First Brisket

[Guest]

Hi everyone. I will be taking the plunge this weekend and doing my first brisket. I ordered a seven pound untrimmed brisket from my butcher. He had a five pounder that was trimmed, but to be honest it didn't look like it had enough fat on it to handle a long smoking session. My question is this. I will probably err on the side of trimming not enough fat off of the brisket rather than too much fat. I have never trimmed a brisket before, and have no idea what I am doing. What are the consequences of not trimming enough? Will the extra fat give me a "moistness curve" to work with? Also I'm probably going to do some beef ribs as well. Do they go on the top rack? Any advice will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance,

Derek

 

[Jim Minion]

Derek
I would not trim it, you are talking about a flat here and since this is your first brisket leave all the fat on it. Any fat left after the cook can be trimmed as you slice. Not a bad idea to cook a pork butt over the top of the brisket (more fat and pork fat is good on everything).
Jim

 

[Guest]

Jim,
Thanks for the advice. It's a relief to hear that I don't have to trim it for good results. That was really the only part of the process that had me anxious. Your magic method for starting and maintaining low temps has transformed my Q dramatically! To be honest, if I hadn't been sucessfull with your method in keeping low temps, I wouldn't even be trying this at all! Kudos to you as well as Chris, and I'll let you know how it turns out. Happy Qing!

Derek