How to process brisket for chili?

[nicefly]

Hi All,

I would like to use some brisket for chili.  I did this once before.  I basically made cubes that I thought would fall apart during the chili cooking.  It did not fall apart like I hoped.  Might be worth noting that brisket was probably a tad underdone.

I am going to try again and I am curious how others have sliced or diced up brisket for chili. 

I cubed it last time because I thought it would fall apart giving me short threads of brisket, from a texture standpoint.  Maybe that is just not how brisket works in chili? 

Anyhow, any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,

John

 

[crankybuzzard]

Cubed works for me as long as I let it simmer for several hours.  

 

[SmokinAl]

I don't exactly cube it.

I take a normal slice & cut it up into small bite sized pieces.

Al

 

[myownidaho]

Cranky has it right. Brisket is going to take longer than other cuts just because of all the connective tissue. Small cube and lots of time.

 

[sirsquatch]

Are we talking previously smoked brisket, or uncooked? 

 

[nicefly]

Smoked brisket. Pulled this one at 199F.  Thanks for the replies so far.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

In my opinion the point works best for chili and stews. Smoke it to 185°-190° chunk it up like you would for burnt ends. Then finish it in the chili or stew. Low simmer for 4-6 hours (or longer). It should come out super tender.

Save the flat for sandwiches or something else.

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Gotta agree with dirtsailer on the point being a better choice for chili meat. Think about what happens to stew meats or a good candidate for pot roast...they cook long and slow, and take to it well only because of the type of muscle. Collagen is your friend with longer cooking times because as it melts it lubricates the muscle tissues. A good amount of marbled fat content is also beneficial.

The cuts not considered good for these styles of cooking have low collagen and low fat. Think about what happens to chicken breast meat when used in a soup...it's gets dry internally and chewy, mealy/grainy...why? No collagen and no/low interior fat. The flat is similar to the chicken breast, in that it has low collagen (connective tissues) and low interior fat (marbling)...and it will react similarly to the chicken breast with wet cooking.

Eric

 

[nicefly]

Hmm, last time I used the flat for chili.  I prefer the point myself so we ate that as is and I made chili from the flat.

Some interesting food philosophy here, thanks everyone.  Right now I am leaning (haha) toward making a mix between point and flat.  I will slice and dice the flat and cube the point.  May make for some interesting textures.

I am going to hit the store for tomatoes and such.  Be back in a bit.

 

[nicefly]

Here are some pics of the cook.  I ended up using some of the flat and point.  Using the suggestions above I sliced and diced the flat and cubed the point, roughly 2# of brisket.  Then 2# of tomatoes, 3 jalapenos, 1 onion, about 5 cloves of garlic and 2 smoked habanero.  Cooked about 5 hrs.  I will have to load a pic of the finished product later.  

Even though the flat was dices smaller it still made somewhat larger and firmer chunks than the point.  Pretty much what was described above.  Thanks everyone!

20161215_111831.jpeg

• nicefly
• Dec 16, 2016

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• nicefly
• Dec 16, 2016

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• nicefly
• Dec 16, 2016

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• nicefly
• Dec 16, 2016

 

[SmokinAl]

That looks delicious!

Nice job!

Al

 

[nicefly]

Thanks Al!

Here is a pic of my bowl for lunch just to finish off this q view.  It is not quite as dry as it looks in this pic.

The flat pieces definitely held together more than the point pieces.

20161216_120145.jpeg

• nicefly
• Dec 16, 2016

 

[SmokyMose]

Looks great! I keep thinkng I'm going to make chili with my leftover point, but it always ends up with mashed potatoes & gravy.
One of these days maybe.....
Dan

 

[forluvofsmoke]

That looks tasty!!! I could go for a bowl or 3 of that right about now...just got home from work about 8:30...long day. It's been snowing and blowing all day with a high temp of 7* today and it's already down to -9* and the night is young. That chili would warm me right up!!!

And I'm smoking BBRs in the morning and it's supposed to drop to -23* tonight with a high of -3* Saturday....and windy, of course. BRRR!!! Bring on the hot chili!!! Hmm, maybe I'll modify my rub for one slab and kick it up a few degrees.

Eric