First brisket cook !


 
J

J Brouwer jezza

TVWBB Fan
Finaly getting to cook a brisket after my dog ate my last one whilst it was defrosting on the kitchen bench !! Needless to say I have fixed the back door so he can't open it himself :) posting these pics in part coz I am worried that the butcher has cut too much fat off the brisket and any tips on (if he has cut too much off) how to save my cook from disaster would be greatly appreciated!!! I have family coming round tomorrow evening for dinner with ribs and brisket on the menu :) I'd hate to end up eating pizza :( I am doing the wet rub brisket http://virtualweberbullet.com/brisket3.html

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All seasoned in the bag :)

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In the meantime This is a couple of cooks I did during the week :)

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The first is a shoulder of lamb with potatoes with a brocolli and cauliflower cheesy bake, and the 2nd is obviously ribs;)

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Until tomorrow have a great day/evening;)
 
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Some very nice cooks and I'm sure everyone had a great time. I like the one who is keeping a eye on the ribs, making sure no one keeps them befor me!!!!
 
The other cooks look great!

What type of dog? Man a whole brisket? I have a black lab and man he would be sick for days. He has a very weak stomach.

In my opinion I think the butcher may of gone a little cut happy on the fat. Most prefer about a solid 1/4 inch fat cap on the brisket. I think it protects the brisket from drying out a little. Next time I would ask for them not to trim or better yet buy a full un-trimmed packer brisket and trim yourself.
I don't think there is much you can do at this point but honestly it won't make a huge difference. Be very diligent about checking for doneness. My suspicion is with less fat there will be a smaller window of when the brisket is done perfect and juicy.

Good luck and keep us posted!
 
Thanks guys :) haven't actually cooked the brisket yet tho ;) cooking that just now for tonight !! I'll post some more pics soon, just firing up the WSM :) thanks tommy ! He is a border collie mate ;) and he is a guts but I assume he has buried a portion of it in the backyard and plus we don't get briskets like you guys do lol ! Nowhere near as thick as yours !
 
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Nice job! There will always be the debate on how much fat to cut off. I personally cut off alot because most of it won't break down and just adds a bunch of time to the cook. Plus it's a super pain trying to cut the "bad" fat off once it's done. I noticed your cross cut is with the grain. Next time, do your cut against the grain. It will give you a reference to were to start your cuts once that bad boy is done.

Here is a fresh brisket
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My very first cut is my grain cut. This tells me were to start my slices once done.
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Then I will follow the grain cut and knock off all the nasty wet cured fat. Keep in mind This is were you set the width of your brisket. This is so it fits on your serving plates if you are doing slices.
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Now this were I'll go in and knock off all the nasty wet cure and that rock hard fat that defines the point from the flat. Doing all of this prep first makes your life easy once it's done. When it's finished all I half to do is one cut to separate the point and flat.

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Know you can see were I'll half to do one basic cut to get my burnt ends and I won't half to try and figure out what nasty fats didn't break down while cubing my ends up.

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Now as far as the fat cap. Ill go through and make sure the thickness is really no more then 1/4inch. IMO anything thicker is just not going to break down and it's going to turn into a rubbery mess that taste awful

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Hope this helps with your future cooks
 
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Looking good.

To answer your first question, in my mind the butcher probably took more off than I'd prefer. I buy a full packer and trim it down in a similar manner to Todd above, however, I leave as much SOFT fat on that I can (will cook down and keep juicy), and I take off the big plugs of HARD fat (this stuff doesn't cook down).

I follow Aaron Franklin's method of cut/prep. Also I pretty much follow his recipe... has always yielded great results!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmTzdMHu5KU
 
Your last brisket reminds me that many moons ago I had a Beagle dog who would jump into the dishwasher to lick plates.
One day he got up onto the counter and dragged most of a ham down while I answered the door. When I got back to the kitchen
he had eaten more than half the ham and thought that it was his and nobody was going to take it away from him. I finally got it
away from him and he bit me for it. He was up most all night howling, and could not get enough water, no matter how many times
I filled the bowl. Besides your brisket your ribs look very good as well!
 
Thanks bob :) dogs are great I love mine like my own children !!! Here's a halfway pic I decided to put some alfoil around it and moved it to the bott cooking grate to allow room for the ribs to go on soon !!!

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Steve R said:
Looking good.

To answer your first question, in my mind the butcher probably took more off than I'd prefer. I buy a full packer and trim it down in a similar manner to Todd above, however, I leave as much SOFT fat on that I can (will cook down and keep juicy), and I take off the big plugs of HARD fat (this stuff doesn't cook down).

I follow Aaron Franklin's method of cut/prep. Also I pretty much follow his recipe... has always yielded great results!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmTzdMHu5KU
Click to expand...

I don't trim nearly as aggressively as Todd but its a beautiful way to do it. I'm a little lazier in my trimming. I would definitely do more that style in a comp and if I had something good to do with the trimmings. I don't really do burnt ends. I like the point sliced, with the flat underneath if possible. I can see wanting to take all that wet cured stuff off. I usually do trim all that. His input about that corner cut against the grain is spot on no matter what. It's nice to be able to easily look and see what angle to cut after you build up all that crust. My briskets look like meteorites when done.
 
After all that I don't have a plate shot :eek: let alone a finished product shot :( had alot more family and friends show up and they showed up a little early ! The only photo I could show you is a pile of bones in the bin ! As I was cutting up the brisket a couple of the guys had NEVER had it before and they were taking the odd sample as I cut up the flat and I ended up just eating before I missed out :(
 
Great post, and great advice/expertise on trimming a great piece of meat. J Brouwer, the answer to all your questions is a satisfied group of guests. Especially if theyre crowded around you, and cant even ait il it gets on their plates.
 
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