Brisket tough as shoe leather?? Any ideas?


 
Status
Not open for further replies.
J

Jim Clay

TVWBB Fan
Yesterday (Sunday) I had my first real disaster on the WSM. I had a 6.5lb brisket flat that I smoked for 9 hours. I used a Maverick ET73 and monitored the temps all day. Everything went pretty much as expected. I kept my smoker temp in the 220 to 240 range for the entire cook. When the meat hit 185 I foiled it and blew open all the vents and got the cooker up to about 300 degrees. The meat temp rose pretty steady on up to 190. I then took the meat off the cooker (wrapped in foil) and let it stand for about an hour. When I carved it, I was shocked! It was the toughest brisket I've ever cooked! It was almost inedible. Okay, well, it wasn't quite that bad. However, it was most definitely very tough.

I checked both the probes on my Maverick and they are spot on. So, I can't blame the probes. Here are couple of things you should know. It was a choice flat that I bought about a week ago and froze. I thawed it out in the fridge and soaked it overnight in Coke. This was something a friend of mine suggested. Said that he read it somewhere. I'm thinking that might be the culprit combined with freezing the meat. Any thoughts?
 
Freezing shouldn't have caused any problem. I regularly catch brisket on sale and stock up the freezer.

I've never marinated brisket in Coke, but the late Billy "Belly" Maynard of Texas brisket fame had a secret recipe in which he clipped a corner of the brisket cryovac and poured in a concoction featuring Dr Pepper, put duct tape over the hole, and refrigerated the whole thing for a day. He swore by his Dr Pepper marinade - looks like Coke wouldn't be THAT much different in its reaction with the meat.

It was a flat, huh? I've never cooked a flat so this is conjecture here on my part. I would think that the lack of a fat cap could contribute to the problem, maybe. OOOOOOOOR was it a select grade brisket masquerading as a choice? Depending on the store, I've seen that happen.

Slice it thin and have a sammich for lunch!

Keri C
Smokin on Tulsa Time
 
Keri, I got the thing at Sams so I'm fairly sure that it was choice. It did have a pretty good fat cap on it, at least a quarter inch. All I can conclude is that it was a crap piece of meat that needed to be cooked to 200 to get tender. I think in the future I may take em to at least 195 before removing. I also think that rushing it there at the end wasn't such a smart idea. I'm always disappointed when I try and rush cooks. Thanks for the input Keri.
 
Jim......

Throw away the thermo's! You need to poke the meat with the probes and feel for resistance. It sounds unusual for 190? to NOT be tender, but some cows are just like that!

Next time, poke some holes in the meat and feel for resistance....when it slides in easy, it is tender.

I can't imagine that the bump up in cooker temps was that harmful nor was the marinading. Marinades only penetrate to a depth of 1/4"...they should be used for flavoring, as they offer no help in tenderizing.

BTW, check out the Rubs, Marinades Recipe section for that Dr. Pepper marinade.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> When I carved it, ... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Hmmm .... against the grain or with?

I usually do brisket to 200~205. After you tried reheating it in the oven? Was it better?
 
Jim,

Freezing meat then thawing will cause you to lose moisture, more so if you thaw quickly and not in the fridge. But that on it's own shouldn't have caused such a problem. Is it possibe that the coke acted somewhat like a brine, leaching more moisture from the cut?
 
Thanks for all the input.

Kevin, I think you're right on. Next time I am going to go by feel more then I have in the past.

Travis, I cut it across the grain and, yes, it did get a little better after reheating. I'm going to do a little experiment next time and take it up to 205 or so. I'm also going to use the poke test for tenderness.

Thanks again everyone.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

 

Back
Top