3.5 lbs Brisket Flat: Tough. Dry. Bad meat or bad technique?


 
J

Jim Bounds

TVWBB Fan
I unfroze a 3.5 pound brisket flat purchased from Costco. It was in the freezer for about 2 months. Thawed it out entirely and seasoned with Montreal Steak. It was very lean looking cut of meat with a small amount of fat on one side. Put on WSM 22.5" at 1000 at 225 - 250 degrees fat side down. At 2.5 hours (1230) I peaked and it was looking good as far as the color, but when i turned it over with a fork - it felt really tough. Like the meat sinews where squeezing together. The temp was at 160. At 1400 it was still tough and temps were at 175 degrees. I wasn't going to wrap in foil, but my instinct was that this was one tough cut. So I wrapped in foil and poured in some of my beer for moisture. Pulled it at 200. Re-Wrapped in fresh foil, wrapped in towels and put into the cooler/faux cambro. At 1700 it was dinner time and I unwrapped and sliced thin. The cut was dry and not moist at all. It wasn't 'bad', but it wasn't 'good'. My family was shocked because it wasn't 'EXCELLENT'. My first failure in a long time.

I've cooked full packers in the 12-15 pound range and they were delicious. Moist, meaty and flavorful.

Was it bad meat or bad Technique?
 
Tough can mean undercooked, but dry and tough just means either a bad cook or a bad chunk of meat, I don't see anything wrong with your cook, perhaps maybe a little long, but that's really hard to say. I probably would have been tooth pickin' it for tenderness at about the 4 hour mark and have "toothpicked" for hours, it just depend how much moisture was in the meat. I try to determine when the stall starts and when it ends, because when it ends, you're usually 70% to 80% done, timewise
 
ChuckO said:
Tough can mean undercooked, but dry and tough just means either a bad cook or a bad chunk of meat, I don't see anything wrong with your cook, perhaps maybe a little long, but that's really hard to say. I probably would have been tooth pickin' it for tenderness at about the 4 hour mark and have "toothpicked" for hours, it just depend how much moisture was in the meat. I try to determine when the stall starts and when it ends, because when it ends, you're usually 70% to 80% done, timewise
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Seems contradictory, but dry and tough can mean undercooked as well as the connective tissues / collagen haven't broken down and rendered yet. Overcooked brisket tends to be dry and crumbly/stringy. I generally start probing briskets at about 190 degrees (whether they are wrapped or naked). When the probe goes in and out like a knife through butter, the brisket is done.
 
Some critters are simply tougher than others. Ever try a High Heat Brisket? Not sure it would work on those highly trimmed Costo flats but it sure works on a packer from Wally World.
 
I've had brisket flats that were not done in the 198-200 range. They started getting probe tender at 205.

Other packers i've had get probe tender at 195-197ish.

Point being, go with the probe feelings and not the temp.

use a cheap bamboo skewer from walmart over your expensive meat thermometer to help you learn when to pull a good brisket.
 
Sounds like she didn't give it up. I only use a probe to tell me when to start checking (195ish) Like max said, learn the feel of the probe and the giggle of the whole meat.
 
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