Dave Alvarado
TVWBB Super Fan
Cook time has to do with thickness, not weight. If you took a 17lb brisket and hammered it flat so it was only 1/4" thick, it would cook really fast.
Of course a 17lb brisket will tend to be pretty thick anyway, but at some point the cook time mostly levels out. A 20lb brisket cooks in about the same time as a 15lb brisket. In both cases, you can cook a brisket in the 275F-300F range and get a perfectly good end product, you just have to give it the poke test a little more frequently because the window between undercooked and overcooked will be narrower.
I've started cooking at 300F and I haven't looked back. It's nice to put a brisket on after breakfast and eat it for dinner.
Of course a 17lb brisket will tend to be pretty thick anyway, but at some point the cook time mostly levels out. A 20lb brisket cooks in about the same time as a 15lb brisket. In both cases, you can cook a brisket in the 275F-300F range and get a perfectly good end product, you just have to give it the poke test a little more frequently because the window between undercooked and overcooked will be narrower.
I've started cooking at 300F and I haven't looked back. It's nice to put a brisket on after breakfast and eat it for dinner.
