Brisket Size Advice


 
M

Mike Purnell

TVWBB Pro
This has probably been asked a million times but I'll ask again
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Not new to the WSM but I have NEVER done a brisket before. Never eaten a brisket either so I am clueless to say the least. So here's my deal.

Picked up a 5lb brisket flat from Walmart and I need some tips. First off, this was the biggest available at the store so I grabbed it on sale, cost just over $11. Is this typically too small or is this good enough to experiment/practice with? They had points for sale too but I'm pretty sure I need a flat....

Besides that I will search around here for a basic recipe. Any thoughts on how long this would take to cook?
 
That's a good price for a flat. Chris has a good explanation of Brisket. Time will depend on the temp you cook at. Low and slow or hi temp.?

This month I cooked my 4th flat and it was the first Brisket cook I was totally satisfied with. The first three were well trimmed but number 4 had the fat on it and I cooked it that way. I cooked to an internal temp of 160 degrees, wrapped it in HD foil, and cooked until probe tender. I'm no Kevin Kruger but his advice to cook until probe tender is burned into my brain. It worked for me. You'll do fine.
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Mike,

I agree with Lew; sometime around 160* wrap the flat in foil. The foiling will help retain its moisture. Low and slow is fine; just check for tenderness periodically after foiling for tenderness. You want a fork or temp probe to go into the meat with no resistance. Save the juices in the foil. Defat the juice after cooling and if there's enough pour over your sliced brisket prior to serving. If there's not a lot of juice, extend it with a quality no salt beef broth. I offer this if the brisket ends up a little on the dry side as this sometimes happens when cooking flats by themselves.

Paul
 
Mike, my successful cook was a 5.5 lb. flat. I started probing it at 185 degrees internal temp. Tough at that point in the cook. At 7 hours the thin end was probe tender but the thick end wasn't. At 8 hours the whole thing was probe tender. These forums gave me the motivation to keep trying Brisket and once I absorbed the tons of advice into my thick skull then I had success.
 
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