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Doing brisket number two tomorrow. Pretty excited. Question. When you use the Texas crutch is the fat cap up or down? Have seen both? Would love some advice.
I think the answer to that question has to do with what you like. I have done both ways and don't see much difference. Although I do cook fat down for brisket and never foil. CF
fat = flavor .... so if the cap is down the "flavor" will not seep down into the meat... just my way of thinking... so for me.. it's cap up all the time
I score the fat with diagonal cuts about 1/2 inch apart and almost all the way down to the meat. I then season the fat heavily with CBP and KS. It renders nicely and leaves a nice layer of very flavorful fat. When I slice the brisk, I slice it with the fat down so a bias cut will cut nicely across the grain of the meat.
Great advice y'all. I am going to try the fat cap down (just to see if there is a difference). I am also going to do the minion method again. Hopefully I have a better hang of it. the one thing I can't do this time is inject the flat. Injection is on the christmas list as is the maverick. I'll be online tonight with my results. Oh and I won't freak out during the stall today!!!
I took the brisket off at 203. It had smoked for seven hours. It was a little tougher than I had hoped but had good flavor. My wife, brokher and sister in law all enjoyed. I want it to be a little more tender. I had a huge temp spike at hour six to 350. I did the minion not sure why the spike happened. I had to take some coals off to cool it down. For my second brisket I was reasonably pleased. Still want to perfect. I am debating on using my charcoal dividers next time to better control tthe heat.