HH Brisket - Cooking VERY Fast...


 
C

ChristopherCG

TVWBB Fan
First attempt at a HH brisket today. I put a 5.5 lb brisket flat on the WSM around 11:45a. I had the smoker up to about 400 using Royal Oak lump and a foiled clay saucer. I left the meat out longer than i should have (had some issues getting the coal started) so when it went on it was about 54 degrees instead of the usual 37 or so.

About an hour later, the meat is already at 157 degrees and climbing. Smoker temp reads about 320 lid and 390 grate (which is higher than what i was targeting). For most of the hour the temps held steady at 150 at the grate.

I was going to foil at about 160-170 then start checking for doneness after an hour in the foil. But at this rate the internal meat temp will be well over 200. I can't seem to slow it down.

What the heck is going on here?
 
Chris, I've run into the same issue with my two HH briskets. Heard from some guys who def know their stuff to pull a flat off around 160-165 (i let it go to 179 and wasn't happy).

Foil per instructions and start checking for tender in an hour as you said.

Don't worry.
 
Yes, it is pretty thin. It even said that on the package (thin beef brisket flat). It's all they had that wasn't trimmed. It looked like it had a nice fat cap and decent marbling throughout.

I just foiled. It's been on for about 1:40 minutes. Temp read 167. Looking at the meat it does not really look like its supposed to. I can still see the rub on certain parts of the meat, like it hasn't really firmed up yet.

My ET73 is showing HHH for smoker temps to top things off. How do I get it to work again?

Not feeling very good about this.
 
I usually don't foil until 2 hours in....but I look for cuts that are evenly thick to the tip.

If you have foiled with the therm still in the brisket....take it out....the foil will play havoc with readings.

I start checking for tender at 3.5 - 4 hours into the cook.

You'll be fine.
 
Given it was a pretty thin flat I started checking for tender after 1 hour in the foil. Still felt some resistance so I left it and checked again 30 min later. Still a bit of resistance. I let it go another 30 and this time it felt pretty soft in most places. I yanked and have it double foiled in a small cooler.

I'll let it rest at least an hour before slicing. The bark looked a bit better. I took off the foil for part of the last bit. It certainly smells good. But I think the piece was a little uneven so I'm afraid I'm going to have some tough spots. We'll know soon enough.
 
So i took out of the foil after a little over an hour. It looked and smelled very good. The meat however was pretty dry. It was edible and certainly as good as some restaurants I've eaten at but it was not as tender and juicy as I was hoping for. I would give it maybe a 6 out of 10. At least it wasn't a total loss. My kids even liked it.

I'm not quite sure where I went wrong though I do know I'd do several things differently next time. Namely, do not let meat sit on counter for an extended period of time.I would also not use a pan to sit the meat in. I'd put it right on the grate next time. This would also enable me to wrap the meat tightly rather than the pan in foil. The fat cap did not fully render off (is it supposed to?) so maybe more time in the foil might have helped. I think I would also foil earlier despite the amount of time elapsed. When I do foil I would also add some beef stock to add moisture.

On the bright side the WSM with the clay pot cranked for nearly 5 hours at well over 350 for most of the time. No temp problems to speak of. This was my first time using the clay saucer and I was very pleased.

Man, brisket is tricky.
 
If you need to hold a HH brisket when it's finished, then you'll have to take off just before tender.

If you put a HH brisket in a cooler, you'll risk it overcooking.

As predictable as the timing process is with HH brisket cooks, I always plan to serve without any hold time other than resting on the counter.

And, no the fat cap doesn't render that much. I'll trim it when slicing
 
Hey Chris,

Yeah, that's about where my two HHs have been. Brisket is tricky as we've learned, but flats even more, apparently. I'm looking and looking to find somewhere that sells packers, but only finding flats, somewhat on the thin side.

What part of CT are you in? I'm in Stamford and I'll let you know if I find a place.

Happy Easter.
 
Chris, I do what Craig mentioned. When you get to the point when there is still some resistance when you insert probe than pull it and wrap it in foil. If there is no resistance and it shakes like jello ,let sit on the counter. I always cook packers . The point insulates the flat a little.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jack Henry:
Hey Chris,

Yeah, that's about where my two HHs have been. Brisket is tricky as we've learned, but flats even more, apparently. I'm looking and looking to find somewhere that sells packers, but only finding flats, somewhat on the thin side.

What part of CT are you in? I'm in Stamford and I'll let you know if I find a place.

Happy Easter. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I am in the Danbury area. Costco might have whole packers. I've just never seen them out on display. Maybe I'll ask their butcher.

I traded a few emails with Ed (from the kickassbbq.com web site). I was intending on following his recipe for HH brisket which deviates quite a bit from what's posted here. For example he calls for foiling at 140, then uncovering at 190 and letting it cook til 200 or so. Most of what I've read here says to cook til 160 then take out the thermometer altogether and start checking for fork tender after 90 - 2 hours. It is really confusing trying to get this straight. Too many different techniques!

Anyway, what seems to have happened to me is the flat I had was rather thin. Ed recommends next time to cook at a lower temperature, say 250. Then I did not add any liquid to the pan when I foiled. I thought there would be enough from the fat cap but there wasn't any. He thought it might have dried out because of that.

So for my next attempt, I'll try cooking at 250 (assuming it's another thin flat) until it gets to 160. Then foil and add some beef broth til it hits 190 or is fork tender. We'll see how that works.

I wish there was a recipe/technique somewhere for just smoking brisket flats vs the whole packer. Packers are really hard to find in some parts. I was **** lucky to find an untrimmed flat with some decent fat in it.
 
Chris, I know Wally World carries them(packers). Little too pricey at this time but thought I'd let you know anyway
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by paul h:
Chris, I know Wally World carries them(packers). Little too pricey at this time but thought I'd let you know anyway </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't think one by me in CT carries meats. It's just a regular WalMart not the kind that sells groceries.
 
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