Brisket... Pull apart Flat/Point? Leave?


 

Matthew

TVWBB Pro
I did my first brisket the other day, not really knowing where the Burnt ends came from, but all went well, and reheated the flat in a Slow Cooker with a mixture of Beef Broth and my bbq sauce.. About 4 hrs.. It was delicious... The Brisket from the smoker was delicious as well.. It cut great and was moist.. But my question is, can you separate the two muscles? pros and cons of doing it either way? I am asking because I would like to try it again with making the Burnt Ends..
 
You can separate them. There aren't many cons other than having to manage two pieces of meat and that it's against the will of God.
 
Lots of competition guys separate them since they cook more evenly separated. I haven't been to any BBQ restaurants that separate before the cook. Burnt ends come from the Point, near the fat cap.
 
You can separate them. There aren't many cons other than having to manage two pieces of meat and that it's against the will of God.

I did my first brisket and it was good, not a brisket person, but am willing to adapt.. I reheated the flat in a slowcooker and that was good.. My family, ie kids wont eat that, and the wife is a little is a lot to her on beef. So the chances aren't there for me to cook it. I do pulled pork and my wife and one kid will eat that and make pulled pork pizza.. Next time I may seperate it and see if that helps. Ill let you know in a year or two when this happens.. lol
 
...and that it's against the will of God.

Personally, I think God knows I love my family (most of the time) and would want to prepare for them the best food possible. If that means separating the point & flat to allow for more even and thorough distribution of rub and making it easier to make burnt ends, well, I think the good lord would be OK with that. I mean, it's not like the Bible says anything specific about it...
 
Personally, I think God knows I love my family (most of the time) and would want to prepare for them the best food possible. If that means separating the point & flat to allow for more even and thorough distribution of rub and making it easier to make burnt ends, well, I think the good lord would be OK with that. I mean, it's not like the Bible says anything specific about it...

I was about 90% kidding, lol. I don't buy the reasoning that keeping them together keeps the brisket more moist. However, I cook a Texas style brisket so I keep them together. I only serve naturally occurring burnt ends. If you are going to make burnt ends I see no reason not to separate if you feel like it from the start.
 
If you ever buy corned beef from the store, then you know they are separated from point to flat. ( and yea I know that's not BBQ) but,
Ive never seen a raw point in the store ( I think they grind that to burgers) and flats are a premium.
Me self personally I only do whole ones.

Tim
 
I smoked a corned beef point last week that came out great.

I did 3 desalination baths in cold water for 1 hour (each) then a final one overnight (all in the fridge). Most of the saltiness was gone leaving a nice level of salt. I did not use salt in the rub. I took it to 207F.

The rub I make is a modified Texas-style Brisket rub.

2 - 3.18 oz containers of McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak seasoning (25% less sodium version)
1/2 C Paprika
1/4 C White Sugar
1/4 C Brown Sugar
1TBS Cumin

The next day I sliced it on the thin side, heated it up a little bit (removed chill) and piled it high on rye with stone ground mustard. Delicious.

I recommend it giving it a try.

I slice full packers in half (straight across, where the point meets the flat) and smoke them separately.
 
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I was about 90% kidding, lol. I don't buy the reasoning that keeping them together keeps the brisket more moist. However, I cook a Texas style brisket so I keep them together. I only serve naturally occurring burnt ends. If you are going to make burnt ends I see no reason not to separate if you feel like it from the start.

This is almost the same discussion of going to a pellet smoker from wood. It CAN be done, and get some great results from it, BUT its not the way its always been done and kinda takes the fun and difficulty out of it (which is what i have always kinda considered the fun of brisket, that not everyone can do it well).

rb
 
One other argument for separation is to better fit them on the smoker. When I had my 18.5" WSM, I kind of hated always shoe-horning packers to make them fit. If you separate them, the flat will just fit better and you can put that on the lower grate with the point on the upper so the flat gets basted by all that delicious fat rendering out of the point. Even now that I have a 22.5", I'm planning to do the annual Memorial Day Brisket the same way.
 
I only serve naturally occurring burnt ends. If you are going to make burnt ends I see no reason not to separate if you feel like it from the start.

I'm with you there. You can trim that outer perimeter around the point before you cook to give you a couple of "runners" of fatty meat along the sides. It might only supply a few small appetizer bites for the the guests, but it will get their brisket motor runnin' (if I don't bogart them all first).
 

 

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