Cowboy Kent Rollins Brisket

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Cowboy Kent recently posted his 6 hour brisket method:


Thoughts?


Generally good info and approach. The area I would deviate or add more precise information about is the time to pull off the smoker.

You pull a brisket off when it is tender, not by time or temp.
He mentions between 200-210F internal temp which is not wrong but it is not precise or accurate.

I would say "at 198-200F start to check for tenderness by stabbing all over with a wooden kabob skewer. If it goes in all over without any resistance then it is tender. You will find it is tender all over between 200-210F but only doing the tenderness test will tell you because temp probe placement is super hard to nail and will report all kinds of temps."

So that bit of info removes all the ambiguity of when and why to pull your brisket off. It's tenderness and temp will guide you when to check for tenderness.

One note on trimming. I pretty much agree with him. I deviate where I cut away the thin flat meat in a round'ish cut/shape so what is left of the flat is about uniform in thickness.

Seasoning, we are all different there, that is a taste preference thing.

Wrapping, again preference and may depend on the type of smoker used. I use an MES that retains moisture like a champ and I never wrap a brisket because flavor is superior to the wrapping I've tried.
Also not wrapping = a longer smoke and no way it will happen in 6 hours for a brisket that size. To me time doesn't matter, the taste is the most important thing!
I always tell people NOT to wrap at 160 though as their is a very high and very real risk of not getting enough smoke and basically spending hours to make a roast beef. It's horrible to spend all that time and end up with a roast beef flavor and not a bbq beef flavor.
I personally will not wrap before 180F and usually push it to 190F. I do this with Chucks because they want to dry out. So I wrap much later and add about an ounce or 2 of liquid to keep from being dry.

Finally, for 6hrs his smoker. The wrap so early the moment it hits 160F definitely contributes to the speed in cooking but WILL greatly diminish the potential bbq flavor.
Also his smoker may be running hotter than 250F smoker temp and/or is super efficient and holding in the heat.

In all I think he gives a ton of great info to produce a good brisket in 6 hours on a stick burner.
One key to his success is using Mesquite which in a stuck burner can be aggressive enough to support giving smoke flavor fast and early.

I know this 1st hand. I live in TX and my mother makes briskets with mesquite in like 4-6 hours with plenty of great smoke flavor.
She uses mesquite, runs it hot, wraps in foil fairly early, and then cooks the crap out of it.
The next key to her success is she lets it cool down and puts it in the fridge. The next day she slices while cold (it holds together while cold) and then serves reheated in the oven and/or chafing dishes. The brisket is great! It's just not a repeatable process for a non-stick burning, non-mesquite wood, high heat fast cook and wrap situation :D

Anyhow I'm rambling now. Overall, I like about 90% of what he says and think the 10% needed is a little more explanation of why/how his method works with his setup and approach. Hopefully I covered that 10% well enough in the ramblings above :D

Good post and thanks for asking about thoughts. I hope this info helps :)
 
The next key to her success is she lets it cool down and puts it in the fridge. The next day she slices while cold (it holds together while cold) and then serves reheated in the oven and/or chafing dishes. The brisket is great! It's just not a repeatable process for a non-stick burning, non-mesquite wood, high heat fast cook and wrap situation :D
This how I do mine. I very rarely slice it up the day I smoke it, Usually to late time it done with rest. I do 4 hr minimum rest.
 
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Kent has a huge following, even here on SMF. I've picked up a few ideas watching him over the years. That said, I'm biting my fingers concerning this brisket video. What makes a good video for views and likes doesn't always make a good brisket result.

I don't trim like he does. I only remove the discolored fat, hard fat, and any floppy meat ends. Trimming for a restaurant or video is different than trimming for home. Fat is flavor.

Done in 6 hours at 250F chamber temp. Nope.

"Room temp in an hour on the counter" is BS and needs to go away. A 6 oz steak won't even reach room temp in an hour on the counter. I've tested it. A packer will only rise about 3F in a 78F room after 60 minutes on the counter, and not at all in a 39F environment like he was smoking.

"Fat side up" when the heat source is coming from below is setting up a stringy, overcooked bark on the skinny side. His saving grace was flipping the brisket when he wrapped it in BP.

Cooking to temp. Nope. Cook to probe tenderness and use meat temp as a guide, not a destination. He kinda alludes to it with his 200-210F final temp. There should be a slight resistance regardless of the meat temp. When he inserts the probe in the Point end of the brisket when the meat is at 190F, you can see the initial resistance of the undercooked meat AND when the probe hits a fat seam and slips in quickly. Probe the lean flat, not the fatty Point.

Venting during the rest. That's a recipe for an inconsistent result. He says it will overcook and that's why he vents. Nope. I do 3-5 hours in a 170F oven, which is actually 155F in my oven. You're probably thinking it will overcook. Nope. Thermodynamics of heat flow (hot to cold). The oven isn't cooking the meat. The hotter meat is releasing heat energy "slowly" to the cooler oven and equalizing the meat temp through the entire packer. Most packers will have up a 10-15F difference in meat temp on the smoker. I used to rest packers in a cooler. Once I switched to the oven, wow, what a difference.

And the whole foil discoloration statement, yeah, the foil will discolor, but the meat? I've never noticed any discoloration of the meat.

So, follow his guidelines and you'll be scratching your head blaming the meat, the smoker, the grade, etc as to why your briskets are never the same.

I buy the cheapest packer briskets I can find regardless of grade. Probing the flat for tenderness and a long rest are essential for mouthwatering, melt-in-your-mouth-in-a-good-way tenderness.

Time to unsaddle my high horse.

Ray
 
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