Brisket Egg

[RKruger]

Last night I laid a brisket egg… I started out breaking what has to be a cardinal rule of smoking. I got a late (very late) start. I had a 15# packer and was planning a HH cook. One of the goals of this cook was to remove the point and fat cap (the wife hates both) after cooking and use the point for burnt ends. I had a good fire and got the meat on at 14:30 my temps were at about 350-375 (it was really windy so they were up and down). The meat hit 165 @ about 17:30 and I foiled it. I started checking for doneness at 19:00 and pulled it at 20:00. I wanted to get right on with the burnt ends so I immediately went in search of the point (see earlier thread) and did a fair job finding it. This is where I made another big mistake I went right into scraping the fat cap and removing the point without resting the brisket. After getting the point back on the smoker I then sliced the flat and had dinner (very late). I discovered that the end meat and the outer meat were done. However, the center meat is tough.
1. Late start killed me before I got going. I was hungry when I pulled the beast and should have left it a bit longer. It seems like it was close though so maybe if I had rested it for 30 min or so I would have been fine.
2. I’m not sure if I should have removed the point at the foiling time or finished it and let it rest before removing.
3. Anyone have advice on how to rescue the tough brisket? I have a food saver and was thinking of vac sealing the meat and dropping it in boiling water. Any advice on how long if this is a good idea?

 

[Shawn W]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">3. Anyone have advice on how to rescue the tough brisket? I have a food saver and was thinking of vac sealing the meat and dropping it in boiling water. Any advice on how long if this is a good idea </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
One thing you can do if it seems dry, tough is 'beef dip' sandwiches

make a nice beefy/onion jus, slice the meat thin and heat it in the jus, put it on toasted garlic bread/buns, can use cheese or mayo or caramelized onions, may dip the sandwich in the jus

 

[j biesinger]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">3. Anyone have advice on how to rescue the tough brisket? I have a food saver and was thinking of vac sealing the meat and dropping it in boiling water. Any advice on how long if this is a good idea? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's a tough one (pun intended). Its a viable option but there's many variables: how tough it is, how thick it is, how tender you want it, how cold it is at the start...

I would shoot for water that isn't quite boiling, and maintain it for 90 min. It usually takes me 3 hours to get raw chuck to tender via a braise. Figure your half way there, but will be starting cold.

Cut the remaining flat into single serve packs and experiment with times and temps.

If you can hold 160* for a few days, you should have some mighty fine meat when your done

 

[Davo]

I had a similar dilemma over the past weekend where I bought a so called budget beef scotch fillet roast that i wanted to smoke it low & slow and I smoked it with mesquite over 6 hours and foiled it when it got to 160F and then placed it back in till it reached 195F. I then took it out and left it to rest for nearly 2 hours in foil, then unwrapped & tried to pull but there was still a lot of sinew and strands happenning and I was wondering if i should've keep pushing it much longer to break it down.
Now it wasn't as tough as brisket can be but I reckon the cow this beef came from was so old, it was already collecting the old age pension.
I eventually sliced it and it was as tough as grandad's ol' boot in some places and reasonably edible in other areas of the slab.
My wife who is Japanese, decided to slice it very thin and make a beef salad and noodle dish out of it and we've been eating it like that now for 2 days LOL
She was going to make a stew with it but decided on the salad instead..was rather nice actually...so all is not lost...there is hope!!

Cheers

Davo