First Brisket

[Alex Douglas]

Hey Guys & Girls,

So this weekend i had two firsts, My First full packer brisket and my first overnight smoke.



So I ordered my brisket from Turner and George (Online Butcher in the UK) for next day delivery, this is UK Beef so not nearly as much fat as i wanted, so it’s fair to say i was quite dissapointed from the start.



The Brisket arrived around Midday Saturday and as im not cooking till 10pm, I put it in the fridge and prepped a Fattie that i was cooking the following morning, while the brisket finished.




10pm quickly rolled around and i was still busy trimming up the brisket, taking off all the hard fat and putting the usual Salt and pepper rub on, finally managed to get the smoker up to temp and the prep done by around 10:50.



I ran the smoker between 220 - 275 .. dont ask.. i just couldnt control the temp well enough, thinking i would be able to get some sleep once id wrapped it.. how wrong could i be, i wrapped the brisket at around 5am and managed to snooze for about an hour, waking to the dreaded sound of thermopro's probe alarm (i have a grumble about that too but thats for another post)





I ended up pulling the brisket at 200F as it passed the toothpick test.

So hopefully you enjoy the pics of what i would say is an okay attempt at my first brisket, The first 3 slices of the flat were dry but the rest was alright, the point on the other hand was incredible, the tenderness, the juices, definately the best smoked meat ive ever eaten and went down a treat with the in Laws and family.



Final thoughts - never going to do a full packer again, i will just stick with a point, yes most of the flat will be used to make some meals for the week, but after that ordeal i know im not ready.

Anyway, thanks for looking.

Alex

 

[gmc2003]

It all looks good from my computer screen Alex. Don't be to discouraged with the brisket it's your first one. Many before you have tried and failed to get a perfect brisket(Myself included at least twice). The dryer pieces can be cubed up smaller for hash or larger for a chili. It all works out in the end. The fatty looks wonderful. What's it stuffed with? Nice job on the weave BTW.

Point for sure.

Chris

 

[CharlotteLovesFood]

So hopefully you enjoy the pics of what i would say is an okay attempt at my first brisket


Alex

That is a brilliant first attempt!! Don't be so hard on yourself it looks great!! :p

Oh and when you say never again, is that like when I say I'm never drinking again?? :D

P.S. your fattie looks great too!

 

[Jiffylush]

Thanks for sharing your experience, I will do my first in the coming weeks and this is all great information.

Couple of questions - how big was the brisket, and how long did it take to get to 200?

 

[dcecil]

Way to battle through it, doing an over night cook on a stick burner is a heck of an accomplishment. I’d say it was a success and you also learned a few things doing it. Good Job. Looks tasty

 

[Alex Douglas]

It all looks good from my computer screen Alex. Don't be to discouraged with the brisket it's your first one. Many before you have tried and failed to get a perfect brisket(Myself included at least twice). The dryer pieces can be cubed up smaller for hash or larger for a chili. It all works out in the end. The fatty looks wonderful. What's it stuffed with? Nice job on the weave BTW.

Point for sure.

Chris

Thanks Chris, the fattie is stuffed with cubed chorizo, green olives, mozzarella, tomatoes and some strong yellow mustard.

 

[Alex Douglas]

That is a brilliant first attempt!! Don't be so hard on yourself it looks great!! :p

Oh and when you say never again, is that like when I say I'm never drinking again?? :D

P.S. your fattie looks great too!

Haha. Thanks Charlotte.

 

[Alex Douglas]

Way to battle through it, doing an over night cook on a stick burner is a heck of an accomplishment. I’d say it was a success and you also learned a few things doing it. Good Job. Looks tasty

Thanks dcecil, it was such a Labour.

 

[Alex Douglas]

Thanks for sharing your experience, I will do my first in the coming weeks and this is all great information.

Couple of questions - how big was the brisket, and how long did it take to get to 200?

The brisket was 6.4kg so about 14lbs but after trimming I forgot to weigh it.

I didn’t time the cook but I took it off about 11am so was about 12 hours.

 

[oddegan]

Never say never. I wrecked 3 briskets before I got 1 right. Your first looks pretty good to me. Way better than my first one did. Keep working with your smoker. You'll get it figured out. And that fattie filling combo looks and sounds fantastic.

 

[Alex Douglas]

CharlotteLovesFood yeah it’s possibly just me saying it ;) when are you trying a brisket? :D

 

[CharlotteLovesFood]

CharlotteLovesFood yeah it’s possibly just me saying it ;) when are you trying a brisket? :D

Yeah you'll get over it once you've had some sleep and get back on the horse ;)

Haha I have no idea, I'm petrified :rolleyes: trying to get as many smokes under my belt as I possibly can first hahaha :D

 

[Alex Douglas]

Never say never. I wrecked 3 briskets before I got 1 right. Your first looks pretty good to me. Way better than my first one did. Keep working with your smoker. You'll get it figured out. And that fattie filling combo looks and sounds fantastic.

Yeah maybe one day, I think I might look at just the point for a while as that will feed quite a few too.

 

[Alex Douglas]

Yeah you'll get over it once you've had some sleep and get back on the horse ;)

Haha I have no idea, I'm petrified :rolleyes: trying to get as many smokes under my belt as I possibly can first hahaha :D

True, sleep is needed I’m still knackered now.

 

[tallbm]

Hey Guys & Girls,

So this weekend i had two firsts, My First full packer brisket and my first overnight smoke.

View attachment 366374

So I ordered my brisket from Turner and George (Online Butcher in the UK) for next day delivery, this is UK Beef so not nearly as much fat as i wanted, so it’s fair to say i was quite dissapointed from the start.

View attachment 366373

The Brisket arrived around Midday Saturday and as im not cooking till 10pm, I put it in the fridge and prepped a Fattie that i was cooking the following morning, while the brisket finished.

View attachment 366370
View attachment 366372

10pm quickly rolled around and i was still busy trimming up the brisket, taking off all the hard fat and putting the usual Salt and pepper rub on, finally managed to get the smoker up to temp and the prep done by around 10:50.

View attachment 366380

I ran the smoker between 220 - 275 .. dont ask.. i just couldnt control the temp well enough, thinking i would be able to get some sleep once id wrapped it.. how wrong could i be, i wrapped the brisket at around 5am and managed to snooze for about an hour, waking to the dreaded sound of thermopro's probe alarm (i have a grumble about that too but thats for another post)

View attachment 366371

View attachment 366381

I ended up pulling the brisket at 200F as it passed the toothpick test.

So hopefully you enjoy the pics of what i would say is an okay attempt at my first brisket, The first 3 slices of the flat were dry but the rest was alright, the point on the other hand was incredible, the tenderness, the juices, definately the best smoked meat ive ever eaten and went down a treat with the in Laws and family.

View attachment 366377 View attachment 366378 View attachment 366379

Final thoughts - never going to do a full packer again, i will just stick with a point, yes most of the flat will be used to make some meals for the week, but after that ordeal i know im not ready.

Anyway, thanks for looking.

Alex

That looks like a pretty good 1st attempt from here!
The brisket is a cut of meat that you will learn from time after time.
The dry crusty part of the first few slices is common when learning to do brisket. I always recommend people trim away a good portion of the Flat (yes good meat) so that what is left of the flat is just about as uniformly thick as possible. This way it all cooks as even as possible and you don't lose that good thin meat to overcooking because the rest of the brisket takes longer. See my trimming pic here:

BrisketFlatTrimAway

• tallbm
• Oct 7, 2017

You can throw that good meat in the smoker later so it doesn't go to waste.
Some people would save it and grind it for burger.
What I do is throw it in the foil pan I put under my brisket to catch the drippings. I throw it in there with all the STRINGY fat and the HARD fat etc. and that fat will render down and keep that good trimmed meat from over cooking too much... most of the time. Then I serve this as the burnt ends to people who want the crisper and crusty bark portions of brisket meat :)

The flat is always the problem child of a whole packer brisket. I run 3 meat probes in my flat because between the 3 probes I usually only get 1 to give me the proper reading I'm looking for to really know when to start the tenderness checking hahaha. One of these days I'll post a graph of how the 3 meat probes go up and down overtaking one another during a brisket cook lol.
I'm with you on the Point being the best part. I just about cry every time someone removes the point and does other stuff with it.

Anyhow, enough rambling from me. I hope some of this info helps you for the next time you decide to do a whole packer. I would say you probably need to go through about 5 of them before you get YOUR brisket method down but be sure you know your smoker really well before tackling such a potentially challenging cut of meat :)

 

[Rings Я Us]

You have to give up some sleep to have that great smoked beef.
Nice job!

 

[Alex Douglas]

tallbm thanks for the info.

 

[Alex Douglas]

You have to give up some sleep to have that great smoked beef.
Nice job!

Thank you Rings

 

[SmokinAl]

To do your first overnight smoke & have it be a brisket on a stick burner I think you did a heck of a good job!
And that fattie looks fantastic!
I'm sure there will be many more full packer briskets in your future.
In my area it is almost impossible to buy just a point, it's either a full packer or a flat.
Although on the next one, you may want to try the hot & fast method.
Run your smoker at 270-280 & your looking at about 1 hour per pound cook time.
So I get up early & start the fire around 3:00 AM & tend the fire & drink beer all day.
It's a great way to spend the day!
Al

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

Alex you are a trooper. I did my first packer on my own OKJ during late Winter this year. I hear you on the challenge of cooking for so long and staying awake tending the fire. I think that overcoming the colder weather is a big part of the struggle. I'm not sure how cold it is there in the UK right now but it's Summer now where I am at and I'm betting it would be so much easier than the first time. My cook was 17 hours and the brisket, while being tasty, was not anywhere near the perfection I was hoping for. Don't give up on the process Alex. Just pick a good weekend time frame where you aren't pressed for time and don't invite anybody over until you have finished it and it passes your own taste test. Brisket for company is not for the faint hearted. I intend to cook one for some friends from Texas this Summer. Talk about pressure. You've got a nice tool to work with in your OKJ and with the right patience and preparation I am certain you will reach that brisket nirvana in no time. Enjoy those leftovers :)

George