1st Brisket - man, oh, man! (pics)

Cookbook_Chip · September 2012

Oh, boy, I could not wait to finally do a brisket! I read everything on this forum over and over to try and get it right. Thanks to all who contribute so much great info. My buddy got a 15 lb packer from where he works at a food service company. I trimmed and rubbed it. I used 1/2 tubinado sugar and 1/2 Dizzy Pig Cowlick, with some extra granulated garlic and granulated onion. Left it in the fridge for a few hours. Then, lit the egg about 10pm on Saturday. Steady at 240F by 10:35 and put on the brisky. Hit the hay with my Maverick at my bedside. Got a low temp beep about 2:30am (220F) on the egg - but brisket already at 151F? Wow - that's fast. Well, too much adult bev before bed - I couldn't get up. Should be fine for a while (I hoped). Around 4:30am, my cat started driving me nuts, so I looked again - uh-oh, egg temp down to 180F (meat holding). Better get up. So I went down and stoked the coals a bit. I tried stacking them just so, as @cen-tex had suggested. I guess I did it too loosely. Anyway, fire came right back up - so back to bed. I got up about 7am and all looked great! Meat slowly rising. The flat hit 200F about 1:30p and my instant read went in and out like butta! So, worried to death, I attempted to remove what I hoped was the point. So easy! Nice fat line to follow. FTC'd the flat. Put the point on for a couple hours, then cubed it and re-rubbed for a few more. By 5pm time to eat! Oh, my gosh! So tender - so delish. The flat slices were just pull apart tender. The burnt ends - WOW!!! And actually, easier than I expected.

Thanks again, forum gurus!

lousubcap · September 2012

Congrats-nothing like a home-run with the first at-bat!! Looks great.

Griffin · September 2012

Nice first attempt!

Cookbook_Chip · September 2012

Thanks guys!

butwhymalemodels · September 2012

Well done!

Hillbilly-Hightech · September 2012

wow, looks fantastic!!! I bookmarked it for future reference!! (brisket is about the only thing I haven't attempted yet, but am "thisclose" to doing it, "Egg-specially" after seeing pics like this)!! =P~

I did have a couple questions though - when you were talking about cutting off the point, how did you find the fat line? Usually it's covered up by the bark - did you score it ahead of time?

Also, what was the final internal temp - was it 200? Isn't that more for pulled beef??

Also, one thing that I never understood was the "burnt ends" - I mean, the meat is already done at that point, so wouldn't cooking it even further make them... well... "burnt ends" hehehe... I know that's the name of them, but I mean, TOO burnt, as in, not edible???

Can you 'splain more about that process too? What else did you do to them?

At any rate, it looks VERY delicious!! =D>

MaskedMarvel · September 2012

Made me hungry.

what wood did you use for smoke?

Cookbook_Chip · September 2012

@maskedmarvel - makes me hungry again looking at the pics! I used cherry and hickory for smoke.

@hillbilly-hightech - thanks! When I trimmed it, I worried what all to actually trim! I left most of the fat "cap" on the flat - it was about 1/8-1/4" - but there was a lot of hard white fat all around. I cut most of that off. When I did, I could see a solid white fat line running between what I hoped was the point and the flat. I rubbed the whole thing. I cooked the flat to 198F - when my meat probe just went in and out really easily. Then got brave to remove the point - the fat had rendered so nicely, it was just a slip of the knife thru the fat seam/line starting from the open concave area as you see in the pics. Easy!

Now, I loves me some bark/sear/crust on meat. So, after removing the point, I foiled, toweled and coolered the flat. I re-rubbed the exposed part of the point and put it on for a hour or so (yes, it was pretty close to 200F already, but I just was following posts on this forum). After an hour or so, I cubed it to 1 1/2" or so and again re-rubbed the exposed meat. Put it back on for a couple hours to give more bark all around. When it came off, I got the flat from the cooler - still super hot in my hands! Sliced the flat against the grain (oh! another tip, before you rub, do score or notch a corner of the flat so you know where the grain runs). Ate the point/burnt ends as is - with a bit of bbq sauce. Holy cow! The burnt ends were so nice and barky on the outside and smooth fatty/meaty on the inside. Not "burned" at all - just tasty bark like on a boston butt! The flat had a nice bark on the edges and was not stringy like pulled beef at all. But so tender you could tug and break the slices.

Hope that helps - aside from doing a better job stacking my lump next time, I think this is exactly what I hoped for. Have fun on yours!

1st Brisket - man, oh, man! (pics)

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