Dry brisket whining


 
Mike Shook

Mike Shook

TVWBB Fan
I got trouble (right here in River City). Put a trimmed Costco brisket flat about 8 pounds on at 6:45 this morning. Everything went as normal, but I knew something was wrong when I checked the meat temp at 12:30 and it was already 195 - 200 degrees internal temp. Pulled it, foiled it, rested it. 90 minutes later checked it. Flavor is good, but dry dry dry. I should have been suspicious when there was no red liquid in the cryo whatsoever.

Only thing to be done is chop it up and turn it into burnt end sammiches. Not a total loss but definitely not what I had in mind. First brisket fail for me in at least 8 years.
 
Yea, sorry. Never tried doing a trimmed flat, but from what I have read on this board is if it's overly trimmed you should foil around the stall and add a little liquid like beer or broth.
I always use the point for burnt ends, not sure how a dry, dry, dry, flat will work unless you add a bunch of gravy or sauce and put it in a crock?:)

Tim
 
First fail in 8 years? I'd take those averages any day.

Mine is more like 50/50.

Was it tough (undercooked?) or crumbly (overcooked?).

Or - you could always blame the cut. ;)

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timothy said:
I always use the point for burnt ends, not sure how a dry, dry, dry, flat will work unless you add a bunch of gravy or sauce and put it in a crock?:)

Tim
Click to expand...

That is exactly what I plan to do. The alternative, I guess is throw it in soup. <<shrug>>
 
I suggest shredding it and adding some kind of sauce. Then let it sit for at least a day. I've found time and again that it takes a day for the smoke flavor to migrate from the meat to the sauce and the result is usually quite delicious. Several times I've smoked chicken thighs, pulled, and added to a homemade sauce. It's always noticeably better on the second day. Another trick I picked up from America's Test Kitchen is to set aside all the smaller and extra crispy bits when pulling the meat. This goes into the food processor and gets pulsed a few times to make a fairly fine shred. (You could do it with a knife too. Just go medieval on it until it barely resembles chicken.) Then into the pot with the sauce and the larger pieces of pulled chicken. The pulverized bits help the sauce to stick to the pulled pieces. I imagine this technique would work just as well with the dry brisket, bringing more sauce along with every bite.
 
I smoked some smaller brisket cuts that came out dry as well, but adding them with beef stock in a sauce pan made for some killer beef juices.
 
Good Morning All from Colorado,
Got a question (may be stupid) when placing a paper wrapped brisket in a cooler after a 16 hr smoke, is there ice in the cooler???
 
LMack, this may be a duplicate response. No ice - your purpose is to rest the meat and keep it warm until service. Ice would defeat the purpose. If you are not serving the same day, you should still rest it before slicing and fridging to prevent the meat juices from running out. Unless you also want to be "dry brisket whining." :p
 
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Mike...

Curious on the dry comment. Was it dry, as in dry & tough ? Or was it dry as in dry & crumbly ?
 
That's a bummer. I don't mind if my steak is a little over done, but when you spend a half a day doing a L&S and it comes out bad, that's a different story.
Sounds like your flat came from the same 100 year old steer my spareribs came from that I cooked on Sunday. Wife and I took two bites and chucked the whole rack, dry as a bone.
 
My best advice...

Get a Thermoworks Smoke. Meat temp and grate temp probes are a must. My USDA Prime full packer was just about perfect on my WSM on Sunday. The flat was one touch on the dry side (but 8/10 people probably wouldn't have called it dry). The point was was spot on and the deckel was perfectly rendered.

Long story short...

Without the Thermoworks Smoke, I probably would have over/under cooked that whole big hunk of meat. Its not as forgiving as bone-in pork butts. I didn't realize I spiked the temp when wrapping in paper, until my alarm went off. i worked to get it back and steady again...something I wouldn't have done if I wasn't closely monitoring temp.
 
Bob Bass said:
Mike...

Curious on the dry comment. Was it dry, as in dry & tough ? Or was it dry as in dry & crumbly ?
Click to expand...

Tender, and not particularly crumbly. Just bone dry. And in answer to another question, I kept it about 225 to 240. I have a thermoworks two probe on my birthday wish list. Hurry, August!
 
Dry vs Moist is all about (the state of the) collagen. When undercooked, the meat is perceived as being dry because the collagen has yet to convert into gelatin. When overcooked, the meat is also perceived as being dry because the collagen has been converted into gelatin which has drained from the meat. This later condition is most recognizable as being crumbly, especially around the edges. Nothing to hold the meat fibre protein together.
 
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