Supermarket pre-trimmed brisket flat...keep it moist with the fat cap from a butt?

[Colin Edwards]

I bought a small 4.5 lb trimmed brisket from the supermarket after calling a handful of butchers and supermarkets in my area and finding out that no one had whole, untrimmed, briskets available. Almost all of the fat has been removed...just a couple of thin strips where there is maybe 1/8" left. But I also have a 9+ lb pork butt that has a big fat cap on it that I'll be removing before cooking. Any of your BBQ experts have thoughts on laying that fat across the top of the brisket to keep it from drying out?

 

[Hank B]

I've laid bacon strips across a flat so I don't see much difference between that and some trimmings from the butt. I've also done brisket over butt and the theory there is that the fat drippings from the butt help to keep the brisket moist. You can search for that on this site and see what others have said about it.

 

[Bob Sample]

Well lots of people cook their brisket fat cap down so it's more of a heat shield.It is teh internal fat breaking done that gives you the moister in your meat.

I would be more concerned about the thickness of the flat than the fat cap. Like Hank said lay some strips of bacon on it if you want.

 

[Gary S]

I just did my first one last weekend and I took almost all of the fat right off. I foiled it after 8 hours in the 22. I used the water pan right from the get go and continued it in the oven for two more hours at 250 for the point and 1 hour at 200 for the flat. The flat sat in a cooker blanketed until the point was done. It was very moist no issue.

There are various opinions on triming.

 

[Gary S]

That should sat in the cooler not cooker

 

[Colin Edwards]

Thanks for the comments. This is my first attempt at smokin a brisket (and I'm pretty disappointed i couldn't get a whole one)...so we'll see how it goes.