After months of cooking ribs, butts and bacon, I finally tried a brisket. From a visual standpoint, the finished product looked great. From a taste standpoint, it was much less than I was hoping. Here's the details:
Meat: Appox 3 lb brisket "point" purchased at a local butcher. He trimmed it for me leaving about 1/4" layer of fat.
Rub: Mixture of equal parts dark brown sugar, kosher salt, paprika, chili powder and black pepper (with a dose of garlic powder and cumin). Rubbed, wrapped in plastic and chilled overnight (about 14 hours) in fridge. Removed from plastic and brought to room temp the following morning.
Cook: 18.5" WSM. Minion . Used 3/4 full of KC, 4 chunks of hickory, one of cherry. Heated WSM to 240 and put the brisket on the top rack, fat side up. I did not turn the brisket or make any other changes during the entire cook. I was able to maintain a temp of about 235-245 for the entire cook. I was expecting the cook to take about 4.5-5 hours. My plan was to do a tenderness check at 185 degrees. However, at the 5.5 hour mark, the meat was still at only 170. It did not hit 185 until about 6.5 hours but was NOT probe tender. I let it cook for another half hour and took it off the WSM. I let it sit for 15 minutes, then foiled it and put it into the cooler.
Finished product: Visually, it looked GREAT. The bark was both sweet and spicy, there was a nice ring and it sliced up nicely. Taste-wise, it was just OK. It was lacking in juiciness and and was a bit on the dry side. Some Sweet Baby Rays helped, but not enough.
So.... where did I go wrong? Was it overcooked? I can't imagine it being undercooked since it only weighed about 3 lbs and was on the smoker for about 7 hours. Did I use too much salt in the rub or leave the run on too long before cooking? Any help would be appreciated.
Meat: Appox 3 lb brisket "point" purchased at a local butcher. He trimmed it for me leaving about 1/4" layer of fat.
Rub: Mixture of equal parts dark brown sugar, kosher salt, paprika, chili powder and black pepper (with a dose of garlic powder and cumin). Rubbed, wrapped in plastic and chilled overnight (about 14 hours) in fridge. Removed from plastic and brought to room temp the following morning.
Cook: 18.5" WSM. Minion . Used 3/4 full of KC, 4 chunks of hickory, one of cherry. Heated WSM to 240 and put the brisket on the top rack, fat side up. I did not turn the brisket or make any other changes during the entire cook. I was able to maintain a temp of about 235-245 for the entire cook. I was expecting the cook to take about 4.5-5 hours. My plan was to do a tenderness check at 185 degrees. However, at the 5.5 hour mark, the meat was still at only 170. It did not hit 185 until about 6.5 hours but was NOT probe tender. I let it cook for another half hour and took it off the WSM. I let it sit for 15 minutes, then foiled it and put it into the cooler.
Finished product: Visually, it looked GREAT. The bark was both sweet and spicy, there was a nice ring and it sliced up nicely. Taste-wise, it was just OK. It was lacking in juiciness and and was a bit on the dry side. Some Sweet Baby Rays helped, but not enough.
So.... where did I go wrong? Was it overcooked? I can't imagine it being undercooked since it only weighed about 3 lbs and was on the smoker for about 7 hours. Did I use too much salt in the rub or leave the run on too long before cooking? Any help would be appreciated.
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