Anyone done a brisket in aluminum pan?

[chrisnole88]

Any of y'all smoke a full brisket start to finish in an aluminum pan? My buddy just moved to Plano (near Dallas, TX) and his neighbor did one, he said the pan was filled with 1/2 inch of juice from the beef at the end of the cook (about 12 hours) and he could cut it without a knife (smoke ring was impressive too). I'm gonna try it, anyone have experience with it?

PS- He told me the fella sauced it with the leftover juice in the pan, cayenne and Texas Pete sauce, they know what they're doing in the Lone Star State....

 

[Susan Z]

Yes, I did my most recent brisket that way, having seen Steven Raichlen do it on a WSM on one of his shows. It really did end up swimming in a TON of juice, cuz I also had a pork butt basting it from the top grate, so you can imagine.

It did turn out very tender, but did not have as large a smoke ring as I usually get (and only had that on one side, as I don't think I flipped it).

I would do it again if all I had was a small, thin brisket. My big boys I prefer right on the grate, where they pick up tons of color and smoke.

But....it's totally worth trying!