Brisket

[nickdel]

Having had a couple of goes with pulled pork which worked out quite well, has anyone got any advice for brisket
I'm mad keen to give this one a go

Nick

[stickthekettleon]

Hmm, Brisket.
There are a lot of schools of thought regarding brisket. Virtually everyone I know on the circuit does it a bit differently.
It's way easier to 'watch and learn' than to type, but here goes.
First you need to trim the bugger (the worst bit). I tend to trim pretty close, i'm a bit 'Jack Spratt' when it comes to fat.
Any hard stuff, remove completely, it won't render down in your cook and, eiww! Not pleasant to eat.
The second, thinner, softer stuff you can trim to your liking, on a nice long cook it will render down and keep the meat moist. Your aiming for a nice 'marbleing'.
Depending on what sort of brisket you get there is a third piece.
Some butchers will cut brisket with the bone included. You don't want that. (or maybe you do, I don't mean to presume)
Some butchers will give you the main piece, known as the flat
Others will give you a piece with the flat and a bit on top called the point.These are usually what we compete with.
Back to fat No 3,
The last piece to trim is the fat connecting the flat to the point, I take it so far back as to almost seperate the two piecies. When you first attack your brisket it's difficult to tell the two bits apart but the more you trim, the more they'll become distinct.

Next inject. What with is entirely up to you, there are some good brisket injection recipies available on the web, try fruit juices, it's up to you really.

Rub. Loads of t'interweb recipies for brisket rub.

Whew!!, glad that bits over with.

It depends on what cooker you have as to the next bit. I have a proq bullet smoker so I'll go off that.

Get the fire going and try to get your temp to 250ish, bang in the brisket and chuck a chunk of wood on the coals (I use oak for beef).
Cook until internal temp of brisket reaches 170 ish
then wrap it in foil and cook till int temp is at least 200.
once its done leave it to rest in a snug warm place for at least 1/2 hr

The entire cook can take anything from 6 - 10 hrs depending on your brisket, BBQ temp etc. so have a good book standing by..

There are a few vids on youtube that can help but ultimately its all practice and luck. Don't follow this religously it's just a guideline and (I'm sure), not the way others do it.

Best of luck and let us all know how you get on

[Banjo]

Cook until internal temp of brisket reaches 170 ish
then wrap it in foil and cook till int temp is at least 200.

Can I ask why you the need to take it so high? Is that just your preference or part of the process?

I prefer my beef rare (I like it so a good vet could bring it back to life )

[MadCow]

You can't cook a brisket to rare ... it's a tough piece of meat that needs lots of long slow cooking to break down the collagen (the connective tissue) ... if you try to eat it rare it will take you all day to chew a mouthful

Would like to point out that we talk about most temperatures in BBQ in Farenheit.

So whilst I'm like you and love my beef rare, there are just some joints that this won't work for and brisket is definately one of them!

[Banjo]

You can't cook a brisket to rare ... it's a tough piece of meat that needs lots of long slow cooking to break down the collagen (the connective tissue) ... if you try to eat it rare it will take you all day to chew a mouthful

Would like to point out that we talk about most temperatures in BBQ in Farenheit.

So whilst I'm like you and love my beef rare, there are just some joints that this won't work for and brisket is definately one of them!

'Rare' was the wrong word to use for brisket, perhaps 'juicy' is better
What I don't like is meat that is dry.

[MadCow]

Cooking brisket low and slow will keep it lovely and moist ... injecting it will help even more ... try Chris's instructions and cook it on Smoke ... wrap in foil after the first 6 hours and continue cooking until an internal temp of 200 is reached. It's a lovely cheap cut of meat and well worth the effort if you can get it right!

[stickthekettleon]

It's a mix of 3 factors, how much mableing is in the meat, how much moisture you try to introduce during the cook (injections, foil wrapping it in its juices etc) and the amount of cooking it gets. Sounds pretty obvious but 'how do I keep my brisket juicy' is the million dollar question, the amount of brisket I've cremated is shameful, as I said, it's all practice and luck.

[nickdel]

I'm going to give this a go this weekend so I'll let you all know how I get on

Thanks to you all

Nick

[All Weather Griller]

Good man, you can't earn your Pitmaster wings until you've cooked a brisket!!!

Good luck with this, and whilst your experimenting with different meats, have a pop at a Turkey, that dry old bird will never be the same again...

Beerz

Adie