When beef prices get ridiculously high (droughts our west where most of our commercial beef is grown) have seriously raised the prices of beef in general. Further, IMO, our "health" concerns about fatty meats has caused producers to produce a LOT of beef that is entirely too lean for best flavor.
I was raised on a working farm that raised REAL beef (as well as pigs and free range chickens, etc) so I really am sort of biased against this "less than tasty beef" unless you spend a King's Ransom.
So, my solution is to use less beef and more pork and chicken. I know this is "heresy" to many, but that is how I feel.
The benefit of this opinion is that we have been taking advantage of the very real bargains in pork and chicken. I have fine tuned my skills with pork butts (pulled pork), BBQ ribs, pork steaks (both high heat grilled and St. Louis style and chicken parts (mainly through the great information I get from this web site).
By the way, my grand daughter was just married in another state (down south), and she asked me to supply pulled pork and Cedar Planked Salmon for thirty people at the wedding rehearsal dinner. It was WELL received.
Many thanks to this forum and Mr. Harry Soo...
Frankly, I don't miss beef, but that is just me. In the spirit of full disclosure, I have a brisket flat in my freezer from Costco, as we speak, that I will be smoking on my 18.5" WSM in a week or so...
To answer the O.P.'s question, I foil my brisket.
Flame on...
Keep on smokin,'
Dale53
