Brisket No.3

[tom b]

Brisket No.3
This could get wordy as I’m logging my thought for future cooks.
I’ll start by saying that I have never had any brisket that I thought was good enough to go back for seconds. Weather it be in somebodies yard or at a BBQ restaurant. So I never really felt like putting forth the time and effort to make my own. Rather I elected to work on refining the other BBQ meats. Having a decent grip on most things BBQ, I have decided to work on my brisket game.

This is only my third attempt at brisket so, please go easy on me.

My first attempt, maybe five years gone by was a horrific disaster. Totally scorched on the bottom (couldn’t even get a knife to cut all the way through) and totally under cooked. Not even the dogs wanted anything to do with it. It was cooked on my old offset, 18x36 bayou classic.

So here I am 5 years later, and I’m determined to get this right.
The second attempt was this past March. I have a new to me LSG 24x48 offset. I went with Chuds foil boat and an over night rest in the turkey roaster. Results were moist and tasty but slices we crumbling, overcooked. We chopped this one and used this meat in a number of ways. It gave me enough enthusiasm to work on my game.

Yesterday I made a third attempt, I had high hopes this time so I snaped some photos and here are the results. LSG offset. A combination of oak, hickory and cherry were used. I didn’t have time for overnight hold and wanted to eat in the afternoon so I elected to to rest it in the roaster for as long as possible, that turned out to be around 3 ½ hours. Salt and pepper for the rub and foil boat were employed. The brisket was prime from cosco, 14 lbs pre trim and 10 after.

I ran the smoker 275-300 and a clean burn. Boated at 175ish after about 7.5 hours. 2-3 hour later it was probing tender all around. Set on the counter for an hour or so and into the roaster for a 3 hours till we ate. It was over again but moist and tasty, this meat will be used for sure. Tacos and pizza are sounding pretty good.

I’m going to keep trying till I get this right.
Sorry for all the rambling, but here is the pron.

the trim

Salt and pepper

my 275 fire

I think this was about 2 hrs in

boated

out of the roaster and ready to slice, I had high hopes.

then this happened

not nearly as dry as this picture looks

chopped up for use later

If your still hear thanks for listening through this long wined post. I warned you in the begining. I got more work to do.

 

[sudsandswine]

Did it probe tender when you pulled it? Did you go straight to the warmer from the cooker or did you let it cook a bit first? I’ll take slightly over cooked brisket any day compared to slightly under cook…worst case, you can still chop it up and it’s pretty good!

 

[Stingerhook]

Any way you want to cook it I'll am more than willing to eat it Tom.

 

[tom b]

Did it probe tender when you pulled it? Did you go straight to the warmer from the cooker or did you let it cook a bit first? I’ll take slightly over cooked brisket any day compared to slightly under cook…worst case, you can still chop it up and it’s pretty good!

It was tender, for quite a while, everywhere except for the very edges of the flat. It sat on the counter for an hour or so before it went in the warmer

 

[sudsandswine]

The edges are usually the first spot on the flat to probe tender for me, so the overcooking likely happened on the cooker as opposed to the warmer, and the edges hardened up from dryness. Just hop back on that brisket horse again and you’ll nail it on the next one :thumb:

 

[tom b]

thanks sud that makes sense to me,


this bite was pretty awesome

 

[ronbrad62]

As long as the brisket can be used in another dish (unlike the first one), you succeeded. Pretty soon, you will be posting a tutorial on the best brisket you have ever cooked. Hang in there and good luck!

 

[mchar69]

Your brisket looks very uniform and much nicer than mine, also 14 lbs from Costco. I only had 2 pounds of trim, but it cooked faster than others I've cooked. I haven't seen the 'boat' method, but I'm going to do that next time.

 

[ssv3]

Tom,

You're almost on point. When you pull, take off the wrap if you're not doing the foil boat and let it drop down to 180* IT or until temps stop rising. Next wrap in fresh foil and rest it in a cambro or cooler for 4-5 hours. I struggled until I figured the key was in the proper rest of a brisket. No more problems.

 

[ModelMaker]

You have nailed everything except the finish. Next one should be the one!
Ed

 

[LordRiffenstein]

Looking at the picture of the sliced point I have to ask: how sharp/dull is your knife?

It looks like you are unable to perform a clean cut. A dull knife will have you struggling during the slicing and can crumble a very tender piece of meat.

 

[Ecuaporker]

Looks like you’re getting her dialed in!

 

[SweetHeatBBQnSC]

Looks good to me! You are getting closer and closer to the perfect brisket, and having wonderful meals along the way. I could think of worse problems to have haha.