Good Afternoon everyone....I didn't disappear, just have been super busy with our business, family and helping take care
of an elderly friend of ours.
I purchased a Whole Choice Brisket from Earth Fare...it weighs in at 8.51 lbs. Looking for some sound advice on cook times, fat trimming and if I should inject it or not.
I have a rub that we make that I will be using on the outside. I am smoking on our Traeger pellet smoker.
Thank you in advance.
Hi there and welcome!
At a steady 275F smoker temp my briskets take a little over 1hr a pound (untrimmed weight) when I smoke a brisket unwrapped in my MES without opening the smoker until the internal temp (IT) of the meat tells me to check for tenderness.
It is best to plan to finish 4 hours before eating/serving time. So your brisket would take about 9hrs at 275F in my smoker. I would start the smoke/cook 13 hours before I wanted to eat/serve.
If you finish 4 hours early then great, you tightly double wrap in foil then wrap tightly in 3 towels and set it on the counter. 4 hours later it would be piping hot ready to serve and eat.
If you DONT finish 4 hours early... you have 4 hours of buffer for the meat to do its thing.
Not planning enough time is probably the #1 issue people have with making a brisket becuase they then try to rush something that cant be rushed and pull it too early.
Next, brisket is done when it is tender not by time or temp. You put the meat probe in the thickest yet center most part of the flat muscle (not the point). At about 200F IT check for tenderness by stabbing ALL OVER with a kabob skewer and when it goes in ALL OVER without resistance then it is done. If you get resistance, wait another 1-2 degrees and check again, pull when tender. Know that getting a good probe placement is actually a very difficult thing. So much so that I use 3 probes from different angles and go with the lowest reading hahaha. You don't have to do this just keep checking for tenderness once you hit about 200F and pull when tender.
I also follow the Aaron Franklin approach of trimming except I don't get as anal about removing all the fat. They key to me is to remove the hard "deckle" fat and then to leave no more than 1/2 inch of fat in any spot.
Your brisket seems to have already been cut at the flat muscle giving you tear drop/oval shape that helps the brisket not burn up the thin flat meat so no need to do anything but remove deckle fat and any extra thick fat .
Finally, brisket seasoning/flavoring is pretty simple. So much so that Aaron Franklin just uses course black pepper and salt. I go Salt, Pepper, Onion, Garlic (the big 4 of meat seasoning).
Some people will inject and marinate and pan with broth, etc. which is fine but I honestly find that very simple seasonings make amazing meat/bbq dishes and all the extra stuff in cases like BBQ is not necessary and only marginally adds to improving flavor.
This is just my experience and what matters most is that you are happy with what you do to season and flavor it, not what anyone else thinks :)
These are the biggest things to understand about a brisket to help you have success. In short Briskets don't need much babying, they dont care what temp they are cooked at so crank it up, and as long as you execute well you will come out with a good or even great result! Each brisket cook will teach you something so enjoy the ride :)
