Prime Brisket, how should I cut it?

[mtime7]

I am pretty new to briskets, and this forum, I have never cooked a whole brisket, I have had good luck smoking brisket points, but none with flats. I was at the local HEB today and eyed 2 prime briskets at a price I could not pass, they were labeled as packers but appear trimmed to me. My question is, what is the best way to cut them smaller? I have separated points from flats before but usually the flats came out dry (may have not smoked it properly). Would it be better just to cut it down the middle?

 

[bear55]

Using the search bar, query separating a brisket.  This is how I would do it, you get the point and the flat.

Richard 

 

[foamheart]

You should never cut the beef when there is anyone else around. If you want any left to serve.

 

[mtime7]

like I was saying, I have separated the flats and points before but my flats came out bad. Would it be better to leave the layers of meat and fat by just cutting them in half?

 

[foamheart]

Sorry, I can only tell you what I do. First I don't do burnt ends. That is the only reason I can see for seperating the point from the flat. Everyone does things differently, its all in what you like.

I have heard that removing the point will decrease the size slightly. I personally have trimmed off the end of the flat of a packer so I could get it in an MES30. I trimed the flat end without the point and cut it cross grain.

The only way I ever got dry brisket was by cooking to hard/fast. Course there are many here that do a hard fast and love it

 

[mtime7]

well I ended up separating the flat and point on one, and I just cut the other in half. Guess I will find out whether it was a screw up or not on cutting one in half, but until then I went ahead and threw the flat on the smoker came out good, the very center, and thickest part could have gone a little longer which I will correct next time, was hoping it would loosen up sitting in the cooler..

christmas013.jpg

• mtime7
• Dec 27, 2014

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Briskets can be a tough smoke & is known as the Holy Grail of Q !

Yours looks awesome, great job on that smoke !

:points1:

 

[b-one]

Looks like it turned out great! Looks like it went over very well!!!

 

[mtime7]

Looks like it turned out great! Looks like it went over very well!!!

It did, my wife always puts things in dollars and cents, she compares any brisket I make to what I could have bought from Rudy's here in San Antonio. We had about 2.5lbs of real good brisket out of that flat (probably about half a pound that would not pass muster), which would have cost about $45 from Rudy's, which is more than I paid for the whole Prime Brisket. So it came out well in her mind.

Question : I think the sides of my brisket cooked faster cause I have a hot spot in my offset, I have to turn the meat every hour because the heat from the box, will these plates I hear about cure this?

 

[b-one]

Not sure about the plates but if no one else chimes in I would start a new thread with that question. I would think something doesn't seem right as I don't believe you should have to flip the meat.