Learned to just cook, and mostly ignore the "ultimate" brisket hype on youtube or elsewhere. There is no magic to brisket or any other cut we BBQ other than heat and meat.
Hi there and welcome!I'm always trying to take my bbq to the next level and love learning about potential game changers from others. What are some of the things that you've learned about brisket that's really elevated your game? Here's a list of things that have helped me:
The overnight hold. Buying a toaster oven that can go down to 140/145 has been one of the biggest lightbulb moments for me. Generally, take the brisket to around 200+ and sit it until lunch the next day. Might try the magic 190 that people often suggest.Going by feel rather than temp.Not fussing with a wrap until much later in the cook. Also wrapping in tallow for the hold.Getting an offset pit. Cooking on a WSM was good, but as soon as I got a true stick burner, things changed.Simple is better. I used to buy all sorts of rubs, but now I really like SPG and maybe some Lawrys.Last, but not least, buying better beef. Nothing can replicate prime beef and trying to get a similar product to restaurants with basic choice isn't really going to happen.
Totally get that and I'm definitely not above cooking choice or even selectYa know, the whole reason we got where we are today with BBQ is from people years ago who couldn't afford, or otherwise sold off the top quality meat from animals they raised and learned how to take what nobody else wanted and turn it into delicious meat. Grade of meat doesn't really dictate a particular outcome for the most part, the cook does.
The first thing that bumped the quality of my brisket was moving from a jazzy beef broth injection to a commercial injection with phosphates. It just took a while to find the combination and strength of the products I liked.
Next would be wet aging, I prefer 24 to 30 days, and I buy Prime grade if I can find it.
I've always subscribed to long holding times, but once I duplicated the hot holding times that were becoming popular at Texas BBQ joints, my brisket went up another notch. I use a roaster oven too.
I've always trimmed (especially the wedge of fat that curves around the point, as well as the mohawk area. But now I do more of a radius on the rear of the flat, and I even chamfer any square edges using scissors to eliminate dry edges or cracking. The slices have a round look to them and the ends don't tear when slicing.
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I learned how to finish brisket by probing (mainly because meat thermometers were not popular in the '70s.), and probing is still more important than internal temps for me. But I use both.
And figuring out which of your smokers works best for you is important. For me, It's a drum smoker hands down.
Biggest thing for me after 2 prime brisket failures. IMO
Was to buy cheap briskets from wally world <40.00 till I could make a good one. Lost count at 10! Lol
They probably do. One thing that's happened to me at Sam's Club quite a few times is buying a brisket that already has 3-weeks of (walk-in cooler) age on it. Usually this happens in the fall or winter months when some people are not cooking outdoors, and the brisket inventory moves slowly.That's some nice looking brisket! Great call on the wet aging as well! I've done this twice and need to start doing it more often because they've definitely been my best briskets. I suspect a few of the top rated places in Texas pay to have places hold and wet age their beef.