Brisket cook time whole vs separated point and flat


 
Sadly, he notes the abundance of Gelatin in the combined cook, but ignores that in the separate cooks.
An Overcooked brisket is going to be Dry and Crumbly (note one of the slices...)

For the only professional competition BBQ cook that I was directly involved in (other than being a judge ;) ), the Pitmaster (the late Matt Dalton of Left Coast Q) cooked the point and flat separately.
 
Interestingly last weekend at Costco they had Choice brisket at $4.99/lb but just the flat at $8.99/lb. Why would they charge more just for the flat? I haven't cooked a brisket yet but plan on it Memorial Day Weekend.
 
Brian-WI said:
Interestingly last weekend at Costco they had Choice brisket at $4.99/lb but just the flat at $8.99/lb. Why would they charge more just for the flat? I haven't cooked a brisket yet but plan on it Memorial Day Weekend.
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Labor and packaging and profit.

If you don’t want the points buy the whole packet and make burnt ends or grind for burgers. $8.99 for brisket is ridiculous.
 
Brett-EDH said:
Labor and packaging and profit.

If you don’t want the points buy the whole packet and make burnt ends or grind for burgers. $8.99 for brisket is ridiculous.
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Choice was $4.99/lb and Prime was $5.99/lb. Prime was smaller but with only 3 of us I don't need a big brisket. Cooking it I can handle, but I am intimidated trimming it.
 
Less is more. Leave more fat cap on as it’ll melt off when cooking. Shape it so you have trimmings for burgers. Save and render the tallow.
 
There's no doubt it cooks better together. I have separated them when making pastrami and cooked separately. Using the flat for pastrami.

You cook it till you reach desired temperature.....period. Of course a smaller piece of meat is going to cook quicker... That should go without explanation.

However ..... The faster something cooks the less it renders..... You see this problem with beef ribs... They cook too fast in 6-7 hrs to render out all of the connective tissue and fat, even when you take them to a higher temperature than a brisket. The solution would be to cook at a lower temperature and cook them for a longer time. Perhaps reducing cook temperature substantially once you wrap it and have the bark.
 
Lot's of people fail with the flat.

My brother in law continues to knock it out of the park with his cheap CampChef $300 vertical smoker doing the flats.
Many, many years ago after eating his great brisket for the first time, it was so good (better than any bbq that I ever had) that I went out and got me one of them smokers.

Apparently “it’s the carpenter, not the hammer” is very true because my first failed attempt had to be fed to the dogs.

Fast forward twenty some odd years later,
I can cook a packer brisket but, those stand alone flat cooks I still struggle with consistently making nice juicy proper meat so, I have settled on wrapping them as soon as the bark looks good and finishing them off in the oven in a steam tent.
I found doing that has increased my success rate.

Since Christmas I’ve been using a sous vide to make pastrami’s and rump roast/roast beef.
I’ve been doing, 2 days in the soak, two hours in ice water and a 2-1/2 to a 3 hour on the smoker to add smoke and bark. I believe this will make any cut nice.
I sometimes toss them into the oven for finishing with steam, but this is pastrami and not a regular brisket cook

That said,
I’m not sure how using sous vide on a brisket and then into the smoker would work.
Would it make pink meat? I dunno.
That just seems weird to me but I think it’s worth a try to find out for myself

I would also like to try seeing how a flat would do in my Dutch Oven.
I think I could get behind that idea.
 
There's no doubt it cooks better together.

So my results are consistently better AND faster cooking it separated. Because it allows you to pull/wrap each piece at different times. As appropriate.

However ..... The faster something cooks the less it renders.....

Regardless of how you cook it, the pro move (and I mean pros like Aaron Franklin) for rendering is the long hot hold. Sooo much better than the cooler/towels method. And because you can do it for up to like 20 hours, the long hot hold makes landing the dinner plane on time fool proof.

 
Jim C in Denver said:
There's no doubt it cooks better together.

So my results are consistently better AND faster cooking it separated. Because it allows you to pull/wrap each piece at different times. As appropriate.

However ..... The faster something cooks the less it renders.....

Regardless of how you cook it, the pro move (and I mean pros like Aaron Franklin) for rendering is the long hot hold. Sooo much better than the cooler/towels method. And because you can do it for up to like 20 hours, the long hot hold makes landing the dinner plane on time fool proof.

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The only thing I don't like about holding it in the oven is the condensation that's left all over the inside of the oven.
 
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