Brisket

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toneeydee

Newbie
Original poster
Jul 16, 2016
28
13
Poconos PA
Ok friends, I'm looking to get into my first brisket this weekend. Any tips or tricks? Looking to probably start late Saturday night or early Sunday morning
 
SO many opinions out there, Cook to IT, do the toothpick insert test for doneness (if that's a word) wrap or not to , mop or not, I rub it usually the day or night before it goes on, I haven't mopped one yet.  depending on when we plan to eat and on size of the brisket. When done I'll wrap it and put in cooler for a few hrs. I am thinking of trying one and panning it at the stall with beef broth probably Sunday. 

 Keep us posted on what you do and how it turns out....... 
 
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Rub with salt and pepper and put it on the smoker till it's done. Everything else is preference. I say keep it simple for the first time. Typically, I will wrap mine about six hours in when it gets the color I like. It's done when you can slide a skewer or thermometer probe into it with little to no resistance. Make sure you probe it in multiple places so you don't get fooled by one tender spot. Above all else, give yourself TIME!!!
 
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I'm assuming you have a whole brisket, not just the flat. Wrap after around 180IT in the point and don't worry about IT after that. Try a "probe" test now and then after about an hour. If you pick it up and it feels "jiggly", it's done. Pull it and let it rest for a 1/2 hour or so until it's cool enough to slice.

It'll be awesome!

icon_smile.gif
 
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Make sure you cook the flat to probe tender...don't worry so much about the point, it has so much more fat than the flat it'll be very forgiving...if you've got a meat grade that's choice or less, wrapping it at about 165-170 IT with a little liquid (broth, beer, cola, red wine etc.) added to the foil will help keep the flat more moist.

Walt.
 
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Friends, I ended up going with a tri tip because the only briskets near me (I live in hthe middle of no where lol) were in the 55-60 dollar range. With just me and my old lady eating it I couldn't justify buying that amount of meat.

I have it wrapped in The fridge and will be throwing it in shortly. Pics to ensue
 
I'm lucky enough to be able to get them in the 8 to 10 lb range at Gordon Food Service. With just the Mrs and me we still end up freezing some. In fact, we're thawing some right now for dinner!

Nothing wrong with tri tip. Wish I could get it around here without jumping through hoops and spending too many $...
 
Gordon's is where I get my briskets from also...I like the availability the size and the quality has been good and price reasonable...and if I need a 15-17 pounder they'll get me one if I give them a little notice.
 
Points added [emoji]128526[/emoji] Very nice! I buy mine at Gordon's too.. I'm single.. they just raised prices.. ,$3.69 now. I get 12 or 13 lb just about $50.00. Nice tri tip..
:points:
 
I have plans to do a 11lb brisket this weekend. I have a 30 inch MES. Does anyone have a MES and do you usually desperate the flat from the point to fit it in the smoker?
 
I don't have experience on the mes30 but I've done a lot of brisket and never seperated the flat point.
What I have done when the brisket was too long to fit on the grate is wrap a red clay brick in HD foil and set it on edge in the middle of the grate and draping the brisket over it making a tent out of the brisket (sort of)...that shortens a brisket up enough that I've fit a 14+ pounder on my 18" WSM and after a few hours of smoking the brisket shrinks enough you can remove the brick.
Something to consider if size is the issue.

Walt.
 
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That's an idea. I saw a video of a guy that seperated it and stacked the flat and the point on top of each other. He was able to season both sides.
 
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