I love smoking meats, but always stick to pork butts, ribs (spares and babyback) and riblets. I tried a brisket once years ago and was left wondering why I spent so much money on the meat when ribs taste much better.
I want to give it another shot. I know there is the flat and the point, my question is, if I separate the two before smoking, will it dry out the flat? Is there a benefit or drawback to just smoking it all together and then separating?
I usually dont put a water pan when Im smoking my butts or ribs, but since this is a longer smoke, would a water pan make the brisket more tender?
What about injecting it?
husker, there is no right or wrong and there are at least to legitimate answers to each of your questions. Spend some time with the search function. You will have more material than you can read in a week! Seriously, its worth spending a couple hours searching this forum for brisket.
As to your questions specifically:
*Most folks don't separate the point from the flat when cooking. But it is perfectly fine and can yield great results. It will cut down on cooking time. Some say keeping it together helps is stay moist, but there have been contest winners that separate. I keep mine packers whole. I do trim them a bit. Search for trimming brisket too.
*Water pan is fine. Many use it, many don't. Not sure it will make it more tender but some think it helps with keeping it moist. I have my own theories but I'll save that for another day. I typically don't use water but I have. A water pan does help regulate temps in you smoker, so if you have an erratic smoker using a water pan can help.
*Injecting, like everything else, is subjective. I have and often do inject. Commercial brisket injections are excellent but some do add phosphors and even MSG. Some folks use beef broth and that is probably the most popular. My favorite commercial injection is Big Poppa's Cattleprod. I use it at half strength. I use it on less that half of the briskets I do.
Now, here is the big secret to cooking brisket:
1-Know your smoker temp
2-Know your meat temp
3-Cook it til its done.
That's it. You can do any of the other variables in your original post (water pan, inject, no water pan, etc.) but if you do those 3 things I just listed you will be fine.
To expand a bit:
1-Smoker temp-Somewhere between 225 and 375 is acceptable. I suggest using something closer to 225 until you get a few under your belt.
2-Cook your meat to ~190 and start checking for doneness. I usually find my briskets are done to my satisfaction at ~204* internal temp IN THE FLAT! Forget the temp in the point. It is meaningless and useless (I am sure someone will disagree but for now, forget the point temp).
3-The brisket is done when a probe (not a probe as thick as a pencil), perhaps your temp probe will go into the flat with ease. Some say it should feel like butter. But you want very little resistance to probing IN THE FLAT! Many folks swear by the toothpick test, where a toothpick is used instead of a probe.
****The reason cooking til its done is so important is 99.9999% of the time when someone says their brisket was not tender, it was not cooked long enough***** The other .0001% of the time is because it was sliced incorrectly. You can dry out a brisket by cooking too long, but it will still be tender and fall apart. If it aint tender it aint cooked. Period.
One last thing, and this will draw the ire of many a good SMF members, but I suggest wrapping your brisket once you obtain a nice bark. It will speed up the smoke and may help with keeping it moist. Notice I said "
may help with keeping it moist". This is not scientific (I don't think so anyway). Foil or butcher paper is fine. Or even a foil pan covered tightly in foil.
Have fun and post pics and let us know how it turns out.
