Brine brisket?


 
J

Jimmy Gee

New member
Has anyone used a wet brine on a whole brisket ( or even just the flat) prior to smoking ? If so, what were the ingredients and how long was it brined ? Most importantly, what were the results?
 
I would think it would ruin the point. And I would inject the flat before I went to the trouble of brining. But just me, I don't think there's much to be gained by injecting the flat in relation to the trouble involved, unless someone was trying to improve moisture, which is why the comp guys inject phosphates.
 
No one does it. From what I understand it kind of dilutes the beef flavor. Think about it. A lot of people dry age beef to concentrate the beefy flavor and tenderize. Dry aging removes moisture. What you should do is dry brine the brisket and the best way to do that is seasoning it the night before and let that salt work on the meat. In practice, though I rarely do that because I don't have enough fridge space.
 
Jimmy Gee said:
Has anyone used a wet brine on a whole brisket ( or even just the flat) prior to smoking ? If so, what were the ingredients and how long was it brined ? Most importantly, what were the results?
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Only when making Pastrami/Corned Beef. I cut of off the thin part of the flat so it would fit in the bag. They always come out so moist tender that I've often thought of mixing the brine up sans the paprika, bay leaves, allspice, coriander and Prague powder for a smoked brisket. I've attached the whole recipe:
 

Attachments

I've done a dry cure on pastrami on a brisket flat and it worked well and I smoked it like a brisket.

tvwbb.com

First Pastrami attempt

I decided to try making some pastrami for the first time ever. I started with a hunk of flat. My worksheet for the cure. I wound up curing it for 14 days. I rinsed it and soaked it twice for 30 minutes each. I fired up the WSM with Royal Oak charcoal and some pecan chunks from...
tvwbb.com tvwbb.com

I think I just cured it and then put all the pastrami type seasonings before I smoked it.
 
Dustin Dorsey said:
I've done a dry cure on pastrami on a brisket flat and it worked well and I smoked it like a brisket.

tvwbb.com

First Pastrami attempt

I decided to try making some pastrami for the first time ever. I started with a hunk of flat. My worksheet for the cure. I wound up curing it for 14 days. I rinsed it and soaked it twice for 30 minutes each. I fired up the WSM with Royal Oak charcoal and some pecan chunks from...
tvwbb.com tvwbb.com

I think I just cured it and then put all the pastrami type seasonings before I smoked it.
Click to expand...
I like wet brining for pastrami/corned beef because it takes about half as long as dry brining. I dry brined for many years with good results, and still do when using cuts that are only a couple of inches thick.
 
Wet brining is just harder to get the room in the fridge for and it can be harder to calculate if you aren't just following a specific recipe. I would definitely do it if I was going to cure a whole packer brisket or beef ribs or what not.
 
Wife got me one of these ( 8 qt), so I started wet brining bigger hunks. Doesn't take up much more space in the fridge than a gallon jug.

Briner Buckets | LEM Products

The easiest way to brine hams, bacon or turkey! This patent-pending design solves the biggest problem with brining... floating food. Keeps food submerged for a more effective brining process.
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Chuck-roaniecowpony said:
I wet cure in big ziplok bags. I stopped using brisket for corned beef/pastrami and went to a well marbled tri-tip.
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I've done tri-tip, eye of round, parts of a whole top round, sirloin. Whatever goes on sale. Quite often brisket is cheaper and works well. When I use brisket, I stay away from Prime and often go with Select to minimize the amount of fat that needs to be trimmed. Trying to reserve as much of our fat quota for ribs, sausages, bacon and juicy burgers :)
 
Dustin Dorsey said:
No one does it. From what I understand it kind of dilutes the beef flavor. Think about it. A lot of people dry age beef to concentrate the beefy flavor and tenderize. Dry aging removes moisture. What you should do is dry brine the brisket and the best way to do that is seasoning it the night before and let that salt work on the meat. In practice, though I rarely do that because I don't have enough fridge space.
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No one does it unless you consider Corned Beef and Pastrami. My local Jewish deli gets some pretty spectacular results, not to mention Manhattan's Lower East Side.
 
GrantT said:
I can't think as to why brining would be that different than injecting, which many do....
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That's a good point. I guess someone give it a shot and get back to us. Right now brisket it too expensive for me to take a shot at it. I don't inject and I don't do competition brisket. At the point they take things to I don't think the taste of the beef itself matters anymore.

Matthew, I absolutely consider those and agree they are great. I'm just talking about standard barbecue brisket.
 
Corned beef is a brined brisket. I tell people that want to try smoking a brisket to practice on a corned beef. You need to soak in fresh water to remove some of the salt or it will be too salty but it turns out pretty good.
 
JohnTakahashi said:
Corned beef is a brined brisket. I tell people that want to try smoking a brisket to practice on a corned beef. You need to soak in fresh water to remove some of the salt or it will be too salty but it turns out pretty good.
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Yeah that first corned beef I made was fine, but needed a mich longer water soak. Only gave it two hours.
 
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