first time brisket: advice please

Kailas

Looking for advice on temperature, duration and rub recipe for a beef brisket.

I was smart enough to get some insight from here when I did my first butt roast, so here I am again looking for some advice.

Keep on eggin'

Fletch 'n Teggxas

the third (and best) brisket I've done I used a combo of thirdeye and bubbatim's recipes off their websites

thirdeye

bubbatim


Those are great places to start. I have the whole recipe I used in a word doc so if you need it let me know.

Frobozz

My first bit of advice would be to stop worrying so much.

Second, there are many many excellent rub recipes and lots of very good pre-made rubs. I've found the quality of the ingredients, not necessarily the recipe, make the difference. Look for a rub that suits the taste you want (spicy, sweet, savory, etc.) and go with it.

Consistency of temperature (something the Egg is particularly good at) seems to be more important to me than the actual temp itself. I've found anything between 220 and 275 to work just fine as long as I don't have the temp jumping around all of the time.

Don't use too much smoke wood. Once you get the meat above 140 degrees or so, it really isn't going to accept much more smoke. All you'll do is build up bitterness on the exterior if you oversmoke. If in doubt, use less smoke wood.

Pick a good brisket! There are lots of hints on the board about that. In particular, to the extent possible, look for 'marbeling' through the meat, a relative evenness in thickness through the brisket (although the point end will always be thicker on a whole brisket), and a fat cap that covers all or almost all of one side of the brisket.

That's a start. But above all, don't worry too much.

Keep an eye on the temp of your meat. I like to cook mine to about 180 (others cook it higher), then rest it wrapped in foil in a cooler for about an hour.

Kailas

Oh, I'm not worrying. I just like to know what to expect when I try something for the first time. Thanks forthwith input.

Frobozz wrote:

My first bit of advice would be to stop worrying so much.

Second, there are many many excellent rub recipes and lots of very good pre-made rubs. I've found the quality of the ingredients, not necessarily the recipe, make the difference. Look for a rub that suits the taste you want (spicy, sweet, savory, etc.) and go with it.

Consistency of temperature (something the Egg is particularly good at) seems to be more important to me than the actual temp itself. I've found anything between 220 and 275 to work just fine as long as I don't have the temp jumping around all of the time.

Don't use too much smoke wood. Once you get the meat above 140 degrees or so, it really isn't going to accept much more smoke. All you'll do is build up bitterness on the exterior if you oversmoke. If in doubt, use less smoke wood.

Pick a good brisket! There are lots of hints on the board about that. In particular, to the extent possible, look for 'marbeling' through the meat, a relative evenness in thickness through the brisket (although the point end will always be thicker on a whole brisket), and a fat cap that covers all or almost all of one side of the brisket.

That's a start. But above all, don't worry too much.

Keep an eye on the temp of your meat. I like to cook mine to about 180 (others cook it higher), then rest it wrapped in foil in a cooler for about an hour.

Mainegg

If you just have a flat or a short time to cook it this is my go to method now have done low and slow and hot and fast and have to say hot and fast is pretty dang good if you have a hankering and do not want to wait 15 hours
http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=1103577&catid=1#

Kailas

Just picked up a 6.5 lb brisket. I had them cut a whole one in half. I have the "tip" end. It is the thicker part with the nice marbling and more generous with the fat.

Now I just need to pick out the seasoning...