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


 
A good piece of meat goes a long way in how a brisket turns out. A seasoned pitmaster can ruin a good a piece of meat, but I've never met anyone who can turn a bad piece of brisket into competiton grade slices.

Looks like you did fantastic on your first brisket Jeff! Very cool that you got to the place where they raise and slaughter your beef.
 
Nice briskey! Beautiful smoke ring and bark, and it looks plenty moist. I think you'll find that brisket is the most demanding cut to 'cue. Getting consistently good brisket is like being a scratch golfer or a 200-average bowler in my book. Well done - in every way.
 
That's awesome. I have done several and have been lucky. I have learned that every single brisket is different. The density of the meat will vary, as well as the thickness, so there are several factors that impact the time of readiness. I moved up to the 22" smoker, and have cooked all my briskets with a couple of pork butts. I try and not disturb anything for about 8 hours, when I take notice of internal temp of the brisket. After it gets by the stall, I fork it to test the doneness. There is no better way to know when the brisket is at it's best until it forks like butter. I learned that from this site and the experience of others, and it is true. I have smoked several 7 and 8 lbs flats, but tonight I am going for a 3-10 lbs butts on top grate and a 13.8 lbs brisket on the lower. I will assemble smoker around 7pm put on the butts and about 23:00 will add the brisket. My expectations at 225/230 degrees are to pull the brisket around 09:00 or so and the butts will stay on until 14:00 - 15:00. Of course the brisket only comes off when it is tender by probe or fork test.
 

 

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