This HAS to be a great (ok, really good) brisket


 
Jon K

Jon K

TVWBB Super Fan
OK, the pressure's on me, I've been asked to make a brisket for a family gathering. I wasn't allowed to buy the meat myself, so I've been given a 6 1/4 lb. flat. Originally there was no fat, but they got me some pieces of fat to add to the meat. Needless to say the meat has to taste great, but most importantly it cannot be dried out! So, low and slow or H.H.? Any and all recs will be appreciated. By the way the piece of meat at it's thickest is just under 2 inches.
 
Any pieces of fat you add to the meat (which I assume would be simply laying them on top) will not prevent it from drying it. There are only two ways, so far as I can see, to dry out brisket. Either undercook it, thereby not rendering the collagen and connective tissue necessary to coat the meat fibers, or overcook it without foiling it, which will make a wonderful piece of jerky but not much of a brisket.

In my experience, if you foil it, it is very hard to overcook it to the point of it being dry, but it will lose it's texture and become like a loose pot roast.

I love doing brisket @ high heat and do them all that way now, but to me it has a learning curve in that the window of it not being undercooked (dry) and not overcooked (pot roast) is much smaller. Slower cooks take considerably more fuel, time, & patience, but their window is bigger because they are cooking more slowly.
 
I have done exactly 1 brisket, it was a full packer, and I followed the advice in the "High Heat Brisket Compilation" thread (forget if it was in this forum or over in "Beef" but it is easy to find) as some kind soul had distilled a lot of discussion into a single top post which, of course, sparked off more top quality discussion regarding High Heat Brisket and low/slow for that matter too if I recall correctly.

Whatever else you do find that thread and spend some quality time with it.

By the way my brisket turned out pretty good, not a world stopper but there were no left-overs so...
 
Man, that is one small brisket. It may be hard to keep it moist. Any possibility that you could acquire another cut that is larger, and then cook them both? Since someone else bought it you could say that you were sure if one was enough, so you bought another. Then you could get a big fat packer. Good luck with what ever you decide.
 
Yowza, that is a pretty small flat. How many people? Flats can be tricky, their window of done versus dry is much smaller than with a full packer. 'Twer it me, i'd go buy a different one, either a larger flat with the fat cap still attached, or a packer.

If the family is set on beef, for a crowd of any real size, chuck roast is an excellent option, and has replaced brisket as my go-to beef at our house.
 
What John and Mike said^^^.

A sticky thread at the top of this forum titled "ANSWERS TO ALL THE ?'S REGARDING LITTLE BITTY FLATS" would be a great idea.

...But anyhoo, if you want a great brisket you want to start off with the right piece of meat to begin with. So another great idea would be to check out the information part of Chris' site. He has great brisket selection tips there, so here ya go:

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/brisketselect.html
 
Sorry that you weren't able to pick out your own meat. I have family members and coworkers that ask me to do something for them, brisket most of the time, and I always get the meat myself and let them pay me for it (if I charge them). I did a 7.3 lb flat this past weekend that turned out great, but that's the smallest I've ever done. Also, all the fat had not been trimmed off of my flat. There was still a nice layer on the bottom.
 
Thank you all for your input. This is a family dinner that I'm not only cooking for but also invited to. The hostess insisted on buying the meat even after my arguments so here I am. I will be going out to buy a packer to smoke at the same time, I'll do the best I can with the flat and see what happens. Thank you all again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top