Tom,
Just got my monthly bbq newsletter in and they had this topic in there. I use this guys rub on brisket. this is his web site:
www.TexasBBQRub.com
2. Fat side up or down when you cook a brisket.
This is a frequently asked question and stirs up some debate in the BBQ community. When you look at the brisket you will notice one side of the brisket is covered almost totally by fat. The other side of the brisket is not covered by solid fat but has a more marbled look to it. The non-fat side, if you will, also is the side that the point of the brisket reaches its highest point.
Now for the discussion. When you place your brisket on your cooker do you cook with the fat side on top or on bottom? Let?s discuss this and then decide.
The conventional approach to cooking any meat on the cooker is to place the fat side of the piece of meat on top. This thinking is driven by the belief that as the meat cooks and the fat begins to break down, the juices of the fat will help marinate the meat as it cooks. This is true with most of the meat we cook. I have no problem with the thought process here. So one vote for placing the fat side of the brisket on top.
Think about a couple of other issues when we cook meat low and slow. Where does the heat we are using come from, the top or bottom of our cooker? That is right the heat source is always at the bottom of the meat. This is true if we cook in the oven, a grill, or a smoker. And we all know that heat rises. So the deal is to have the heat come from the bottom and rise over the food we are cooking.
When you cook, you notice that regardless of the meat we are cooking and regardless of the type of cooker we are using, that when our meat is cooked, and we are serving it, you notice that the bottom (the part of the meat that cooked nearest the heat source) is usually more done than the upper portion of the meat. This makes sense, as the bottom has been closer to the heat source and has been subjected to more heat.
My point is, if we cook with the fat side down on a brisket, we have a barrier of fat protecting the meat from the higher heat source. If we cook fat side up then we have no barrier there to protect the flat portion of the brisket from the higher heat.
If you really study the brisket you will notice there is a layer of fat that runs down the center of the brisket, from a point that begins right after the flat and begins to rise to the point. This flat layer and the fat that runs all thru the brisket will give us plenty of natural juices to keep the meat moist during cooking, if we use a rub that is designed to hold in the meats own juices.
Therefore, I always cook my brisket with the fat side down on the smoker. I want that protection from the heat source. This is even more apparent if you use a grill and don?t have a large space between your heat source and the meat itself.
I have asked dozens of brisket cookers at various contest and cook-offs what they prefer. I have read plenty about cooking brisket. There still seems to be about half of those cookers that cook with the fat side up. So the choice is yours here. Try it both ways if you want to but I have cooked both ways for experimental purposes and find that fat side down is by far the best for me.
