Smoking a brisket flat at high heat

[jeremymillrood]

I don't do brisket flats alone BUT I do chuck roast (when its cheaper than brisket) and our cuts are often big and long just like a brisket flat without the top layer of fat.

I firmly believe that the magic comes in wrapping the chuck (flat in your case) in foil while splashing some liquid in with it (I use left over wine or some beer) at a meat IT of about 185-190F.

This allows the brisket to get good flavor, color, and some bark while coming out tender and not dry! Brisket flats and chucks will wanna dry out on you being so flat and not full of fat.

Again I think that is the magic needed to get what you are wanting without it turning into pot roast or going some other unintended direction.
I smoke in my MES at 275F so I think you may be able to go any temp you want as long as you understand the fundamental issue of that cut of meat just wanting to dry out on you, hence the splash and wrap at 185-190F.

I hope this info helps and I look forward to seeing what you make :)

Appreciaate the additional info tallbm ..Picked up an 8.3 lb flat today that had a nice amount of marbling in it..The plan is to smoke it on Friday..I'll post up my results..stay tuned.

 

[jeremymillrood]

Double post.

 

[jeremymillrood]

Let the fun begin..To recap, I'm attempting to high heat smoke and 8.3 lb flat that I purchased from BJ's..It's a choice cut, so not the best, but it was all I could find..

Trimmed up and applied the rub...I used a mixture of kosher salt, coarse peppercorn, and some celery seed..saw this recommended by Harry Soo, and I wanted to keep it simple so this seemed ideal..

Filled up the chamber with Kingsford and my wood..several chunks of hickory and apple..I fired it up with another full chimney..

The brisket is on, trying to keep the temp over 325..It's about 275 right now, but I'll check in an hour and expect those temps will jump as the meat starts to heat up and the rest of the coals ignite..stay tuned.

 

[jeremymillrood]

A little over 2 and 15 minutes..temp is right w

 

[jeremymillrood]

3 hours in..bark is nice a crusty..it's taking a little longer than I expected..

 

[jeremymillrood]

Finally hit 170, pulled and foiled..I've seen cooks add liquid, I didn't..it smells amazing..got another 2 hours or so..can't wait..

 

[jeremymillrood]

Foiled for about an hour and a half..temp came up to 190 pretty quickly, so I pulled and let it rest in the foil for about an hour..

and here it is..

Ready to cut..

It came out amazing, good smoke penetration, not too overpowering, the meat is tender, juicy, and the rub was perfect..I'll definitely be doing this again..From start to finish I had about 5 hours on this flat for a high heat cook

 

[Millberry]

I KNOW this thread is too old to comment on--BUT that picture is worth a thousand words!!!!!

 

[Millberry]

Well-guess it is not to old to comment on....I am going to copy this one....Thanks

 

[jeremymillrood]

Well-guess it is not to old to comment on....I am going to copy this one....Thanks

definitely not..this was my first brisket in several years, first time doing high heat and fast cook, I couldn't believe the results..I'll never do a brisket any other way..For the next one, I will make a change to using the pink butcher paper instead of the foil. I've read that makes a difference in the bark..

 

[Millberry]

definitely not..this was my first brisket in several years, first time doing high heat and fast cook, I couldn't believe the results..I'll never do a brisket any other way..For the next one, I will make a change to using the pink butcher paper instead of the foil. I've read that makes a difference in the bark..

Thank you. I have some pink butcher wrap--will use it then. You and Chasdev believe in high heat so I'm gonna give it a try....

 

[jeremymillrood]

Thank you. I have some pink butcher wrap--will use it then. You and Chasdev believe in high heat so I'm gonna give it a try....

well I am far from an expert, but you can't argue with the results..the proof is in the pudding, or the brisket in this case.

 

[Millberry]

I notice your square drip pan on your lower grate of the WSM--underneath your brisket. Must not hurt a thing? Did you put any water in your pan? Do you use pink butcher paper nowadays? Thank u

 

[jeremymillrood]

I notice your square drip pan on your lower grate of the WSM--underneath your brisket. Must not hurt a thing? Did you put any water in your pan? Do you use pink butcher paper nowadays? Thank u

Good eye. completely forgot that I had that down there. The method I used calls for double wrapping the water pan with heavy duty foil. First layer close to pan, followed by a second suspended an inch or two above to catch and keep the drippings from burning..I used the drip pan as an additional precaution.

For the high heat fast cook method no water is used in the pan..that would hold temps down which in this case is the last thing we want.

 

[Millberry]

Thanks--will let you know how mine turns out--especially when my WSM hasn't been broken in yet. I can't believe the amount of wood you use--laying right on top too. PLUS--That is one pretty lttle girl in your picture....

 

[Millberry]

Did you leave your water pan inside your WSM? Thanks

 

[jeremymillrood]

Did you leave your water pan inside your WSM? Thanks

Yes, the water pan was still in there, but it was foiled.

 

[Millberry]

thanks

 

[jeremymillrood]

Smoked a 9lber this passed weekend, high heat, and wanted to share my experience as this one didn't come out as good as the first and I think I know why.

First, the cuts of meat were pretty identical, this one was just shy of 9lbs and a flat with part of the point, the previous one was all flat..

Day of the cook, I use the Kingsford competition, these seem to get the hottest and last the longest. one full chimney of unlit briquettes, topped with 5 chunks of apple wood then a 3/4 chimney full of lit briquettes to get it going..

Used a Dalmatian rub, same as before, salt, pepper and celery seed..had it in the fridge overnight..What I did not do this time was inject it and while I didn't note it on the last smoke, that brisket was injected with beef broth.

Read that placing a couple of wood chunks under the meat can help with smoke penetration..I'm not sure whether it works, but I gave it a try..

Temps were being monitored by my inkbird..

You'll notice in this pic where I have my probe..it's actually in the thicker part of the meat..that was one of my mistakes..It should have been inserted horizontally into the flat as that's going to cook the fastest. High heat cook calls for fat cap down for the first part of the cook, than flip it over when foiled.

Smoker was cranking, between 325 and 375 is where I wanted it..once it settled down I was averaging about 340.

Should have realized that something wasn't right, it was taking way too long to get up to 170..at this point it had been on for almost 4 hours..typically the flat should get to 170 in about 2 1/2, so this meat had been exposed to that high heat for a little too long..it still looked good, but I'd rather my brisket taste good then look good..you can't eat looks...

Pulled and wrapped in pink butcher paper and foil, then back on to 190..

Again, the probe should be in the flat and it's not..

Took about 45 minutes to get to 190..Pulled and cut the wrapping open..wanted to make sure it didn't cook any more..left it rest for an hour before cutting..

Cut..it had a good smoke ring and nice flavor, but like I said the flat was a bit too dry..
So lessons learned from this smoke, injection is good for a high heat smoke and make sure you're checking temps from the right part of the meat..hopefully all of this will add up to a better brisket next time..

 

[jeremymillrood]

Did another high heat brisket this weekend...started with a 16.58 lb choice packer from BJ's that I aggressively trimmed down to 11.5 lbs..There was a lot of fat..

Marbling was ok, not great as you'd expect on a choice cut..

This was as far as I went with the trimming..

Next day pulled from refrigerator and added the rub, used the same dalmatian rub as last time but added some seasoned salt to it as well..

Pan foiled and the bullet is roaring, temps on my inkbird were reading around 375 - 390..

Meat is on..

Temps for the fist 2 hours were consistent between about 360 and 385..I got up to that 170 mark measured horizontal at the flat right about 2 hrs 15 minutes..I feel like I probably should have pulled and wrapped at 165, but I'll try that next time..still it was looking good..

Wrapped in butcher paper and then foiled..In hindsight , I don't know whether it makes sense to use both..the butcher paper is supposed to help keep the bark firm but using it in tandem with foil kind of defeats the purpose..I think next time I'm going to use just straight butcher paper..

Brought it up to 195 and pulled it off..I should mention that I did have a minor problem during the second half of the smoke, the smoker door fell open and the temps spiked way up (like 425) for probably 10 minutes before I realized it..Next time I'll set the max temp on the inkbird to avoid that..

After resting to get the temps down, the flat was wrapped and put in a cooler to keep warm until dinner..Sorry, no pics of the flat, ends were a little dry but the closer to the center it was nice and moist. The point came out great..I removed that before wrapping the flat, ate some and made burnt ends too.. From Start to finish the brisket done in about 4 hours..

On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd have given this brisket a 6. In addition to needing more flavor, the flat didn't come out as good as I would have liked..The best part about smoking, besides the eating is that you have the opportunity to learn from your mistakes and improve the next..each one gets a little better..