My Second Brisket

[Cliff Bartlett]

Brisket looks great to me.

 

[Brian Johnson]

We're moving on from pork to beef, and my wife wants me to try brisket next. I, too, have been researching recipes, and the recipes seem to be all over the place in terms of wrapping, not wrapping, dry water bowl, wet water bowl, cooking temp, and so on. I'm thinking a cut of meat that's around 5 pounds or so, doing it on the WSM; but, I wanted to get a handle on target temp, which I see here in the posts. I'm assuming that the cooking temp is around 250, give or take, and that the meat is done when it's done. Anything else you could add, or take away? Thanks.

You're right about recipes being all over the place re wrapping, water in the bowl, etc. My suggestion to you would be pick a recipe and follow it. Of course that is probably easier said than done. Personally the biggest thing I take away from most recipes is cooking temp and ingredients for a rub and/or sauce. The rest I kind of "play by ear" based on my comfort level/experience with my WSM. For example, I've not done any long cooks w/a dry water pan. So I wouldn't do my first (and probably not my second) brisket w/out water in the water pan. Once I've gotten used to either cooking brisket w/water in the pan or cooking w/a dry pan, I'll try a brisket w/a dry pan. Same goes with wrapping. I'm not a big wrapper in general, plus the recipe I was using didn't call for wrapping, so I didn't wrap my first brisket. If I'm not happy with not wrapping my second brisket, or even if I am, then maybe I'll try wrapping my third.

That's pretty much all the advice I have for you. Like I said, I've only done one brisket. So I'm not an expert on the subject, but I wish you well and look forward to hearing about your first cook!