Smaller Briskets

My wife just got back from CostCo and got 4 briskets at about 5 lbs each. I asked her to get 2 10-12 lb cuts. These were the biggest they had. She even got the meat cutter to look in the back and there was not any larger ones.

All the recipees list a 10-12 lb-er as the required but. Well, now what do I do with these? Can I stack two on top of ach other and they just get them smoking?

Any advice?

Bryan, sounds like your wife found the trimmed flat of a brisket. Is there very little fat on the bottom? What does it say on the label, fully trimmed or something like that? Normally, what we are talking about doing here is the packer trimmed brisket, which is hardly trimmed at all and has a lot of fat. The fat is good for keeping the meat moist, sort of self basting.

Having said all that, you can still cook what you have. I would guess that 3 of those 5 pound flats would roughly equal 2 10 pound briskets as far as how much meat they will yield. You should plan on mopping them with your favorite mop, to try to keep them moist. Mopping also keeps the outside of the brisket from over cooking while the inside cooks. Use a meat therm and plan on taking them off between 180 and 190 internal.

Good luck


[This message has been edited by Doug Wilbur (edited 12-15-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Doug Wilbur (edited 12-15-2000).]

See the following post regarding the use of bacon with such briskets:
http://tvwbb.101inc.com/tvwbubb/Forum4/HTML/000114.html

Regards,
Chris

So, you suggest that we just add the bacon to the top to keep it moist?

And can I stack two on top of each other since there is going to be a space problem? I have a total of 4 smaller cuts. Or should I cook these in two batches? Or si there another trick to these ssmaller briskets?

Bryan..

I would not stack them. That will ruin any chance of creating a nice all-around bark. Plus, you will not get as much smoke absorption.

One thing you can do is to put them in a rib rack. The flat of the brikset should easily fit into a rack. I really don't see how 4 of these will create a space problem. You can put 2 on top and 2 on the bottom. I have done this with the FULL brisket with no problem(well..sorta no problem, it was really tight!).

Good Luck to you and let us know how it turns out.

Stogie

Bryan
The bacon will help a lot also try this
marinade you can use as to keep the moisture levels up for the cook:
1 cup Dr Pepper
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tsp hot sauce
1 1/2 cup veg oil
spray mixture on brisket every 45 min or so.
This recipe is from Billy Maynard out of Texas.
No need to stack should have enough room.
If you get brisket like this in the future
marinate in Billy's recipe for 24 hours before the cook.
Good Q'n
Jim

Jim

It's Sat. AM and I just got in from starting two of the flats. I rubbed them on Thursday night with something called Galena Street Rub from Penzey's Spices on the internet and shoved them into the fridge. I put one on top and one on the bottom. Both had nice fat caps but there is about 1/3 exposed (unfatted) meat so I layered bacon over that section and a couple over the rest (so I would not be tempted to have a BLT later today). About 1/2 lb on each flat. The Polder is in the top cut and the WSM is at 225* and holding. I'll report how long it takes to get the Polder to 185*. I figure that at 1.5 hours per pound that these will take about 7-8 hours.

I still have two others in the fridge with a couple of other rubs that I will do tomorrow for company tomorrow. Today is yet another experiment on the family.