First Brisket

[ddc2013]

Right guys I'm doing my first brisket tomorrow and I knew I should of gone and bought it from a shop rather than getting it online! well it turned up this morning by Ocado and it is about 100mm round by 300mm long with no fat running through the middle. Could someone give me a guide as to times to cook a brisket this size and what internal temp I should be aiming for.

Thanks.

[Swindon_Ed]

it's going to come down to the weight of the brisket rather than the size.

I'm going to be cooking a small 2kg piece of brisket for some friends tomorrow and i'll cook it at 225f, for 9hrs before wrapping the brisket in foil with some beef stock and then cook till done.

I'll be going by feel rather than temp' of the meat but i would expect it to be ready somewhere around 200f-204f.

[Swindon_Ed]

One thing to mention here is that if you're going to cook hotter than 225f expect the finishing temp to be higher!

If i'm cooking at 250f i'd expect the brisket to finish somewhere between 204f-208f

if cooking hotter like near 275f expect it to finish around 208f-212f.

[ddc2013]

Thanks Ed,

This brisket weighs 1kg. I thought that the shape would play a part in cooking times rather than the weight because if you have a 2 bits of meat 1 square in shape and 1 rectangular in shape that the rectangular one would cook quicker as heat doesn't have as far to reach the middle of it ............or am I talking a load of rubbish ?

[cledus]

I cooked my first brisket a couple of weeks back, and it weighed about 2Kg. I pretty much followed the cooking a 4lb hunk instructions on this link (towards the bottom right of the page)
http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/beef ... isket.html

In this article, it does say that it is the thickness of the brisket that matters, not the weight. I found that I started to run out of time a bit (possibly as a result of the stall in the article attached) and ended up rushing the latter stages due to pressure form the missus. Tasted good, but was not as tender as I would like, but I think I understand why.

I will have another crack next week. Good luck with yours.

[Swindon_Ed]

I don't know how much thickness really affects the whole cooking process, if it's a bit skinny maybe i'd give it an hour less before foiling it, but you also have to remember that our beef is very different to what they get in the US and is much tougher and cooks slower. I'll cook UK briskets (which are way smaller) to the same timings that i would for a larger american brisket and always place highly in contests.

I used to follow some of meathead's stuff years ago and had some good results, but one thing i would not recommend which he does is when foiling your brisket don't put it in a tray and foil over the top!!! This ends up steaming your meat which will ruin your bark and also give the meat a mushy texture which isn't great.

[ddc2013]

I cooked the brisket for 6 hours in the end and it only reached an internal temp of 180f it was still tender and tasted nice but a little on the dry side.

[Swindon_Ed]

I cooked the brisket for 6 hours in the end and it only reached an internal temp of 180f it was still tender and tasted nice but a little on the dry side.

Is there a reason that you only cooked it to 180f???

At 180f a lot of the connective tissue wouldn't have broken down which would have made it dry.

[ddc2013]

I cooked the brisket for 6 hours in the end and it only reached an internal temp of 180f it was still tender and tasted nice but a little on the dry side.

Is there a reason that you only cooked it to 180f???

At 180f a lot of the connective tissue wouldn't have broken down which would have made it dry.

I ran out of time Ed and when I stuck the thermometer in it didn't feel to bad, there was no connective tissue in it and when I felt it prior to cooking it did feel tender for a brisket.