My first brisket - how I made it and photos too!


 
JeffB

JeffB

TVWBB Pro
I bought my first brisket at Hemp's Meats up in Jefferson, MD, about 6 miles West of Frederick, MD. Cool place and great people there. I opted for a 17 lb one because I wanted to share with friends if it came out well. Long story short, it was AMAZING!!

I ran my 22.5 up around 285* and was expecting the cooking time to be around 15-18 hours, so I put it on the smoker at 7pm and planned on a Sunday lunch around 4pm. I put the ET-732 probe in the thickest part of the flat and prayed for the best.

It hit 195* internal at 2:35am (ugh!), so I was outside in my damn flannel robe checking for tenderness but the inside of the flat was still firm, so I increased the target temp to 203* and went back to bed. At 6:15am my ET-732 alarm sounded when the internal temp hit 203*, and when I probed for tenderness it was like butter. :cool: Yay me!

Pulled it off, let it rest for 30 minutes then 2x foiled and held in a cooler for 4 hours. We had some for breakfast and gave some away. I also went to a friend's house and we fed them last night. They loved it.

MY dry rub was just S&P. Nothing else. I'd say I nailed it in terms of taste, but the prep on the packer was a bit hard to do as it didn't look like the packers I had seen in Youtube videos, so I wasn't sure how much fat to remove. I trimmed it the best I could and I'm happy with the results. You can see the before and after pics below.

It was fun. Next time, however, I'm putting it on the smoker at midnight and not 7pm so I can avoid getting out of bed at 2:30am. :p

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A big congratulations on a Very Good Looking brisket, Jeff.

btw, did you save any to send out this way... ???

Bob
 
I bought my first brisket at Hemp's Meats up in Jefferson, MD, about 6 miles West of Frederick, MD.
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THAT is a handy piece of information... Thank you, sir!

I haven't done a brisket yet either. Primarily because I haven't found one yet locally. I hope mine looks like your finished result. Only I won't be out there at 2:30am... :p
 
Chad Bman said:
THAT is a handy piece of information... Thank you, sir!

I haven't done a brisket yet either. Primarily because I haven't found one yet locally. I hope mine looks like your finished result. Only I won't be out there at 2:30am... :p
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Yeah, this place was AMAZING! So easy to find. Quick ride up 270, exit 32 towards Hagerstown and then Exit 52 to get on 15/340. About 5 miles and take first exit. Left at stop light and it's down about 2 blocks on the right side.

Full packers in cryovac seals at $3.49 / lb. butchered on site.

I officially love that place. ;)

Check out their webpage: http://www.hempsmeat.com/
 
Jeff Bryson said:
Yeah, this place was AMAZING! So easy to find.
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Since I'm coming from Leesburg, it's only 20 miles from here. :cool: I'm ALWAYS taking 15 to the 340 merge and heading towards Frederick.
Will make a detour and hit the meat market! Thanks again for that piece of info.
 
Thanks to everybody for all the nice comments. I was pretty worried about this one, even though it is just food, but I wanted to succeed. I'm hoping someday to do some catering on the side and so I am happy with my first results.

I wish I could share with everybody and get actual feedback but I the posts will have to suffice.

Smoke on! :wsm:
 
I'm planning to do my first brisket for the upcoming Memorial Day holiday. Threads like this get me excited, but they also make me a little nervous. Mainly in the fact that I'm planning on having the brisket be my first overnight job, and I hope it doesn't get done fast, like sort of happened here.
 
MattP said:
I'm planning to do my first brisket for the upcoming Memorial Day holiday. Threads like this get me excited, but they also make me a little nervous. Mainly in the fact that I'm planning on having the brisket be my first overnight job, and I hope it doesn't get done fast, like sort of happened here.
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If you do, just set the oven on 170 or so and toss it in.
 
That looks great! Can't believe yours turned out so good your first shot! My first one ended up going in the pressure cooker because it was still so tough and it ended up being dry and awful with no bark!

BTW, that first picture threw me off. It looks just like a skinned cow tongue in that picture!!!!!!! I bet the brisket was better though, although cow tongue is pretty awesome too!
 
RCBaughn said:
That looks great! Can't believe yours turned out so good your first shot! My first one ended up going in the pressure cooker because it was still so tough and it ended up being dry and awful with no bark!
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Thanks. I'm not going to sit here and proclaim that I have any secret tricks because I do not. I just watched a bunch of videos on Youtube about smoking brisket and figured I have to give it a shot at SOME point. I got lucky...

I think it helped that the brisket I purchased seemed like a great cut of meat. If you look closely at the side photo you can see a LOT of marbling in the flat. I'm sure that helped. The cattle were all grass fed in a field behind the butcher shop! These people raise their own cattle and slaughter them on site. I think that probably helps a lot too. I dunno how it would have turned out if I had purchased just a flat from another store and not directly from a butcher that raises their own cattle.

EDIT: As an aside, we had a lot of meat left over and we were able to successfully reheat it in the oven at 350* for about 1 hour until the internal temp was about 140*. It did not dry it out. My wife put the brisket in an 8x8 Pyrex casserole dish and then placed that dish into a longer rectangular Pyrex casserole dish with about 2 inches of water in it. She covered it with foil and brought it up to temp. Amazing. :wsm:
 
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