Not the typical Brisket thread - long ramble

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texomakid

Master of the Pit
Original poster
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Aug 6, 2017
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Lake Texoma
Many who know me by now are aware of my "self worth" when it comes to Briskets. Yep, while I'm just another weekend warrior with a few cookers I "think" I am an advanced brisket smoker. Then this happened .........

My wife is helping a close friend's daughter plan & organize her wedding. She asked if I would smoke a brisket for their wedding shower/party. Approx 30 guest and they had several who were bringing various dishes and meats. 2 of us were asked to smoke meat. One of the groomsman was to smoke a pork butt and sausage while my wife eagerly volunteered me for a brisket. Of course I'm all in, and a day couple of days prior to the event I go to Sam's to pick up the biggest brisket they have. I figured it would be a nice select grade brisket, Maybe a choice, and of course I planned to take a peak at the Prime briskets if they had any available. Low and behold I found this beauty!
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That's right. A 21 1/2 lbs USDA Prime brisket for $2.84/lbs. I couldn't believe it. I carried that thing like a baby looking for my wife and the cart (she's hard to keep up with) I was so proud.

As a top shelf Brisket expert would do, I asked what time did she want to leave for her party and what time would they serve - I'll work out my time line from that. I was told to have it ready to go by 2:00 pm Saturday and they would serve around 5:00 PM. Man I got this. After all, I am a brisket god! 21 1/2 lbs brisket - trimmed to around 18 lbs expert estimate - Low & slow I'll start @ 8:00 pm Friday night and have 18 hours to manage my brisket. Got a plan, I'm an expert, what could go wrong?????

7:00 PM - Yoder is prepped with 100% hickory. I even break out the 12" Amazn smoke tube for this one and fire it up full of Hickory - we gonna get smoke on this one. While the cooker is getting up to temp it's time to trim, rub, and let it sit for an hour prior to loading in the smoker.

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I grab my knife, a few strokes on the steel rod and in for the trim. Again, I've trimmed a lot of briskets but this was by far the most fat I have ever seen on a brisket. I remove all the brown edges, trim fat cap down to about 1/4" and I work on the fat layer between the flat & deckle and here is the finished trimmed brisket. 6 1/2 lbs of trim - now my 21 1/2 lbs brisket is a 15 lbs brisket (and there's plenty of fat left) I didn't expect to trim so much but what I trimmed off It was 90% fat. I only trimmed brown meat to get to the beautiful clean red meat. NO EXCESS TRIM.
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It's at this time I realize this is a very nice chunk of meat. Unlike any of the dozens of briskets I've ever done. The marbling in that point is just insane. I like what I see......
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I go with the Malcome Reed method all the way (he's got a video & post on his website) it gets almost an hour with the Rubs before I place it in the Yoder at 8:00 PM on a low & slow 200 deg. I clean up the barn kitchen and I'm off for the night.

I check on the brisket the next morning fully expecting to possibly wrap & adjust the temp and finish it off just shy of 2:00 PM.
Shocker - This brisket is at 175 deg at 7 am. This has NEVER happened in the dozens I've cooked before @ 230 to 250. The only difference is this fat ratio and the fact that I'm running my pit at a lower temp than normal. Was not expecting this at all. I expected to be at or below the stall. I had planned to wrap it in pink butcher paper & increase the cooker temp to 250 to 275 at some point but this thing is way ahead of my schedule so I don't wrap yet (I'm thinking hard) and I leave the Yoder temp at 200. I'm baffled by this. So I hit the inner webs ........ looking for answers ......... Nothing I find helps me explain what's happening. Only thing I can say is different is this prime brisket (nothing like the 2 or 3 prime briskets I've done in the past). At 9;00 am I decide to wrap it but I decide to wrap it in foil because I'm worried it will overcook & I don't want it to dry out and maybe foil will help keep the moisture in place. I also keep the yoder temps @ 200 deg and I let it ride hoping to just keep it maintained at that temp (IT was at 190+ when I wrapped it in foil). So my thoughts at 9;00 (13 hours into this cook) is this thing is done but I leave it in the Yoder @ 200 deg until 11(2 more hours) when I decide I'm gonna place it in the ice chest with a couple of towels below & above. It's very insulated & resting now and with that I'm done and very very nervous. When I removed the foil wrapped brisket from the smoker is was so "jiggly" but to the point I'd never felt a brisket "jiggle" that much. I'm really worried that I've screwed this up. Now my wife is nervous because she knows I'm nervous. I don't want to cut it open because I'm a big believer in only slicing brisket when you're ready to serve so I just tell her to go with it and send me a pick when you slice it. She sends this pic with the words "It's good!" and I don't hear anything else until she returns home.
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She comes home with about 1/2 lbs of what's left of the brisket. She sat that chunk aside in case the rest was gone - and it was. She said the pork butt & sausages were only 25 to 30% eaten - The brisket was gone. I take what is left and I slice it and try a bite. Whole Cow! Really. Made a sandwich with a couple of slicers and it was hard to believe it was so juicy, tender, and flavor was just off the chain good. She told me 2 people who said they really don't like brisket not only ate brisket but got seconds. Nice.

What the heck happened? I've never cooked one like this and I've never ever seen one get done so quickly at such a low temp. I have to assume that the actions I took to maintain the temps @ 200 sure didn't hurt the brisket. Maybe some of you who have more knowledge in working with Prime & high grade beef can chime in. I can only guess that the extra fat really sped this whole process up? I have rested several brisket before in the 5 to 6 hour range but the being done so quickly is the big curve ball for me.

I'm just thankful it turned out the way it did but I'm scratching my head to understand everything that was different this time. Maybe this is why many of you guys keep notes? (LOL notes? I don't need no stinking notes!)

Thanks for looking and any tips, opinion, observations, or suggestions are always welcome.
Smoke 'em if you got 'em! :emoji_wink:
 
Fickle as a woman, so was the meat.

Why does one brisket out of dozens probe tender at 196°?
Why is it when I cook multiple Butts it seems the largest one is always done first?

Muscle density, fat and moisture content, overall thickness... Who knows?

Way to roll with it, it obviously came out great.
All that stress and nervousness for nothing.

Another successful cook there Pitmaster!
 
Looks awesome!! Prime is $3.34 / lbs at Sams near me. Relative to the quick cooking time is it possible the cook temps were actually higher?
 
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Great thread. They say every chunk of meat can be different. You got that one chunk. I will say I cooked a prime from Sams and it cooked quick.
 
They happen once in a while. Shame you had to share but this is how legends are born lol!!!!

I hate it when a brisket gets done way ahead of schedule. I'm a low guy so I always plan on 16 hours MINIMUM knowing I can crutch it if is stubborn and hold it 8 if it's early, but when they are done in 12 it's always a wth.... I'll hold pork butts all day and into the night but I like my brisket to sit protected for no more than 4-6 and prefer them if they rest loosely covered on the counter for roughly 45 mins. My home bbq's are always the best because I tell folks that it's done when it's done, waiting on them to go mad with desire.

I've had a select brisket go on at 3pm, catch a popup Tstorm at 6 that dumped half an inch of rain in 30 minutes, soaking my stick burner into submission, refired at 7, and be done at midnight. Some of them are just more jiggly than others. I like the jiggly ones ;)
 
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I get surprised ... often. Some aren't as successful as your surprise. Wife's short text sure didn't help the anxiety?

21-1/2 pounds at $2.84 per trimmed to 15 pounds isn't as bad as it sounds. That's only $4 per pound. I've seen trimmed select for over $6 per pound

chilerelleno chilerelleno said it well!

Not sure which Yoder you have.
 
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As many butts and briskets as I've done, there's always at least one surprise in the smoke, and it's rarely the same thing. Just part of smoking big hunks of meat.

It's always great when you hit a grand slam with a smoke. Congrats!
 
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That is just crazy, cooking at 200 & getting to 190 that fast is incredible!
I think you just got a fantastic piece of meat. Good on you!!
Al
 
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The brisket gods were definitely watching over you. I've never had that happen, but sure wish it would. Great Job!!!

Point for sure
Chris
 
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Looks awesome!! Prime is $3.34 / lbs at Sams near me. Relative to the quick cooking time is it possible the cook temps were actually higher?

Thanks everyone for the kind words & likes. In regard to temps, I've created a monster. Temps ran 200 to 220 the whole time. I don't take notes but I have spend hours studying this animal.
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Great story with a great outcome. With my luck....It would run more like....Roaring fire for days and never got to the stall.
Jim
 
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