First High Heat Brisket (Photos)


 
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Andy Erickson

TVWBB Pro
Consider me a convert. Did three low and slow briskets over the past year and all three were less than desirable, but edible. Decided to try a high heat brisket for the first time today on my Performer.

Got the grill setup for indirect minion start using fire bricks and a water pan on the charcoal grate. I put 20 lit on top of the pile of unlit and topped it with a foil pouch of cherry and hickory wood chips.

I then trimmed the brisket of excess fat trying to leave a thin layer on the fat cap side. I rubbed it with Plowboy's Bovine Bold and then decided to try something. Since I don't worry about bark as much as tenderness, I decided to try and take the trimmed fat and put it on the flat on the non-fatcap side.

I got the cooker up to 325 and put the brisket on and let it cook at 350 until it hit 165 (took about 2 hours and 20 minutes). I then foiled the brisket and added about a cup of beef broth to the foil and let it cook another 2 hours and checked it for probe tender. It still needed a little while longer so kept it on the cooker for another 30 minutes. This was a 12 pounder that was trimmed down to about 10 1/2 pounds and it took close to 5 hours total cooking time. The brisket registered 198 in the flat when I pulled it off. I then drained about 2 cups of the juices and let the brisket rest for an hour and a half.

I made the No. 5 sauce per a recommendation from Jim Lampe using the brisket drippings. I separated the point from the flat and sliced up the flat into slices. The brisket was perfectly moist and the slices held up well. The best brisket I've ever had. Will never do another lns brisket again. Thanks to everyone for suggesting this technique.

I served the brisket with sliced red potatoes, onions and garlic in a foil pouch that I added to the cooker during the last hour of cooking.

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Me and the Wife loved the No. 5 sauce. I added a little less vinegar and made up for that difference with some hot sauce. I also added a full cup of drippings to the sauce. Again, thanks for the suggestion. It was another one of those things that you learn off this site that you wished you learned a long time ago.
 
Great looking brisket Andy. I do the same as you did with the #5 sauce and only use half of the vinger. Good stuff. Vince
 
Nice Brisky there, very interesting method, I've never done a brisket on a kettle grill before. Thanks for the great pics, it looks very good!
 
That brisket is too juicy. Some of it dripped off my screen into my keyboard. I'll send you the bill.... Just send me some of that brisket. Wow, that looks awesome. The fat slice move blew my mind.

Your entire post makes me want to cook a brisket ASAP... Great description and photos. It makes me feel like I could cook a great brisket if I copy your method. Totally cool!
 
Iam NOT being a smart arse here just truly asking a ? Whats the point of using a smoker to do hi HH cooks why not just use your regular BBQ . Makes No sense to me but whata I know . Low in slow is to inpart more flavor over a longer period of time and a more tender flavorful piece of meat .

I must be missing somthing . Iam a old dog been smoking on other things besides my new WSM for yrs But Iam always willing to learn a new trick isn't HH just grilling the meat ?

Just a honest stright forward ? I hope one of the experts here will answer .
 
Guy, if you are thinking of more smoke on the meat due to the length of time you're probably right.I would suggest,for the sake of science, try side by side comparison. See if you can taste the difference. Some people may call it grilling others call HH just another technique.
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Guy: That is why I decided to use my Kettle for this High Heat brisket. Much easier to keep my kettle at 350 than it is my 18.5 WSM, plus the brisket fits a lot easier on the kettle grate. The only thing that makes it smoking as opposed to grilling is that it is still indirect heat and with smoke wood.

I can pretty much do everything on my kettle now and hardly ever use my 18.5 WSM. For ribs I use the Ribolator on the rotisserie. For chicken I either do roadside or rotisserie. For brisket I do High Heat on the kettle. About the only thing I still prefer my WSM for is pork shoulders.
 
Low in slow is to inpart more flavor over a longer period of time and a more tender flavorful piece of meat .
Click to expand...

tender comes from applying heat overtime. More heat, less time yields fairly similar results as less heat, more time.

try a HH with a long, slow ramp up in temp to 350* and I think you'll find a pleasingly deep ring and plenty of smoke flavor, and your roast will be done in under 6 hours.
 
Andy - GREAT lookin' brisket!
j biesinger - About that long, slow ramp up to 350...Do you suggest a Minion start and cracked bottom vents on a WSM?
I haven't done a brisket in a while, and it's next on my todo list.
What is 'our' opinion on rubbing with garlic salt, fresh ground black pepper and a little cayenne, then smoking with Oak?
I've read that what Oak does to a brisket should be illegal!
 
j biesinger - About that long, slow ramp up to 350...Do you suggest a Minion start and cracked bottom vents on a WSM?
I haven't done a brisket in a while, and it's next on my todo list.
What is 'our' opinion on rubbing with garlic salt, fresh ground black pepper and a little cayenne, then smoking with Oak?
I've read that what Oak does to a brisket should be illegal!
Click to expand...

yes, a minion start, and some vent control will delay the ramp. Its like a regular minion with the intent of letting it get out of control. It may get stuck around 300* but it works for me. My last HH ran up in the 350* range and I think it got over done because I didn't cool it before resting.

Oak is nice with brisket. I use it in conjunction with cherry.
 
I dunno. While that looks really good, I did a 10 lb brisket a week ago that came out perfect in 9 hrs, low and slow.

*shrug*

As long as it comes out tender and tasty... who cares, right?
 
Originally posted by j biesinger:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Low in slow is to inpart more flavor over a longer period of time and a more tender flavorful piece of meat .
Click to expand...

tender comes from applying heat overtime. More heat, less time yields fairly similar results as less heat, more time.

try a HH with a long, slow ramp up in temp to 350* and I think you'll find a pleasingly deep ring and plenty of smoke flavor, and your roast will be done in under 6 hours. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Its sure worth playing with. What I've noticed over time is that there seems to be some worship of the idea of the lower and longer, the better. In practice I've found that isn't really the case. We need a long enough cook time to cook a large cut of meat evenly and to convert collagen into gelatin, render fat, etc, but past that there are no gains. From my own cooks, it seems like drawing out a cook unnecessarily just starts to dry the meat out. Cooking it as quickly as possible while still meeting those goals seems to be ideal.
 
As long as it comes out tender and tasty... who cares, right?
Click to expand...

Absolutely. You have to do what works for you. I tried three different briskets low and slow and one high heat brisket and the HH brisket was hands down the winner.
 
The advantage that a wsm has over a kettle is a more even distribution of heat.

I wouldn't call HH cooking grilling either.

I've done briskets both ways but find the HH method more consistent and way more convenient.

I can do a HH cook basically on the spur of the moment, while a slower cook takes more planning and time which I don't always have.
 
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