Help me improve my brisket (long post, my apologies)


 
G

Grant Y

New member
Again, my apologies for the long-winded post....but I figure the more details I include, the more points for people to critique....which is the whole point if I want to improve. I made a post like this for pulled pork, and my quality went from "good" to "excellent".


Yesterday was my first attempt to cook a brisket on my smoker. Briskets have intimidated me since I made a disastrous attempt at one a few years ago on an offset-style smoker. I just happened to find a (relatively) small packer-cut brisket on sale at Walmart, so I decided now was the time to jump in.

Since my last attempt was low-and-slow, I decided to change things up and try something faster. Since I had gotten Myron Mixon's BBQ book for christmas, I decided to use his hot-and-fast method, which called for cooking at 350 degrees for 2 1/2 hours unfoiled, then foil and cook until the point is at 205 degrees (usually an hour and a half, according to him). Mixon also calls for a full water pan for the duration of the cook (more on this later)

Also, Mixon's method calls for heavy injections into the meat. I didn't have all of the ingredients he calls for handy, so I used plain beef stock. Then the brisket was heavily rubbed with a basic salt and pepper rub.

After allowing it to sit overnight, I fired the smoker up the next morning. The smoker was filled with a mix of royal oak lump charcoal and chunks of hickory wood, a combination that I've had great success with in pork shoulders.....the major difference between this and my pork shoulder cooks is the water pan....I never use it (I use clay instead), and I've never cooked as hot as Mixon suggests.

Now the problems began......


I found that even running the smoker with all vents open, I never could get the temp past 275......I finally was able to pre-heat it to 350 by removing the door, but once I put the brisket on, I had to close the door back, at which point the temp plummeted again to 275.

***Note, one thing I love about my WSM is the consistancy of the temps...once it "locks in" at a temp, it will hold steady for hours without me making any adjustments***

By this point I had figured out the water pan was holding my temps down......and I wasn't going to push the temps up to where I wanted no matter what I did, so I decided to proceed with the new temp and adjust my cooking time.

About 3 hours into the cook, my temps started to climb......first at about 300, then pushing to 325......I figured this was due to the water pan beginning to dry out. Instead of refilling, I foiled the brisket (which was setting at 160 at this point), reasoning that the foil would have the same effect, and I'd get the higher temps as a bonus.

Another 3 hours and I was close to my target temp.......I decided to pull it off the smoker at 195 and immediately foiled and placed into my oven to rest.

I rested it for 3 hours.....at which point noone was hungry for brisket, so I tossed in the fridge overnight.

This morning, I unwrapped it and cut a piece off to sample cold.......it was wonderful. I gave the wife (my most honest critic) and she agreed.


I sliced up the flat and had that for lunch......Flavor was spot on (its amazing how good salt and pepper can be by themselves, and the hickory was just assertive enough), color was a little dark, I assume due to the heavy smoke it got before, but the bark was delicious.....Smoke ring was perfect, in my opinion.

My only complaints was that it was a little dry and crumbly.......not intolerably so, but it was enough to notice.

Overall, it was something I was proud of......but I'm concerned I got lucky with this one......the whole cook was ad hoc and I'd like do it in a way that's more easy to replicate.


Alright, fire away.
 
Dry and crumbly means overdone. Was that just around the edges? If so, that might be because of the high temperature--it overcooked the edges by the time the heat got to the middle.

I had a lot of problems with brisket on my WSM at first too. I had two bad ones, two good ones, then more bad ones. But I've gotten a few things figured out now. Here are my suggestions:

1. Get a BIG brisket. 18lbs or so. Try to find one that doesn't taper down too thin at the edge of the flat.

2. Trim the fat down to 1/4" and take off most of the hard fat from the deckle.

3. Give the brisket a shape. If it has a really thick point, cut it down. If the edge of the flat tapers down to nothing, cut that off. When you're done, you should have a roughly rectangular brisket with a flat that is about 1" thick at the thinnest part and a point that isn't more than 3". The thickness and uniformity are key to the whole brisket being done around the same time.

4. Use a dalmatian rub and no injection--just salt and pepper. When you get the tenderness right consistently, you can work on taste.

5. Cook at 250. Water or not doesn't matter really, holding rock solid temps does. Get the pit up to temp before you put the meat on and don't let it drift more than 10 degrees or so either way. I set my Maverick to alert at 240 on the low side and 260 on the high side.

6. When the internal temp gets around 190F, start testing for doneness. It will take 10-12 hours to get to this point. I like the poke test--stick a meat thermometer or toothpick into the brisket in a few places. If it goes in like butter, it's done and needs to cool off before you wrap it to rest. If you *almost* to that point, you can pull it off the pit and foil it hot to get across the finish line.

7. Let it rest. You can put it on the counter wrapped in foil for at least half an hour, or put it in a cooler wrapped in foil for lots of hours. Resting is critical--it keeps the brisket from drying out when you slice it.

Those are the basics that I figured out. Starting with a bigger brisket and cutting it down, keeping your temps rock solid, and learning when to pull it off the pit are the basics that turn out a fantastic brisket. You can start tweaking your flavor from there.
 
My hats off to you for putting a tremendous amount and thought and effort into your brisket. I find that that it's really not all that complicated. I never inject my brisket. I use the beef rub from amazingribs.com. I cook overnight at 225-250 degrees. I put the brisket on about 10:00 PM. When I check it at around 6:00 AM it's usually very tender at about 180 degrees with a beautiful black bark. I usually wrap it in foil at this point with a little beef broth and cook to a temp of 195. Then I wrap it in towels and put it in a cooler Then when I take it out it is juicy and tender and tastes great. It's a piece of meat that has a lot of reputation for being tough to cook but really you just cook it into submission and it tastes wonderful. Good luck and don't fret. Cooked slow it almost always turns out wonderful. I'm no expert but I hope that helps.
 
Clarification, that's my method for a whole packer. You can cook a flat the same day following the same general guidelines. Not sure about high temp cook methods. Never tried it.
 
Grant-
I've used Myron's HH brisket recipe before & don't recall him saying anything about using the smoker water pan. He did advocate marinating it in an aluminum pan & filling it with marinade liquid, but nothing that I read in his recipe about the smoker's water pan during the cook. After marinating, he suggests moving it to a clean aluminum pan & then covering the pan with foil after the first 2 1/2 hours. I don't use water in my smoker's water pan, but regularly use a clay pot in my water pan for a heat sink instead.

Hope that helps ... Good luck!
 
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