Brisket Flat in MES with QView

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kingzorkan

Newbie
Original poster
Jan 9, 2017
18
16
West Virginia
I have attempted 3 briskets thus far and have not been pleased with the results.  The flavors have been fine, but the right texture and consistency of the meat is eluding me.  I am going to post my process here and hope for the best!  I will post the grand finale pics no matter what, brisket or bust!

Vital Statistics:

30" MES @ 235

2 lumps KB, Traeger Hickory Pellets

5.3 lb Choice Flat Brisket

60F, overcast and rainy

Checked the mirror, somehow I get prettier every day

Rub:

Kosher salt, Coarse ground black pepper, Garlic powder, Onion powder, Bourbon vanilla sugar

(I go 1:1 salt and pepper, then cover the mixture with 1 layer of the other ingredients in a bowl)


That is my daughter's pink princess bowl.  She approves it's usage here, the girl devours BBQ.


The cow. (Marked as a flat but there is at least some point on this cut)


All rubbed up and ready for the ball.

I am already at the 2 hr mark of this smoke as I had to get some work done before I could sit down here.  Probe reads 140 @ 2hr and I sprayed with some apple cider/apple cider vinegar.  My plan is to wrap (foil) at 165 until it hits about 190, then unwrap, hit with some sauce, put back in smoker until 200 for the sake of the bark.  What I have never done before is the probe test a.k.a. hot knife through butter.  Whenever the probe test is good that is when I am calling it done.  Busy day coming up but I will see this thread through to completion no matter what.  Thanks!
 
So...I've been at 161 for about 3 hours now.  Is that too long?  I'll gladly take some expert input because this seems like a pretty long stall.  I'm hoping that I am just showing my greenness and that patience is gonna pay off here.
 
Ok hit 170, pulled the brisket and brought it in.


I took gr0uch0's advice and relaxed.  I have definitely messed up in the past here, getting used to the timing of a brisket seems all wrong...here's to hoping I got this one right.  


Rather than wrap, I put it in a bbq tray, dressed it up with sauce and foiled the top, then back in the box.  Gonna probe check from here on out once I hit the 195 range.  The sauce I make from Guinness and maple syrup, add in mustard, a bit of ketchup, salt, apple cider vinegar and worcestershire after it hits a boil, then I back it down and let it simmer for a good 30.  While it simmers I drop in about 4-5 cloves that I remove when I pull the sauce.  Love the sauce on anything bbq.
 
This was a better brisket than the previous three I have attempted.  I waited too long to wrap and this lead to some toughness at the edges.  As you can see it sort of crumbled in places as I sliced.  The tenderness is good, but just too dry for my liking.  I learned a lot from this one, here's to a better one for the next time.  Thanks for checking out my Qview!
 
If your going to wrap it you probably should have done so when it hit the stall at 160.

Also I think you could have used a little more liquid in the pan when you foiled it.

In any case it sure looks good from here.

It's hard not to get the edges overdone & crumbly.

It happens to me all the time.

Al
 
One last thought, King:  you'd mentioned that it was dry.  Typically, the flat doesn't have nearly the marbling of the point, thus less moisture within the tissue.  So when the whole brisket is cooked intact, the point--which is fattier--tends to baste the flat and will keep it moister.  Like Al said, if you're going to cook just the flat, you may need to introduce some liquid before wrapping.  My $0.02
 
Yeah, I agree.  I preferred using the covered pan to just straight wrapping the flat.  When I pulled it out this morning I realized that I really could have gone with more liquid to help out in the cooking process.  Also, what about injecting?  Will that do much to help the moisture aspect or is that more to help out with flavor?  Thanks!
 
Looks real good from here, KZ !!
drool.gif


Brisket flats are hard to keep from getting dry----Just needs a little more juices added during the foiled stage. I also Nuke the juices so it doesn't cool the meat & make it take longer causing more drying time.

Below is my "Brisket Flat Step by Step". Might be a tip or two in there for you.

This was from long ago, and I switched to Foil pans, because it's too easy to tear a hole in a foil wrapped hunk of meat.

Click:

Brisket Flat                    

Bear
 
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