The secret to good brisket

[LexB89]

I'm cooking on a weber smokey mountain so the heat is below.

Fat side down then?

 

[tallbm]

I'm cooking on a weber smokey mountain so the heat is below.

Fat side down then?

If the heat is directly radiating from below against the meat then the general consensus of seasoned brisket pros is to put the fat towards that direction, so yeah downwards. if there is something deflecting the heat to where it isn't directly hitting the brisket from below then I would default to fat side up.

 

[LexB89]

I got my brisket delivered today.

I didn't want a whole brisket as if only feeding 4.

I asked for a 2.5kg (5.5lb) point cut with all the fat left on.

I got this with next to no fat at all.

Any ideas as to what I got?

 

[tallbm]

I got my brisket delivered today.

I didn't want a whole brisket as if only feeding 4.

I asked for a 2.5kg (5.5lb) point cut with all the fat left on.

I got this with next to no fat at all.

Any ideas as to what I got?

View attachment 499616

That is most definitely the Flat muscle but I can't tell if they left some small amount of the Point on towards the top and underneath. In any case they removed all the fat.

I would smoke this to about 180F Internal Temp (IT) then place on 2 layers of foil and splash in a little liquid like 1-2 floz (water, left over wine, beef broth, one of those) and then I would tightly rap and smoke until it passes the tenderness test. I would check for tenderness around 200F IT.

Since there is no fat you have a major risk of drying this guy out so I would definitely wrap with FOIL not butcher paper but I always recommend waiting to 180F'ish so you are sure to get smoked BBQ brisket flavor and not roast beef flavor.

You may want to call them up and tell them they failed miserably and send them a picture of what you were expecting so maybe they can get it right next time... if there is a next time :)

 

[LexB89]

Thanks for clearing that up.

I wasn't sure what I was looking at.

They obviously haven't done what I asked.

I'll ring them on Monday!

I need to wrap this then.

And spritz.

 

[tallbm]

Thanks for clearing that up.

I wasn't sure what I was looking at.

They obviously haven't done what I asked.

I'll ring them on Monday!

I need to wrap this then.

And spritz.

I would only spritz/add liquid when you wrap it in foil.

In the US you would ask for an "untrimmed whole packer brisket" which looks like this:
Top brisket is fat side up; Bottom brisket is fat side down view; Both untrimmed

 

[LexB89]

This is the first time I've had brisket from them.

I spend a lot of money there tho.

I have sent them an email.

I'm sure they will do something to make it up to me.

Whatever cut I get, if all the fat is left on, it should look like the picture you posted.

 

[tallbm]

This is the first time I've had brisket from them.

I spend a lot of money there tho.

I have sent them an email.

I'm sure they will do something to make it up to me.

Whatever cut I get, if all the fat is left on, it should look like the picture you posted.

Hopefully they make it right for you.

Yeah pretty much whatever cut you get should look closer to the pics above.

So the top brisket the Point is to the left. If they gave you just a point it would start about the halfway mark and go left being cut from laying on top of the Flat. The Point will always be smaller than the Flat.

If just the Flat then imagine the Point removed as I just described and then you would have the pic like that but a much larger cut of meat. So imagine your cut if you flip it over with fat over the top covering about 3/4 of the whole Flat muscle.

The cut you requested would litterally be go to the halfway point of the top brisket pick and just cut cross ways (top to bottom). If you flipped over the cut as you requested it would look like the bottom brisket at the halfway mark and go to the right.
At that point if you look at the bottom brisket pic you would cut away that first "row" of fat (looks like there are 2 rows one on top of the other). That first row is the deckle that is useless hard fat that goes down between the flat and point muscle some. You remove that.
The bottom row of fat in the pic is just fat that is actually on top and on the side of the flat muscle so you would keep it or trim it down to 1/2 an inch.


This picture is a really good one for reference. Makes me want to eat brisket now but they will go on sale again before the 4th of July here in Texas and I have 38 pounds of it in the freezer for smoking for grinding atm so I'm good to go :)

 

[Berettaclayshooter]

I only use butcher paper for brisket and pork shoulders, foil for ribs. Butcher paper doesn't ruin the bark like foil does. I use apple juice and apple cider vinegar for my spritz and do that about every 30-45 mins starting after the first hour of cooking up until I wrap. I check at 190F for tenderness, but it usually takes until about 205F until it's super tender. I use the bend/ jiggle test, no poking for me please. Rest a min of 2 hours without a towel or blanket if you plan on eating soon after the 2 hour mark, this will allow the brisket to cool and stay juicy. If resting longer use one of the above to insulate and slow cooling.

If using a probe, don't remove it just wrap over it, then you aren't hemorrhaging juices from the brisket. I also don't subscribe to poking a bunch of hole into the meat before it's rested, again fluid loss and dryness...

Some say only slow and low is the way to go, they have too damned much time on their hands. Hot and fast or medium heat 275-300F will yield good results without sleeping when it's time to eat from tending a smoker for 14 plus hours.

Use a water pan always when smoking, don't get wrapped up with crazy flavorings for the water pan, plain old water does great and keeps a moist environment. Brisket is best with simple seasoning coarse salt, coarse pepper mixed 50/50 add some granulated garlic and onion if you like, about 1/8th of what you use for salt and pepper. The meat is the star, the smoke and seasoning are supporting actors in this movie.