Brisket Question


 
S

Steve Fisher

New member
Hi all. I'm a new member, been reading forum for some time but just joined. I have been asked by a friend to smoke a brisket for him and I'm happy to oblige. I use a WSM and have smoked numerous briskets in the past. The problem is that my friend bought a brisket and cut it into about 3" thick "steaks". I normally cook a brisket for about 12 hours, but I'm sure that would be way too much time for this cut up brisket. I'm thinking maybe 3 to 5 hours but I don't know. Anybody have any ideas or advice for me?
Thanks
Steve
 
Steve-
Not sure what temp you are planning to smoke this at, but I agree with you. Cutting that hunk o' beef into 3-inch steaks will greatly speed the cooking time up. I would not be surprised at all that you could well be done in 3-5 hours by cooking this brisket in pieces.
 
I would just cook it like you normally do thinking it will take much less time. It is the same cut of meat with the same structure of needing to cook a long time to get tender. I would check temps constantly and very early one. Brisket will hold in cooler for hours if it is done early too. Hope this helps, like everything else in bbq it is done when it is done!
 
The Results

I wanted to post the results I had with the cut up brisket. I first applied my dry rub to the pieces and let them sit overnight.
IMG_20131206_225614_370.jpg

I smoked them for 6 hours on my 22.5" WSM keeping the cooker temp in the low 200s. I checked with a fork at about the 3 hour mark and the pieces were still tough. After 6 hours I figured they were as tender as they were going to get.
IMG_20131207_162442_107.jpg

IMG_20131207_162454_780.jpg

I cut up the brisket into bite size pieces and coated some of them with Sweet Baby Rays Honey BBQ and the rest with Trilby's Chipotle Marionberry BBQ sauce. I placed the BBQ sauce coated pieces in the over covered with foil for 1 hour at 175.
I took the brisket pieces to a Christmas party and they went over very well. I suppose they came out kinda like burnt ends. Anyway I don't think I would cook a brisket this way on purpose but you've got to be able to adapt.
Steve
 
These look like country style ribs which in turn are just cut up pieces of the pork butt. I may be mistaken though. I'll link you a video about burnt ends. There's better videos but this shows the basic concept.
http://youtu.be/1YYlPEk6fX0
 
Have a friend that once gave me some pork butts to smoke for him. He quartered them, so I was faced with a similar situation. They turned out okay, but not the same as a big butt would. Cook time was shorted too. Were your brisket bits a little bit dry? Maybe foiling smaller pieces would help keep them moist.
 
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