shows you just how to slice the brisket for best results. Good luck!
 
Brisket point is the poor mans Prime Rib,sliced it's food of the gods and IMO it is the best cut on a cow. I too have a Trailmaster they are fine pits for the money.

Just follow the directions you will have success

BluDawgs Brisket

K.I S.S. some of the best brisket you will ever eat! Total cook time including the rest 8 hrs or less. I promise it will be as moist as mornin dew on the lilly, tender as a mothers love, pure beefy smoky goodness.

1 packer 12-15 lb
Trim off the hard fat on each side of the flat thin the fat cap to 1/4"

Mix your Rub
1 part kosher salt 4 parts Med grind Black peppa by volume( this is a true 50/50 BY weight)
apply a coat of rub you need to be able to see the meat through the rub clearly.

Pre heat the pit to 300 deg
place brisket on the pit Fat Cap Down and point to the firebox unless it is a RF cooker then point to away from the FB

Maintain pit between 275-325 if cookin on a stick burner
cook Brisket 4 hrs
remove from pit wrap in a single layer of Butcher paper Return to pit Fat cap up.
after 1 hr probe the thicket part of the Flat only! If it isn't *probe tender it should be within 1 hr.
once it is probe tender remove from the pit keep it wrapped in the paper you cooked it in and allow it to rest on your counter until the Internal temp DROPS to 150 this will take about two hrs.
Don't ever slice more than you can eat big pieces retain moisture and won't dry up on you like slices will.
*PROBE TENDER> This is the feel that is mimicked by cutting room temperature butter with a hot knife, there should be no drag
 
Take a look at Bigabyte's Basic Brisket Tutorial. He has some good pictures showing the flat and point.

For your first one I would keep it simple. Salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder for the rub. Cook at whatever temp your smoker runs best, and cook until the thickest part of the flat is probe tender.
 
Having cooked my first brisket on Saturday, here's what I learned:

Don't rely on temperature. Rely on feel. When you can probe it throughout and it's tender, it's done. If you probe it and it resists it's not done.

Start your cook earlier than you anticipate (especially being a first-timer). If it finishes early, wrap it in foil and blankets and put it in a cooler where it will hold temperature. It can last four hours or so. You don't want people waiting around on your brisket to finish, so you're better off finishing early.

DO NOT PULL IT EARLY NO MATTER WHAT. RESIST THE URGE!!!! It will have the texture of a catcher's mitt if you pull it early. Pull it when it's done.

Have fun. It's a session, not a cook.
 
man, so much info! bluedawg, you said Do not slice the brisket, Its gonna be 3-4 people eating. So there will be plenty of left overs.There will be 2 people to eat the left overs should I slice single serving bags for the freezer?

Why is it that you check the thickest part of the flat compared to the point? Isn't the point thicker? And yes I'm doing this brisket completely by feel than monitoring temps! monitoring temps drive me nuts lol

And just to confirm, with this brisket I will be slicing all of it. flat and point? I would prefer to have sliced beef over anything else anyways. I was just concerned on the fattiness of the point
 
I cooked my first brisket (full packer) two weeks ago and followed Bludawgs instructions exactly as laid out. People were coming back for seconds and thirds, it was delicious and tender
 
blazinfire said:
man, so much info! bluedawg, you said Do not slice the brisket, Its gonna be 3-4 people eating. So there will be plenty of left overs.There will be 2 people to eat the left overs should I slice single serving bags for the freezer?

Why is it that you check the thickest part of the flat compared to the point? Isn't the point thicker? And yes I'm doing this brisket completely by feel than monitoring temps! monitoring temps drive me nuts lol

And just to confirm, with this brisket I will be slicing all of it. flat and point? I would prefer to have sliced beef over anything else anyways. I was just concerned on the fattiness of the point
Click to expand...
I eat the whole thing until its gone and slice as I go You might consider carving at the table then based on what you need for a meal cut the leftovers into meal sized portions.

The last place on ANY brisket to give it up to the Probe is the thickest part of the flat this is the only place you need to check. The point has lots of intramuscular fat when fat gets hot it gets soft and will appear to be tender when in fact it has a long way to go also before all the connective tissue in it has broken down and becomes tender. Look at your brisket find the mid line from point to tail then look at the side to find the thickest part of the Flat. Follow that area back to the mid-line this is where you need to probe, a 2-3" circle along that line will be the last place to get tender

If you like a good rib eye steak you'll love the sliced point.

Slice across the grain, while you are doing your prep look at the grain direction of the flat then cut a corner off across it this will be where you start your flat slices. The grain on the point runs 90 deg off the flats.
This is how I cut mine
I separate the flat from the point with the back of my knife
You have already marked the flat for slicing so lets look at the point
Cut the point down the mid-line it two then slice from that cut to the outside for a xgrain slice.
 
Thanks guys! Cant wait. I have to wait til tomorrow to see the brisket. but they only deal in good quality meat so i assume this is no different. I'll have a look at it when i pick it up tomorrow I'll probably cook it Wednesday!

Bludawg your method of cooking brisket seems to be the way i'll be cooking the brisket. I haven't quite figured out how to do the low temp cooking like 225-250 yet with the stick burner. Everything I've cooked so far Maintaining a 275-325 temp is alot easier for me for some reason. I say that will be the temp I always cook on.

I'll be sure to make a post about it during the cook. I'll take lots of pictures :D to bad we cant insta-send samples through the internet lol

From Ron's Link it seems to me that the point/flat is fairly easy to separate. I'm just gonna wing it :D
 
It's much easier to let your pit run where it wants to than to try to make it run cooler. Good luck post pix if you don't know or are unsure Ask.
 
I just picked up my brisket from the store. Got a 11.3lb choice brisket for $3.69/lb. This a good deal?
 
For where you live I'd say you better go back and kiss the butcher that is what Prime was the other day here at HEB.
 
Haha, well must be a decent deal for around here. every where else I've called to order one they wanted $6.99/lb here! Tomorrow will be the big cook.
 
Best of luck with the cook. My feelings are:

Allow plenty of time, patience is your friend. More briskets are ruined because 'She who must be obeyed' decided the time for eating is NOW! That just isn't how brisket works.

Do not mix techniques. For a beginner, learn one method and cook it until you master it.
 
landarc said:
Best of luck with the cook. My feelings are:

Allow plenty of time, patience is your friend. More briskets are ruined because 'She who must be obeyed' decided the time for eating is NOW! That just isn't how brisket works.

Do not mix techniques. For a beginner, learn one method and cook it until you master it.
Click to expand...


I plan on getting up 6 a.m. to fire up the smoker. The way its been lately takes about 1 hr or so to get a good fire/coals built up. (altho I'll probably be a grouchy dude waking up that early) as soon as i get the charcoal going, I'm coming inside I'm gonna trim the brisket, It has a pretty thick fatcap on it. It'll need trimming. Cover with salt, Garlic, Pepper. (Might put Onion powder on it) and start the cook. I don't have fancy grill level thermometer's. Just gonna keep the pit running with its default gauge 275-325 until done. Probably wont use any temp gauges on the meat. Just gonna wing it. It doesn't seem like its a hard process. Just gotta make sure its cooked til tender. First brisket, wont be mad if its undercooked/overcooked. I'll learn next time :D
 
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